
Poor fitness linked to weaker brain fiber, higher dementia risk - evo_9
http://www.utsouthwestern.edu/newsroom/articles/year-2018/fitness-dementia.html
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calvano915
I believe this is relevant:
[https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180214093823.h...](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180214093823.htm)

Title: "Running helps brain stave off effects of chronic stress Exercise
protects vital memory and learning functions"

It's a study in mice but fascinating results IMHO.

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Bizarro
Once you do start exercising though, you have to watch out to not overdo it.

I've found that as I get older, what I would've considered moderate exercise
7-10 years ago, now causes bad moods, brain fog, fatigue, general irritability
for a day or two after the workout. And getting enough sleep, drinking a lot
of water, and making sure to eat right doesn't seem to completely alleviate
the problem completely.

It's hard striking that right balance.

~~~
d1zzy
I used to have that when I started cycling (after never doing any sports
throughout my whole life, not even the required exercises in school) but it
was a combination of doing too much too quickly with not having adapted the
rest of my behavior to support it (sleeping, eating, drinking). As they say,
finding the right balance is golden.

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imesh
Both my grandfather's and all their brothers got Alzheimer's and they all had
regular exercise routines. My mother's father was even running marathons up
until he had Alzheimer's. I'm sure it helps but in the end you can't outrun
death.

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u801e
> Not everyone is rich enough to have the time to exercise.

You don't have to be rich to find time to exercise. For example, I commute 20
minutes by bike to work. I could easily spend 10 minutes driving instead, but
by cycling, I get at least 40 minutes of physical activity in every day.

If I wasn't as well off financially, then I would seriously consider selling
my car and getting rid of the expenses associated with it and move to full
time commuting by bike.

~~~
briankirby
For most people, living biking distance from work is prohibitively expensive.

~~~
u801e
Commuting by bicycle isn't that uncommon. What do you consider to be biking
distance to work? I would say about 10 miles one way is a practical maximum
given the amount of time one has for a commute.

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IntronExon
N=81, including the cohort of cognitively normal subjects, and those with
dementia.

 _Mounting evidence showed the self-reported levels of physical activity are
positively associated with white matter (WM) integrity and cognitive
performance in normal adults and patients with mild cognitive impairment
(MCI)..._

 _However, the objective measure of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) was not
used in these studies._

Why even bother? At what point does the methodology of a study begin to so
closely resemble some guy on a rocking chair saying “ahh reckon,” that we
don’t call it science?

~~~
dang
On HN, could you please not post this sort of shallow, predictable dismissal
of other people's work?

What we're getting on an internet forum is not informed professional critique
of sample sizes, but a clichéd reflex that is well past its best-before date.

~~~
IntronExon
I apologize, and I’ll make sure that future criticism is. Ore detailed and
less cliche.

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always_good
It amazes me how rare it is for people to exercise.

Entering my 30s, a somewhat regular exercise routine is something I expect in
the people I date.

Yet some of those people reject the idea that it's something they should do at
all. They just don't like it the same way a kid doesn't like vegetables, as if
that's an option. It blew my mind the first dozen times I'd heard someone say
that they just aren't interested in it.

~~~
mevile
Exercise is important, but your comment is so full of smug "look why can't
everyone be as awesome as me" that it really turned me off to any point you
were trying to make.

Not everyone is rich enough to have the time to exercise. Some people have to
work two jobs just to pay rent. Some people have children that take up all of
their time, we're not all brought up in nurturing wealthy homes with
supportive parents making sure we learn all the things we should.

People can't find a moment to have a minute of rest in their lives, can't even
afford healthy food and here you are being condescending about what is wrong
with all these other people you don't know a thing about.

~~~
ericmcer
Failing to exercise is an area where I think the victim/excuse mentality kinda
falls to pieces. Unless you are just entirely ignorant that it's a concern, it
is something that anyone can do. Do some yoga/pushups/sit-ups every morning
(5-10mins) and then go for a short walk on your lunch-break. There is no way
someone cannot do that unless they just 'don't want to'. It is free, takes
almost no time, and can be as simple as walking around for 15 minutes.

I don't think it is smug to challenge people to take the smallest, tiniest,
bare minimum amount of personal responsibility.

~~~
twmb
It is easy to think that everybody can carve out even a small 5-10m for
exercise, but that thought fails to consider people that have had or do have
chronic pain or serious injuries.

It is incredibly hard to go from zero to minimal exercise, especially when
even basic exercises seem to flare up old injuries. Where do you start? A
poorly done crunch might throw out your back again -- do you risk it? Ten push
ups might flare up your old tendonosis, should you do any? Your knees are weak
from lack of exercise for years, and now 20 free weight squats makes your
knees ache the next day -- is this good pain, or will the problem get worse as
you do more?

Even without pain, it isn't hard to imagine people being too busy for _most_
of their day to find the motivation to exercise for a simple 10 minutes. Your
day might start with a long, early commute to a tedious job. After a long
commute back home, it may be hard to say "well, time to strain my body!" That
is mentally tough, especially so if you have to prepare dinner, interact with
kids, answer late night emails, etc.

I don't scoff at people who fail to exercise. I feel bad for what is going on
or had happened in their life that drains them of the motivation or ability to
exercise.

~~~
jorblumesea
For most Americans, they can easily carve out 1 hour of TV a day. There's
really no excuse for anyone between the ages of 10 and 60 to walk 15 minutes a
day. Obviously there are outliers, as you said, disability issues, health
problems etc.

But the vast majority of Americans eat way more than they should and don't
give it a second thought. For most of America it's a cultural issue, not a
physical or practical problem.

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nradov
Dupe

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16387966](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16387966)

~~~
dang
On HN it doesn't count as a dupe if the story hasn't had significant attention
yet, and the convention is to only link to threads that got some comments.
Otherwise people click, feel shortchanged, and get ornery.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html)

------
Azeat
Speaking from a US perspective, a lot of people have a misconception of what
"fitness" means in the first place. They think it means signing up for
expensive and unnecessary gym programs and drinking twice your weight in
protein.

In reality you can do it from anywhere, it's very simple, and there's no
excuse besides physical disability or laziness. I work 12 hours everyday and
sometimes 16, and yet ever since taking on this job where I sit in front of a
computer for the entirety of that shift, I'm in better shape then ever. That's
because I've developed a consistent routine of working out.

I don't have a schedule or use an app or anything, I just do push-ups when I
get home and sometimes when I'm at work too. Instead of using the elevator, I
take the stairs. It's just about doing something regularly. For bonus points,
get good sleep and eat better.

Very personal anecdote on my part but I hate reading "not everyone has time to
workout." How much time do you need to do 10 push ups if nothing else?

