For more on this, check out “ Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain” by Dr. John Ratey.
I came here to comment the same tip. Great book that goes deep into this.
Evolutionary history and why physical activity is important for brain health
41–50 of 138 posts
Re: Evolutionary history and why physical activity is important for brain health
#42TBH I really hate physical activity, but I have to do it to keep healthy :(
Then you should do some mental activity to find a physical activity that you like.
I pretty much hate everything that is easily accessible...swimming is OK but TBH I prefer reading books or coding side projects. I purchased boxing classes and will try it out with a friend.
I think some people just despise physical activities, like there are a lot of people who just refuse to think.
Re: Evolutionary history and why physical activity is important for brain health
#43If you're like me an dread the monotony of working out give climbing a try! Every climb is different which keeps the workout fresh and exciting and it works out every core muscle group.
Re: Evolutionary history and why physical activity is important for brain health
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
Care to elaborate? The connection is not clear to me. Fine movements of fingers and arms isn't exactly the same as intensive full body work.
Some scumbag changed the title and makes my comment look wrong. The title was something about working out your brain.
No need for "some scumbag" when "someone" will suffice.
The original title was "Why Your Brain Needs Exercise" (the article title) which is highly misleading - looks like it fooled you too - so I agree with the change. I didn't read the article when I saw the first title, which I assumed was about solving sudokus or something along those lines, but I did click with the new title.
Re: Evolutionary history and why physical activity is important for brain health
#45TBH I really hate physical activity, but I have to do it to keep healthy :(
Chapter 3 text 8 of the Gita on Karma Yoga
Perform your prescribed duty, for action is better than inaction. A man cannot even maintain his physical body without work.
Re: Evolutionary history and why physical activity is important for brain health
#46TBH I really hate physical activity, but I have to do it to keep healthy :(
Then you should do some mental activity to find a physical activity that you like.
This is a harder problem than you seem to imply. There are very few physical activities I truly enjoy and these tend to require a significant investment of time and money (like skiing) and are not sustainable on any schedule that makes them useful as regular exercise. There are activities that I enjoy occasionally (hiking, running), but I feel like if I started doing them on schedule (I tried), the way I go to the gym, they would become a lot less enjoyable, because it is now a chore rather than entertainment. So I would rather go to the gym and hate it than grow to hate the things I actually like.
Re: Evolutionary history and why physical activity is important for brain health
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Kettlebells have gotten a very bro-ey reputation but there are some great exercises that are a good mix of cardio and mental focus. Regular swings can get boring but learning to do snatches was punishing, yet fun, while forcing me to pay attention to my technique. Would definitely recommend it.
I started doing kettlebelle swings. I got upto doing about 70 swings and follow it up with 40 sumo squats then 50 lifts. Takes me 12 min. The workout is incredible and does not take long and i can do it at home. Trying to improve my form without paying a coach. I watch you tube videos from that russian guy pavel.
I always had trouble with videos. Some of the nicer gyms near me do kettlebell classes, so that might be worth it as a more cost effective way to get a professional opinion.
If you learn how to do a good get-up, it's one of the best full body workouts. 10-15 of those, 80-100 swings, and you're basically doing simple and sinister.
My favorite part of it is I don't have to go for a run and I still get a great cardio workout!
Re: Evolutionary history and why physical activity is important for brain health
#48Is there a scientific way to distinguish evolutionary biology from bourgeois ideology?
Re: Evolutionary history and why physical activity is important for brain health
#49>Less clear has been why physical activity affects the brain in the first place. I think the studies are looking at this backwards. Physical activity should probably be looked at as the natural state of humans and ask why lack of physical activity affects the brain. Then it probably makes a lot more sense, the brain is comprised of cells, just like muscles, that are either anabolic or catabolic. A lack of physical ex…
Why do you consider anabolism/catabolism a binary classification? All living cells, and especially terminally differentiated ones like neurons will have a mixture of anabolic and catabolic metabolic processes taking place constantly, and there's not a straightforward reason to think that physical exercise is flipping some binary master switch that is "good" (by some arbitrary definition) for all cells.
>and there's not a straightforward reason to think that physical exercise is flipping some binary master switch that is "good" (by some arbitrary definition) for all cells.
Its not about a "master switch" turning on/off good/bad. The systems must work together to promote healthy metabolism of the cells/energy production. Catabolism and anabolism have separate metabolic pathways controlled by a distinct set of hormones.
Anabolism and catabolism must be regulated to avoid the two processes occurring simultaneously. Each process has its own set of hormones that switch these processes on and off. Anabolic hormones include growth hormone, testosterone and estrogen. Catabolic hormones include adrenaline, cortisol and glucagon.
More generally going back to the idea of muscle...you can't lift weights and gain muscle (i.e. grow) without also gaining fat. Growth can't be isolated to muscle cells, the entire body must be anabolic to grow, which means growth of fat cells too. Many people do not understand this basic point and will swear they put on muscle and lost body fat, it doesn't work that way growth is an all or nothing metabolic process. What can be done is you can add more muscle than fat, but you will be adding both. Or in the alternative you can't lose fat and not loss muscle, if you lose fat you are catabolic and you will loss muscle. Similarly it may be possible to loss more fat than muscle, but you will be losing both. Unless you have evidence to the contrary, in which case you would be sure to be an overnight billionaire, without any exogenous drugs/hormones, it is impossible to simultaneously grow muscle/lose fat.
Re: Evolutionary history and why physical activity is important for brain health
#50>Less clear has been why physical activity affects the brain in the first place. I think the studies are looking at this backwards. Physical activity should probably be looked at as the natural state of humans and ask why lack of physical activity affects the brain. Then it probably makes a lot more sense, the brain is comprised of cells, just like muscles, that are either anabolic or catabolic. A lack of physical ex…
> I think the studies are looking at this backwards. Physical activity should probably be looked at as the natural state of humans and ask why lack of physical activity affects the brain.
I wonder if there's a selfless gene in humans that reduces the reproductive fitness/longevity of humans that aren't pulling their weight for the group. I could imagine that a gene that shortens the life of a member in a group could increase the survivability of the gene in the same way that we've documented selfless genes that spur primates to alert predators to save close relations at their own personal expense.
Lack of activity might just be telling the body that we're useless and we need to exit in order to help others. It's a silly idea, but just a shower thought I've been mulling over.