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Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

derekthompson.org

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Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#221

Post by datameta »

datameta wrote: post #207
aio2 wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Walking is definitely better than sitting down all day, but that shouldn't be the goal. Weight training and more intense cardio are more important.

The point is there are those for whom one of the only forms exercise within reach is walking but it isn't thought of as exercise. Not all people are able to do more intense cardio or lift weights. Regular walking can bootstrap the body toward other exercise. Tai chi actually is another amazing tool - it is a dynamic calisthenics exercise that builds core strength, balance, and stretches connective tissue.

p.s. dancing to underground industrial techno for a few hours is a great way to do calisthenics

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#222

Post by FabHK »

AtlasBarfed wrote: post #83
kstrauser wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife's a podiatrist. I can conjure what I've heard her tell a thousand people over the years: invest in arch supports. Shoot for the ones that run about $50 and are rigid. Don't start with the $500 custom ones, and skip the $10 soft ones you see at the pharmacy. Go to REI or a running shop or a sporting goods store and get those instead. My knees freaking killed me when I was running. I started using the supports…

AND YOU DON'T NEED TO RUN to start with. And if you are overweight and sedentary DON'T RUN TO GET INTO SHAPE. Walking, hiking, swimming, biking, and weight training. Mix all of it so you get cross training effects and distribute stress across many domains. Running is, by the standards of the statistical hole America is in terms of obesity, an "advanced" activity. We're talking about something that involves a stress i…

Peter Attia in his book "Outlive" recommends exclusively zone 2 training for sedentary beginners: half an hour, 3x a week, of light to moderate exercise (e.g. on a stationary bike), for half a year or so before more strenuous exercise is added.

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#223

Post by BenGosub »

sharkweek wrote: post #20

I can directly tie my mood to how much exercise I’ve had in a given week. It’s also easy, given how busy life feels, to let the proverbial frog boil in water when it comes to this. My partner often comments when I’ve been a little grumpier than usual by saying, “you should go on a bike ride.” It really works wonders on the soul (and the more physical heart and lungs) getting out for a spin in the fresh air.

The fact that just by being on the bike for two hours, my brain doesn't go into negative pathways, but it just focuses on the road always brings me out of a slump.

I can also recommend easy, restorative yoga exercises, which is the lightest exercise there is, but it will help you with: sitting too much, improve sleep, stretch and reduce stress.

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#224

Post by DicIfTEx »

_Algernon_ wrote: post #71
thrance wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because our ancestors did something doesn't mean it's automatically good for your health. After all, prehistoric men weren't known for their long life expectancy.

What data are you basing this on? My understanding is that historical life expectancy is only as low as it is because of the immense infant mortality rates. People who survived through childhood tended to live long.

Pretty much. Here's an in-depth look at mortality patterns in pre-modern societies: https://acoup.blog/2025/07/18/collections-life-work-death-an...

> One quirk to these model tables I want to note, because it sometimes confuses folks, is that they express ‘life expectancy’ not as a total expected age, but as average years of life expectancy from a given age, so a 25-year-old with 26.6 years of life expectancy is expecting to life to age 51, not just a year and a half.

> What we see in these models is that life expectancy (female:male) at birth is very low, 25:22.8, but after the first year rises dramatically to 34.9:34.1 (note the gender gap narrowing) and by age 5 to 40.1:39.0 (remember to add the five years they’ve already lived). So life expectancy goes up quite a lot over the first several years of life, which is not, intuitively, the pattern we expect: we normally assume the more you’ve lived, the less years you have left.

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#225

Post by mikhailfranco »

fenesiistvan wrote: post #93
sharkweek wrote: post #20

I can directly tie my mood to how much exercise I’ve had in a given week. It’s also easy, given how busy life feels, to let the proverbial frog boil in water when it comes to this. My partner often comments when I’ve been a little grumpier than usual by saying, “you should go on a bike ride.” It really works wonders on the soul (and the more physical heart and lungs) getting out for a spin in the fresh air.

Are you drinking alcohol ocasionally? I observed that there are two kind of pepole: - one who spend their spare time drinking - others who exercise Both are fine for the soul :)

Some people exercise to get fit.

I exercise to work up a thirst.

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#226

Post by AlecSchueler »

kccqzy wrote: post #141
david-gpu wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is something about riding a bike that lifts people's mood like nothing else. It's the closest thing to flying like a bird that most of us will ever see. It lets you experience your neighborhood in a different light.

Riding a bike lifts my mood certainly but it doesn't let me experience my neighborhood. I zoom past the neighborhood and at 15mph you can hardly experience it. You might have some vague ideas about architectural styles in the neighborhood but that's it. If the neighborhood has shops, you can't easily visit them without first parking the bike. You need to walk to really experience a neighborhood.

Experience it "in a different light."

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#227

Post by rynohack »

rsync wrote: post #176
bob1029 wrote: post #19

> The author Daniel Lieberman has put it well: Exercise is healthy and rewarding even though it’s something we never evolved to do. We have ostensibly spent much of our evolutionary budget on the ability to run ~indefinitely no matter what. Compared to virtually any other animal, we can vastly outperform them in the most arduous environments. Our bodies are mechanically optimized for running at every level. We have c…

"We have ostensibly spent much of our evolutionary budget on the ability to run ~indefinitely no matter what." This appears to be the case and this idea is explained, in-depth, in the excellent book: _Born to Run_ ... by Christopher McDougall. I highly recommend it.

A few books have changed my life, Born to Run is one of them.

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#229

Post by OldfieldFund »

gooodvibes wrote: post #80
datameta wrote: post #26

Walking is exercise. Never forget that. Consistency over sporadic herculean efforts always wins out.

There are positive physical and mental change that happen with more intensive cardio and with resistance training that you can't get from walking no matter how much you walk. And there's nothing herculian about those modes of exercise.

long-term evidence isn't clear at all for the benefit of these

Re: Why Exercise Is a Miracle Drug

#230

Post by imcritic »

krembo wrote: post #171
imcritic wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you donate? Do you owe them anything? No. Yet, you still donate. But how much do you donate? Why that amount and not nearly everything? Surely there are people in need!

Can donations be egoistic? Wanting to improve others lives will lead to a better world also for me, even if that's one dime a time.

You are right. I haven't thought about donations possibly not being altruistic, but there actually are such ones. Personally I would say we need separate words to distinguish egoistic charity/donations from the altruistic ones.

But how does donating to some poor people abroad benefits you?

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