Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Not exercising worse than smoking, diabetes and heart disease study finds

cnn.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 233 posts

Re: Not exercising worse than smoking, diabetes and heart disease study finds

#91

Post by fizx »

armada651 wrote: post #88

> It's crazy how people will deprioritze their health. It should always be a person's #1 priority to live as long as possible. My #1 priority is to achieve my goals and have fun. If that means I die earlier so be it. I do exercise in ways I find fun, but I will not go to a gym and lift weights just because it increases my chances of living long enough to enjoy my pension. The real challenge in life is not to live the…

Do you also not brush your teeth?

Strength training can be as simple as doing one of squats, pushups, or pullups every day. Work towards 2-3 sets of 10-20 reps. Add weight (or reduce assistance) as necessary.

You've just made a huge difference in how your body feels, and it takes as much time each day as brushing and flossing your teeth.

Re: Not exercising worse than smoking, diabetes and heart disease study finds

#92

Post by Gatsky »

If there is one universal truth of human biology, it is that exercise is good. It is good if you do a bit or a lot, if you are young, old, male, female, trans, pregnant, trying to get pregnant, single, married, divorced, depressed, a smoker, have cancer, have heart disease, have dementia, an astronaut, a pure mathematician, a plumber, tall, short, liberal, conservative etc etc. There isn't anyone that doesn't benefit basically. It's almost like breathing.

The message is important, but I think we can just stop doing studies about how exercise is good. Researchers must love these kinds of studies because they are ALWAYS POSITIVE. And the media loves promoting them, I guess because they get a lot of clicks.

Getting people to do more exercise - that is the hard part. More randomised studies of interventions to do that on a society level are needed. There is going to be an extraordinary number of people transitioning from (admittedly unpleasant and impoverished) more active lifestyles to sedentary work in the next 50 years. Reducing the burden of disease in this group is essential.

Re: Not exercising worse than smoking, diabetes and heart disease study finds

#93

Post by downandout »

learnstats2 wrote: post #86
downandout wrote: post #71

...and then we see that exercising an hour per day (7.5 hours or more per week), which people trying to lose weight often do, can cause damaging calcium buildups in your heart, especially if you are a man [1]. So we're damned if we do and damned if we don't. I really hate these conflicting studies. [1] http://time.com/4987426/too-much-exercise/

7.5 hours or more per week of gym is an extreme amount that elite athletes might think twice about, not to mention that it's not recommended by anyone. Where is the conflict? That article itself says: “This [study] doesn’t apply to 99% of people”

I'm trying to lose weight. I am doing approximately 7 hours per week...an hour per day of exercise isn't particularly hard to reach. I apparently fall in the 1%, and I'm not remotely close to being an "elite athlete," nor do I feel like I'm do anything extreme.

Re: Not exercising worse than smoking, diabetes and heart disease study finds

#94

Post by paulcole »

shin_lao wrote: post #66
ddebernardy wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not pedantic at all. I'm ~40 and don't exercise at all, yet I'm still perfectly fit. I presume it's due to doing groceries by foot several times per week, having a standup desk, and carrying the kid around. Perhaps genes help too. But the point I'd like to get across is: going to the gym isn't the sine qua non of making you fit. You can get enough "exercise" by simply living without a car, standing, and walking.

I think you need to define perfectly fit. Can you do 10 pullups?

I can’t do 10 pull ups but I run 50 miles a week.

Re: Not exercising worse than smoking, diabetes and heart disease study finds

#95

Post by comboy »

toxik wrote: post #89
armada651 wrote: post #88

> It's crazy how people will deprioritze their health. It should always be a person's #1 priority to live as long as possible. My #1 priority is to achieve my goals and have fun. If that means I die earlier so be it. I do exercise in ways I find fun, but I will not go to a gym and lift weights just because it increases my chances of living long enough to enjoy my pension. The real challenge in life is not to live the…

Why, and what does that mean? Rampant hedonism? Human intellect fails miserably at justifying existence at any level. If we look at what people have valued historically, health does seem important.

You can switch fun to whatever you find meaningful or whatever you want to optimize for. Optimizing for longevity is one option, but you would never go full in on it (would you kill an innocent child to live one second longer?). So why would it be surprising that weight assigned to it varies among different people?

Btw I agree with him, I think that's what you really want, but you want your fun. Not fun as perceived by other people. It does not necessarily mean pleasure.

Re: Not exercising worse than smoking, diabetes and heart disease study finds

#96

Post by downandout »

stevenwoo wrote: post #90
downandout wrote: post #71

...and then we see that exercising an hour per day (7.5 hours or more per week), which people trying to lose weight often do, can cause damaging calcium buildups in your heart, especially if you are a man [1]. So we're damned if we do and damned if we don't. I really hate these conflicting studies. [1] http://time.com/4987426/too-much-exercise/

That is not supported by the article. "Even if hardcore exercisers do have more calcium buildup, it’s still not clear if that’s damaging the heart..." The article states calcium build up in the heart is a bad sign for sedentary people and that it is not clear what it means for healthy people. There are similar syndromes/symptoms that mean different things for people with different activity levels - folks who do aerob…

"Even if hardcore exercisers do have more calcium buildup, it’s still not clear if that’s damaging the heart..."

First, I'd argue that an hour a day is not "hardcore". Anyone trying to lose weight can easily fall in this category, including me currently. Second, the actual underlying study upon which this article is based seems to indicate that calcium buildup is bad for everyone. Time Magazine went out and found someone who gave a quote contradicting the study, but that was the whole point of my comment.

Different studies and individual researchers have different views on all of this stuff. Some say that lots of exercise is bad, and others say it is great. The point is that nobody knows, but everyone seems to be be publishing studies advocating for a given position.

Re: Not exercising worse than smoking, diabetes and heart disease study finds

#97

Post by Waterluvian »

Gatsky wrote: post #92

If there is one universal truth of human biology, it is that exercise is good. It is good if you do a bit or a lot, if you are young, old, male, female, trans, pregnant, trying to get pregnant, single, married, divorced, depressed, a smoker, have cancer, have heart disease, have dementia, an astronaut, a pure mathematician, a plumber, tall, short, liberal, conservative etc etc. There isn't anyone that doesn't benefit…

I worry about my health and often I have a really good try and making a habit. But crap is it hard. It's not the money or the time. There's something else about willpower and boredom. I wish I could get on an exercise bike, stare at a brainwashing device, and "wake up" an hour later having remembered none of it.

Re: Not exercising worse than smoking, diabetes and heart disease study finds

#99

Post by coldtea »

perfmode wrote: post #56
coldtea wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then one could just die and be done with everything.

it’s always on the table. often we stay alive because dying would cause others suffering.

That's not much of a reason. Why don't we convince them to kill themselves too.

/s

Re: Not exercising worse than smoking, diabetes and heart disease study finds

#100

Post by Someone »

Gatsky wrote: post #92

If there is one universal truth of human biology, it is that exercise is good. It is good if you do a bit or a lot, if you are young, old, male, female, trans, pregnant, trying to get pregnant, single, married, divorced, depressed, a smoker, have cancer, have heart disease, have dementia, an astronaut, a pure mathematician, a plumber, tall, short, liberal, conservative etc etc. There isn't anyone that doesn't benefit…

”If there is one universal truth of human biology, it is that exercise is good”

I don’t see the need to mention biology. I think every reasonable definition of “exercise” automatically implies that exercise is good. For example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise says: ”Exercise is any bodily activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness”

Post reply on HN