Evolutionary history and why physical activity is important for brain health

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-your-brain-needs-exercise/

by prostoalex • 7 years ago

284 121 7 years ago

dnhz2• 7 years ago

The claim is that by running around outdoors, the brain gets used in a variety of ways such as navigation, decision-making, and sensory processing. Then why doesn't driving around in a car have similar benefits? Or does it?

mandeepj• 7 years ago

Good question. It might - maybe that's why people say - driving is stressing or exhausting. One distinction - While running you are physically moving, and not while driving

jeltz• 7 years ago

The same question could be asked for many video games, which require the same things.

friendlybus2• 7 years ago

It says in the article that cognitively demanding video games + exercise together equals more BDNF

asdf21• 7 years ago

Video games do exercise the mind...

In particular, playing Super Mario 64 for 30 minutes a day over two months increased adult volunteers’ brain volume in their right hippocampus, the right prefrontal cortex, and the cerebellum. These regions in the brain are responsible for memory formation, strategic planning, muscle control, and spatial navigation.

https://lifehacker.com/study-shows-playing-video-games-reall...

macintux• 7 years ago

I doubt driving (or video games) engages the brain the same way.

Driving, you're heavily insulated from most noise (or, like in my Jeep, your hearing is overwhelmed by road noise). You're not smelling your environment, nor feeling it, and certainly you're not exercising as many muscle groups.

I'd speculate (ok, wild guess) that it's the combination of blood flow, muscle exercise, all of your senses, which is so beneficial. See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Child_in_the_Woods.

anon73044• 7 years ago

I think the key is the amount of stress induced while driving. If you're driving an appliance like a Tesla or Camry you're getting next to zero stimulation. If you're driving,say, a clapped out, no powersteering, manual trans G-body, the level of stress and multitasking is an order of magnitude greater. Though in that case let's level of stress might be more if a detriment than a benefit.

jjtheblunt• 7 years ago

Guessing, but i bet all the hardware subsystems are in play when actually moving all available limbs in space and time.

gherkinnn• 7 years ago

They are vastly different things. Feeling the ground, constantly adapting your gait, managing your resources (consciously or otherwise), navigating, pacing yourself, the smells, the sounds, wind and weather. Your thoughts. Eventually hunger, thirst, and maybe an ache or so become noticeable. Pushing through anyway.

A car on the other hand has layers and layers of abstraction between you and your environment. Satnav, ABS, suspension, petrol gages, heated seats, lane-assist, gear boxes, seatbelts, AC, and automatic windscreen wipers.

Unless you're a racing driver in a suitably setup car, of course.

dnhz2• 7 years ago

For the record, I believe the added blood flow from aerobic exercise is the most important factor -- I have no citation though. Being in a car is certainly different from being directly in the environment, but it's still mentally demanding, akin to a video game perhaps. I don't think the brain is somehow specially stimulated by natural inputs, so isolation of the body from the natural environment via technology should not make that much of a difference.

An experiment comparing treadmill running vs outside running (as mentioned in the article) would help determine to whether tasks like navigation and non-essential sensory stimuli like smelling the air contribute to BDNF levels. I'd be curious to see if there'd be a difference.

friendlybus2• 7 years ago

The article or study is on to the beginning of something but it seems too light on causal links to be substantial. The effects of BDNF and other brain drugs have an entertaining defcon talk in the biohacking village. Cognitive enhancing drugs stuff looks ripe for exploration, though the side effects are concerning.

starpilot2• 7 years ago

For example, we recently showed that collegiate cross-country runners who train extensively on outdoor trails have increased connectivity among brain regions associated with executive cognitive functions compared with healthy but more sedentary young adults.

I've definitely noticed a cognitive boost when I switched from gym weightlifting to cardio/endurance based on outdoors activities (trailrunning, strenuous hikes). The latter has given me an intense calm and mental space to work on problems that I did not get from weightlifting.

SensateCreature2• 7 years ago

Could it simply be because of exercising providing much needed break from focusing on worries in one's life? If so, any activity that one can enter into a state of flow can be beneficial.

honopu2• 7 years ago

It's easy to say, but if you are focusing on what worries you, without doing anything to work toward or resolve what is worrying you, it's really just wasted mental energy. Once you can be honest with yourself about having done everything you possibly/reasonably can to mitigate whatever you are worrying about, then you can let it go.

SensateCreature2• 7 years ago

Definitely easier said than done.

There is even a tendency to fool ourselves into thinking that we have broken free of it, whilst still having that feeling of worry simmering in the background.

hombre_fatal• 7 years ago

No, the article's whole assertion is why exercise specifically causes these benefits. I don't know how "oh, maybe I just need to stop worrying about things to reap these same benefits and activate these same pathways" is a possible take-away from the article.

Though it's tempting wishful thinking because it saves us from leaving our computer chair. "Maybe I can just enter a flow mode learning Elm/Rust instead of exercising!"

didgeoridoo• 7 years ago

For more on this, check out “ Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain” by Dr. John Ratey.

whalesalad• 7 years ago

I came here to comment the same tip. Great book that goes deep into this.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000SFD21Q

honopu2• 7 years ago

I do a stair climber, 2000 steps 5 days a week. I think this has a pretty good mix of cognitive and aerobic, I switch it up to skip steps, and stuff like that. I've not really noticed a huge change in energy, but resting heart rate etc have dropped considerably in the last year. I recommend a combo of this with a podcast to stave off the boredom. Mental clarity wise, I feel like your brain and body need the elevated heart rate etc, and this link seems to back it up.

blackearl2• 7 years ago

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.

adamqureshi• 7 years ago

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.

nradov• 7 years ago

Stair climbers are great, but most people get better long term results by cross training a mix of different activities. Doing the same exercise daily tends to cause unbalanced muscle development and a higher risk of overuse injuries.

peter303• 7 years ago

There is a more interesting article in Scientific American and other places that humans evolved requiring an hour of vigorous exercise a day to avoid metabolic diseases like diabetes and dementia. Our closest relatives chimps and gorillas dont require vigorous exercise.

markus_zhang3• 7 years ago

Hate it! Hate it! Hate it...

stevenwoo• 7 years ago

This article talks about this - it's the common hypothesis that switching to bipedal movement several million years ago is linked to the branching from our closest primate relatives, our diets changed to include hunting and a wider foraging range, hand in hand with changes in physiology for more movement and brain structure.

throwaway_tech8• 7 years ago

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 exercise is going to put all cells, including brain cells, in a catabolic state the same as muscle atrophy will waste away muscles due to lack of physical activity.

Cells are cells, they are where energy is made, they are binary only existing in anabolic or catabolic states and never simultaneously existing in both states. Lack of exercise put the cells in catabolic states and long term catabolic states lead to metabolic/energy production problems in the cells. So naturally if you consider lack of exercise as the natural state of humans, sure it will appear physical activity improve brain function.

mmmrtl• 7 years ago

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.

throwaway_tech8• 7 years ago

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.

johnisgood• 7 years ago

DNA works like a dimmer switch, not as an on-off switch though.

rosybox• 7 years ago

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.

lordnacho2• 7 years ago

Not silly at all. You could even relate the suicide of lower status males to this kind of mechanic. Or the grandmother hypothesis about why women have a menopause.

throwaway_tech8• 7 years ago

It's a silly idea, but just a shower thought I've been mulling over.

I can't answer your questions, but I can add some more food for thought to think about...consider the impact of ones microbiome in turning genes like this on/off. So you may have the "selfless gene" as you call it, but by default it is turned off, so you don't warn your own of the predator, now same exact hypthetical, but it just so happens you ate something that introduced new viruses/bacteria into your microbiome, which happened to change your gene expression and turn on the selfless gene causing "you" to warn your kind of the threat. Did you really warn them, or since the gene was only turned on by your particular microbiome at the time, are you just a host being controlled by trillions of bacteria and viruses?

xjay• 7 years ago

Somewhat related: "How Immune Systems Can Influence Social Behavior" [1]

So yeah, maybe there's actually some subsystem that controls social behavior, to get rid of someone from the group, or out them to the group by having them unintentionally sabotage themselves, etc.

Maybe people who can't self-terminate are turned into some threat to society that would get them targeted, but their minds present it as some kind of game.

[1] https://psychcentral.com/blog/how-immune-systems-can-influen...

mamon• 7 years ago

> 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 think that’s where sexual selection kicks in: slackers are not liked and have less sexual partners than those who have something to show off. Reducing longevity is not necessary since people loose fertility long before death

chiefalchemist• 7 years ago

We're an "integrated" system. The body / brain contruct is something we invented. It's what human do. But we are not a body with a brain, or vice versa. We are body+brain. Period.

JamesBarney• 7 years ago

A lack of physical exercise is going to put all cells, including brain cells, in a catabolic state the same as muscle atrophy will waste away muscles due to lack of physical activity.

Why is this? Using your brain cells won't lead to muscle atrophy.

From research we know physical activity is healthy for the brain, but there's no reason this should be the case from first principles. You can make the same argument in the other direction.

"The brain and body have existed in state with limited energy. So to maintain homeostasis when the muscles are used it puts the brain into a catabolic state to feed the new stronger muscles."

And if catabolism between muscles and the brain is linked then surely steroids will make people every smart by switching the entire body into anabolism from catabolism.

Cells are cells, they are where energy is made, they are binary only existing in anabolic or catabolic states and never simultaneously existing in both states

This is 100% not true. All cells are simultaneously building stuff and tearing stuff down. Some hormones like insulin say "build more stuff, tear less down" and others like cortisol say "tear stuff down and stop building".

But the body can simultaneously build some stuff and tear other stuff down. Consider the transitions from different types of muscle fiber. From beefy body builder muscles to lean marathon running muscles. That will be tearing down a lot of proteins but building up a lot of mitochondria.

throwaway_tech8• 7 years ago

Why is this? Using your brain cells won't lead to muscle atrophy.

Ever hear of marathon runners hitting the wall or bonking? That is the runner's body shutting down to preserve the remaining fuel to keep the braining running. That is the function of the brain is given priority over other organs and systems in the body when the brain/body are not fat adapted and glucose stores are running low.

and if catabolism between muscles and the brain is linked then surely steroids will make people every smart by switching the entire body into anabolism from catabolism.

Certain muscle enhancing supplements due have recorded benefits to cognitive function, for example creatine (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29704637). That said "steroid" is a broad brush stroke without a specific meaning as far as actual chemicals/hormones go. Moreover, as we know "steroids" in the general sense typically work by enlarging cells in the body, which yes may have helpful and desired effects with respect to muscle growth, but negative effects in other areas (enlarged heart) so unnatural growth does not equal unbridled benefit...rather anabolism (growth) is a normal and natural process that also includes catabolism (breakdown).

bitwize• 7 years ago

Animals developed brains so that they could move around without endangering themselves.

I remember a bit of research that came out of Seymour Papert's work. They took kids who were so severely disabled that they were immobile, and gave them a (physical) Logo Turtle to command, and to move around an obstacle course. The underdeveloped bits of their brain that governed locomotion started growing.

yahwrong• 7 years ago

So naturally if you consider lack of exercise as the natural state of humans, sure it will appear physical activity improve brain function.

I think not wanting to do more work or exert more energy than needed is the natural state of all of nature. Nothing does anything more than what requires the least amount of energy. However since humans are at least somewhat self aware they can 'determine' regular exercise is ultimately less annoying or less energy than being obese, depressed, and with likely more medical problems.

tus88• 7 years ago

I think if you are a programmer you are working out every day.

levythe• 7 years ago

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.

newnewpdro3• 7 years ago

This is something I've observed personally, especially with running and mountain biking.

It had me pondering if perhaps humans evolved to become smarter in response to these frequent physical stressors. Like if we find ourselves regularly having to outrun predators and/or chasing prey to survive, it would probably be advantageous to grow smarter and depend less on endurance and speed.

So I've been taking an attitude that exercise is a faux form of brute-force survival. That the body will respond both by becoming stronger and smarter, as long as it continues experiencing having to run miles regularly to survive.

jp42• 7 years ago

Similar experience. Running clears my mind, improves cognitive capabilities, mental stamina and overall performance. Once I reached a "improved" state, then somehow I lose motivation to keep going until, I go back to state where I start feeling down or low on energy. This is going on for several years.

I wonder why brain dont get motivated/incentivized to keep it going(running or physical activity) when its in "improved" state and why it has to reach "feeling down" state to get motivated again. Is it just me or others have similar experience?

newnewpdro3• 7 years ago

Sometimes I experience that, but my moods can be cyclic in general.

This is one area where discipline and a routine really helps. Just force yourself out into the activity, it'll always feel better afterwards.

eeZah7Ux2• 7 years ago

regularly having to outrun predators and/or chasing prey to survive

"regularly" never happened. We are not cheetahs nor gazelles. Most popular ideas around "hunters gatherers" are false.

Australian aboriginals are a good example of how most of humans lived.

newnewpdro3• 7 years ago

Citation needed.

My understanding is a major evolutionary advantage humans enjoyed is the exceptional ability to pursue prey for sustained periods, effectively wearing them out, thanks to our excellent endurance and the sophistication necessary for pacing one self.

If you weren't being smart about it, and sprinted like a scared deer, you'd exhaust yourself and fail. Well, perhaps that results in a mechanism of smarting up when we're over-exerting ourselves regularly.

GarvielLoken• 7 years ago

" if we find ourselves regularly having to outrun predators"

Lol, humans will only run from a predator one time. This is not Hollywood, you don't outrun jaguars, bears or wolf packs.

fasteo2• 7 years ago

>> Cognitively challenging exercise may benefit the brain more than physical activity that makes fewer cognitive demand.

This. I have noticed a significant mental “clearing” since I started boxing. Being forced to think when you are really tired is key.

hollander2• 7 years ago

Dancing is similar I guess, but less aggressive if people don't like boxing or fighting. Solo or with a partner or in a group, choose what you like.

Cougher5• 7 years ago

Boxing/fighting seems to be pretty popular and I wonder about the head shots . . . how frequent and intense they may be in casual fighting. A lot is still unknown about the brain damage that can result from this kind of activity, particularly the subtle injuries that don't have an obvious single cause. I think the effects are a lot worse than most people think and it's NOT worth it.

fasteo2• 7 years ago

I guess it really depends how the trainer organize his classes. In my case, my trainer is a former European champion, he knows the potential danger and he really cares about us. We use head protection, he pairs us wisely to avoid accidental injuries, sparring is optional, and 75% of our time is shadow boxing, heavy bag training and padding. So, we end up doing 3-4 rounds of sparring per week. I may get a couple of soft jabs in my head.

markus_zhang3• 7 years ago

TBH I really hate physical activity, but I have to do it to keep healthy :(

Copenjin• 7 years ago

You just need to find something that fits you definition of fun, I'd try different activities :)

folli• 7 years ago

Then you should do some mental activity to find a physical activity that you like.

markus_zhang3• 7 years ago

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.

MadWombat• 7 years ago

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.

hollander2• 7 years ago

Find a friend to do it together.

amriksohata• 7 years ago

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.

omarhaneef• 7 years ago

You should try crossfit.

It is basically like Fight Club if the first two rules were the opposite.

i_haz_rabies• 7 years ago

Don't let the Crossfit brand turn you off of the whole thing. If you ignore the weird culty online culture, it's just a bunch of people doing a hard workout. You'll make lots of friends, get healthier and you'll start to enjoy the workouts a lot faster than you think.

slothtrop• 7 years ago

Crossfit appears to be about chasing fatigue, which is why I don't understand the appeal. I do moderate cardio and strength training.

maximente• 7 years ago

crossfit is dangerous enough that it probably shouldn't be casually recommended without appropriate oversight and working with legitimate experts about how to do it safely.

tacon2• 7 years ago

Crossfit is great if you don't plan on needing your joints for a long life. As Bill DeSimone, author of Congruent Exercise[0], explained in a podcast, "Everyone gets a set of free passes. You decide if you want to use up all your free passes." So don't do needlessly stupid things with your body that wear out your joints any faster than necessary. Your 80 year old self will appreciate not needing a walker. F=ma, it's the law. If you can stimulate the adaptive response in your muscles with no acceleration, why would you ever do anything faster than necessary?

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Congruent-Exercise-Weight-Training-Ea..., "Congruent Exercise: How To Make Weight Training Easier On Your Joints"

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8ZTIvJySiY

vorpalhex• 7 years ago

Try a few before you give up. Boxing, martial arts, weightlifting, running, hiking, scuba, swimming, soccer, sword fighting - really, the options are endless.

partyboat15864• 7 years ago

Here is a list of physical activities to stimulate your memory or imagination. There is more to exercise than the gym.

Swimming, Soccer, Rock Climbing, Hiking, Kayaking, Free running, Martial Arts, Fencing, Yoga, Surfing, Dancing (Samba, Ballroom, Contemporary...), Long walks, Cycling.

My favourites are cycling because I feel so free and I love the sensation of speed and climbing because I have a natural talent for it and I love the feeling of getting to the top.

0xcde4c3db2• 7 years ago

There is more to exercise than the gym.

There is more to "I hate physical activity" than the gym, too. Some of us have seriously been looking for the proverbial "something you enjoy" for decades and haven't found it.

RaceWon• 7 years ago

Here is a list of physical activities to stimulate your memory or imagination

You can also strap a competition car to your arse, and try to beat the quick peeps at an autocross track.

tkgally• 7 years ago

Search for "bodyweight exercise" and you'll find many types of exercise that require little or no equipment, can be done almost anywhere, and provide similar benefits to other physical activities. One I would recommend is Animal Flow, which is just quirky and challenging enough to stay interesting.

ip26• 7 years ago

It can get a lot easier with time & adaptation. I used to hate, hate running. I started to take it more seriously because my wife-to-be liked to run. After a year or two of dedicated & conscientious training (about 500 miles) it's no longer so difficult, and in fact I began to need to run. Now I take my running clothes with me traveling to help me deal with stress.

The key mental switch for me was leaving behind the mindset of accomplishment through grind, tough, suffer, and instead train, train, train, and take it easy & enjoy yourself.

"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare"

deevolution• 7 years ago

If 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.

useful• 7 years ago

Climbing reduces cortisol (stress hormone) by producing testosterone. I also think fear makes you forget about everything but the problem and grounds you in what matters in life (usually not work).

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20963437

partyboat15864• 7 years ago

I wonder what it is about climbing specifically that causes this or if it you could get the same effect from say soccer.

allovernow• 7 years ago

Yes, I second this. Particularly bouldering if you're more interested in strength/smaller but more physically and cognitively demanding problems. I worked out through college and then dropped the gym for a while, bouldering indoors is much more stimulating than weightlifting, and it's a great casual activity with friends too.

starpilot2• 7 years ago

It's infested with techies too.

scarecrowbob3• 7 years ago

That's not a bad idea at all. I second that idea.

To expand on the idea, I find that the actual "workout" part of climbing is not super effective... I mean, walking/ hiking is a workout too but by itself it's not going to bring about many physiological changes without a lot of additional targeted work. For context, I don't climb "hard"... I lead trad around 5.9+, sport around 11a/b, and was grunting up some WI4 this weekend as a newbie ice climber in Ouray-- I don't boulder outside of a gym if I can avoid it.

I think most people can climb 5.10 outside without changing a lot of fitness... the skills and techniques are so much more important than strength, assuming a basic level of fitness.

What I have found is that I'm a lot more likely to do actual working out when I have a project I'm trying to get strong enough to do.

Additionally, climbing keeps me doing approaches with a pack, and there is fitness that comes with that practice. Or I need to get up hella early, so it often prevents me from drinking. Or I have a reason to fast and keep my weight as low as possible without feeling like I'm jut being neurotic and picky about what I eat.

That is all to say, I've gotten a lot of stoke for working out from climbing, but the climbing itself hasn't been specifically great workout wise.

So maybe this is just a quibble, and not a disagreement; I certainly like to recommend that people get out and climb and it sure has gotten me around the issue of not wanting to exercise, even if I don't find it to be a great workout in itself.

But that quibble does change the character of the recommendation, I think: in general, I think that any hobby which benefits from high levels of fitness is a good thing that makes working out easier. Mountain biking, back country skiing, mountaineering, canyoneering... all of those are great and make getting into the gym feel like it has a much higher pay-off.

basementcat• 7 years ago

Sometimes after a climb I’m exhausted not just physically but also from all the mental effort related to path planning. Ive noticed a similar "exhaustion" (perhaps in a diminished form) after skiing and snowboarding on tricky (for me) terrain.

copperx2• 7 years ago

This is a great idea, but climb what? You need to live close to a mountain range for this to be practical.

pale-hands• 7 years ago

Another niche sport recommendation: unicycling! Good for core, a unique skill, insanely fun. Learning is a test of perseverance. If you're physically talented, advanced skills will keep you engaged. If you're merely able-bodied, you can still learn to ride. A surprising number of people take it up in their 50s and 60s.

viburnum2• 7 years ago

Is there a scientific way to distinguish evolutionary biology from bourgeois ideology?

eeZah7Ux2• 7 years ago

I'm not sure about what you mean but a lot of completely made up "popular science" seems to be easily sold as evolutionary science.

"Some people have longer ears than others. Maybe they were better able to hear predators and avoid them and therefore theirs genes spread further..."

viburnum2• 7 years ago

Yeah, so much of it is made up just so stories, and those stories usually flatter the ruling class. It’s fashionable for CEOs to work out, so of course there’s a story about how it’s evolutionary biology reason that makes people smarter or whatever. That article was pretty short on experimental evidence.

Der_Einzige• 7 years ago

Last I checked, Socialists were the ones who tried extremely hard to get everyone to be physically active. It was the Machismo Cuban Revolutionary who fought and won against decadent bourgeois ideology. Not the Sedentary Cuban Revolutionary...

0xcde4c3db2• 7 years ago

I think it's more complicated than an association with any single broad ideological category. For instance, fascists tend to be very big on promoting physical fitness, presumably because it's a natural nexus between the obsessions with vitality and militarism.

dang• 7 years ago

Please don't post ideological flamebait to HN.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

tchingy• 7 years ago

The tendency to compartmentalize mind and body never made sense to me. The brain is adapted to navigating the physical world, so it should be unsurprising that physical exercise is a prerequisite to proper functioning. Why else would the "memory palace" be a thing? If our memory/perception is inherently spatial, then it relies on a privileged observer capable of interacting with its environment. The rest of the nervous system is basically just feeding you training data when you exercise.

vezycash2• 7 years ago

If I understood the article properly, then:

PLAY - Playing a physical game like tag, catch, soccer, volley ball, hide and seek... provides both physical exercise and cognitive / social stimulation because of group play's dynamic nature.

This next bit might not be useful. In college, the distance from my apartment to school was 15 - 20 minutes. And I took to the habit of listening to audio books on my ride (traffic was low so it was relatively safe).

I noticed that if I listened to a track while riding, I would remember exactly where I was the next time I listened to the track.

(The track reminded me of the location, rather than the location reminded me of the track.)

austin_y• 7 years ago

I noticed that if I listened to a track while riding, I would remember exactly where I was the next time I listened to the track.

I experienced the same thing recently by listening to a book on my drive to/from work! I often listened to sections of the book a second time to catch things I missed, or to help ideas sink in, and found that I could often clearly picture the stretch of road on which I heard a passage.

copperx2• 7 years ago

This is just a modern twist of the memory palace technique known since ancient times.

ctrlaltdylan• 7 years ago

I'd love to know if there's an above average tendency for those interested or working in the technology field also have a history with endurance related sports. I know a lot of really talented developers that are into biking/hiking/running.

sjy• 7 years ago

I guess many of those sports are easily quantified, enhanced using technology (eg. bike computers, maps, running apps), and accessible without the need to be part of a larger social group.

paimpozhil• 7 years ago

Badminton is a great sport that requires lot of thinking and very fast movements and physical strength . I wish more people start playing that

FabHK• 7 years ago

we have developed a game designed to specifically challenge aspects of cognition that tend to decline with age and that are probably needed during foraging. In the game, players spatially navigate and complete attention and memory tasks while cycling at a moderate aerobic intensity level.

Sounds interesting and potentially fun. And it might provide more motivation for exercise. Startup idea...

dartdartdart12• 7 years ago

Or maybe host a tournament series where you host the top x amount of players and they all have to play while on a treadmill haha

Evolutionary history and why physical activity is important for brain health

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