
Adopting a more active lifestyle could benefit your personality decades from now - WalterSear
https://digest.bps.org.uk/2018/02/23/adopting-a-more-active-lifestyle-today-could-have-benefits-for-your-personality-decades-from-now/
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ak39
45 yo, male.

I recently (about a month ago) introduced high intensity, puke-inducing, balls
to the walls prowler sled pushes into my 3 times a week routine strength
training sessions.

First week it felt like I could have found a new method for suicide! I kept on
going, kept on pushing out those 7 rounds of 25 meters (each way).

Second week, I am sleeping better, my joint pains have all but disappeared. I
can feel a huge difference in the way I walk. Walking has become faster, more
deliberate such as lifting feet clear off the floor and even walking faster in
public spaces without feeling shortness of breath.

Week three - I suddenly feel my mood, my speech and my thoughts have improved.
Energy levels are high and I'm listening to music again, enjoying the small
things again. I've phoned old friends I lost contact with many years ago for
catch up coffee and I no longer have my usual thick-as-fog shameful sense of
depression that I wake up with. It's there, but it doesn't intrude constantly
like it used to. (I have tried meditation but I found it too difficult.)

I don't know how long this will last but I am almost certain that the high
intensity blood pumping full body workout prowler sled pushes are the shit.

Highly recommended.

~~~
amelius
Watch out for overtraining. It can cause your central nervous system to become
overworked, leading to (mental) fatigue, and other nasty symptoms.

~~~
dev360
I cant second this enough. I echoed a lot of the same enthusiasm initially
when getting into crossfit-style exercises but have slowly realized that heavy
barbell/weight exercises is not that great for 5x a week training. I used to
wear myself out to the point that my joints were aking so much that I had to
take 1-2 weeks off just to come back to my old volume lifts. Its very easy to
get too enthusiastic and it hurts more and more the older you are.

------
jcfrei
I firmly believe that PE in high school is the most important class you'll
ever take. Getting to know the limits of your body and learning to push and
exhaust yourself is probably one of the most important lessons in life. PE
teachers face a big challenge in making this as fun and rewarding as possible.
But if they succeed their students will be rewarded with lower mortality,
higher mental fitness and lower chances of serious injuries for the rest of
their lives.

~~~
pjc50
I blame school PE for giving me a distaste for exercise that took years to get
past as an adult.

(edit: if you find yourself in this situation, possible solutions include
unusual sports, or in my case getting a heart rate monitor and going for a run
_without_ putting yourself too close to your max heart rate. The bad things
about school sports are the competitiveness, the uniforms, the lack of choice,
the weather, and the lack of adaptation to your own ability)

~~~
ergothus
This. I'm fully aware that I should improve my health for many reasons. But my
every experience with physical activity tells me I will feel pain, discomfort,
and personal embarrassment in large degrees. (Every experience I can actually
recall. I know as a child I was perfectly happy running around - but that is
not what it feels like now and I can't recall the feeling then. I know PE
classes created negative associations, and those I CAN recall. In horrifying
detail.

Everyone that talks about the good feeling you get afterwards either has
different physiology, feels pain to a lower degree, or just has a better
willpower + long term view. Regardless, such advice just feels like a dodge or
an attack. Meanwhile, while my brain KNOWS healthy is better, the consequences
just don't FEEL real, so it is far easier to procrastinate. All of which makes
activity MORE painful, MORE uncomfortable, and MORE embarrassing (because I'm
more out of shape), so it's the opposite of a virtuous cycle.

My issues today are a combination of time (in addition to disliking the
activity, I'm disliking the opportunity cost), discomfort, fear, and boredom
(if I have nothing to focus on all I end up focusing on is my discomfort. If I
have something to focus on, I'll instinctively stop doing things that make it
harder to focus, such as movement, which means I have to start focusing on the
bad parts again). I know (again, from experience) that I can feel better with
more exercise eventually - but it takes weeks at a minimum, involves a lot of
discomfort, is easily lost, and has not yet been a strong feeling (though I've
never had any activity I maintained for more than 3 months, and that rarely).

All of which sounds like excuses...and are. But they are also real obstacles I
need to find a work around for, because willpower and logic alone have clearly
not sufficed.

~~~
egypturnash
> Everyone that talks about the good feeling you get afterwards either has
> different physiology, feels pain to a lower degree, or just has a better
> willpower + long term view.

My experience is that I don't feel good after exercise at first. I have to
keep it up for multiple weeks, until my body actually gets fit enough that I
can pass some inner threshold of a Real Workout, and get my reward of a happy
kind of exhaustion.

I'm currently out of shape and fighting to try and get myself to go exercise
regularly enough that this happens again. It's not easy.

~~~
dev360
Keep going. It took some experimenting for me to realize what kind of strength
training and cardio I liked. Try different things until you find something
that is tolerable and then take it to the next level.

------
tombert
I feel a bit silly that, for most of my life, I figured that I could eat
whatever I wanted all the time, never exercise, and live a mostly unhealthy
lifestyle, and it _wouldn 't_ affect my brain.

I've never believed in a mind-body separation, so the fact that it took me 25
years to figure out that there might be some effect is quite silly; the brain
is an organ, and like anything else in your body, and if you don't take care
of your body, it will be affected.

The good news is that I realized this early enough and try and eat a bit
healthier (though admittedly I don't exercise as much as I should).

~~~
amelius
What would be the best advice for a healthy diet when it comes to the (aging)
brain?

It's easy to find a lot of advice by searching, e.g. [1], but how do we know
which advice is solid?

Also, there are many dietary-supplements (e.g. resveratrol,
phosphatidylcholine, etc), but which really work?

Finally, does it make sense to do genetic testing (e.g. 23andme), and support
your "weak" genes (SNPs) through diet? Or is that approach a health-fad,
unlikely to work in practice?

[1] [http://www.lifeextension.com/Magazine/2016/4/How-to-Delay-
Br...](http://www.lifeextension.com/Magazine/2016/4/How-to-Delay-Brain-Aging-
by-11-Years/Page-01)

~~~
jackhack
Multivitamin if you think you may be malnourished. Don't skip breakfast.

For breakfast, look for protein & fat. (Bacon & eggs). With butter. A small
amount of carbs is okay, but watch the toast (grains) & jam (refined sugar).
Tea/Coffee with cream, if you like. The protein and fat will help with satiety
and avoid a big carb/sugar insulun spike.

I wouldn't bother with genetic testing or obscure supplements until you feel
like you have the basics covered, and have found a lean, stable body weight.

~~~
beagle3
What's behind "don't skip breakfast?"

(see, e,g,
[https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/nov/28/breakfa...](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/nov/28/breakfast-
health-america-kellog-food-lifestyle) )

~~~
dictum
If my anecdote can counter your (healthy) skepticism, I ran the "who needs
breakfast?" experiment on myself as a high schooler. I regret it. I was
constantly dizzy/lethargic in the morning, despite eating well in the rest of
the day. (Of course, you can point to the differences between a teenager and
an adult person.)

~~~
beagle3
I have the opposite anecdote: If I ate breakfast, I was
tired/lethargic/falling asleep until the afternoon - but if I skipped
breakfast, I was alert and awake until dinner time.

------
slfnflctd
My mom subtly encouraged me to do her VHS aerobics routine alongside her when
I was a kid, but with no pressure. I was therefore more open to the idea of
trying out weightlifting in high school. I was then more open to checking out
a gym membership (or three) in my 20s. I accordingly found it easier to shell
out for a home weight bench & stationary bike in my 30s.

After a (typical) February backslide, I finally got my first workout all month
done this morning, it's the best I've felt in weeks. Fortunately I'm still in
better shape than I was a year ago. The benefits become increasingly clearer
over time. I often quit for longer than I should, but I keep coming back.
Anyway, thanks, Mom!

------
btrettel
The most important factor in maintaining fitness for life seems to be how long
one can maintain the exercise activity. This is a major reason why I am a
transportation cyclist. I don't own a car, am too cheap to use ride-sharing
frequently, and dislike buses, so I have no choice but to ride almost
everywhere.

No excuses are valid. Don't feel like it? Doesn't matter. I don't want to ride
most mornings. Cold weather or rain? Too bad, no choice still. Sick? Take a
day off for your health.

Several people I have met seem to think riding as often as I do requires
superhuman willpower. But I am no more successful at maintaining other
exercise in my life. I used to run more regularly, but I haven't had the time
for a while. So I understand how difficult maintaining an exercise habit is.
That's why I leave nothing to chance.

If you can organize your day such that exercise is unavoidable, do it.

(And it doesn't need to be cycling. Walking to work is good too, though much
more time consuming and lower intensity. I also think doing exercise in a
group with social costs for skipping out is good, though not as unavoidable as
transportation cycling.)

------
austincheney
I suffered a life threatening infection in December. I have since started
taking health seriously. I am nearly 39 and I can run a 28 minute 4 mile and a
12:30 2 mile even though I have asthma.

~~~
ak39
Sometimes the disease is the cure. (Those are some good running stats. Great
going!)

------
newnewpdro
It also makes you substantially more physically attractive, which can be a
welcome change or a nuisance, depending on your goals.

I found it somewhat offensive to learn firsthand how incredibly shallow people
really are. Fit men are constantly flirted with by women, unfit, not so much.

It's obvious in hindsight, and doesn't really bother me anymore.

~~~
nserrino
How is that offensive? Fit women are also flirted with more than unfit women
by men of all levels of fitness. Being fit is a positive quality to look for
in a mate, and it's one of the few that you can tell at first glance. Congrats
on getting more fit though!

~~~
newnewpdro
This is a little difficult to explain, especially without appearing crass or
it coming across as a humble brag or something like that.

Let's just say in the USA there's a strong culture of denial and reinforcement
surrounding being unfit and/or overweight. If you live long enough surrounded
by that environment, you start believing it yourself and being part of it.

So when I started making changes without any specific goal of changing my
appearance, I was just trying to make myself stay youthful longer for quality
of life reasons, the appearance stuff was a necessary side effect. It was
pretty jarring to have women agressively flirting with me since it was
completely unfamiliar territory, nor part of my goals, and a lot of those lies
this culture surrounds what are arguably unwell people with just kind of
shattered: yes looks matter, yes I was previously unattractive, yes people are
shallow, no your girlfriend saying weight doesn't matter on guys is not being
honest, etc.

<anecdata> One of my friends married a Chinese woman, and I was visiting where
they live (now in the US) for a couple months. We hung out when I first
arrived, and I was in really excellent shape with well-fitting clothes. Just
in the course of a couple months spending time in a different area, with a
drastically different (unhealthy) food culture, and generally taking less care
of myself, I must have put on 10-15 lbs.

The next time we hung out, the first thing that came out of his wife's mouth
when she saw me was "you're getting fat!"

Americans don't do this, and it's a disservice to everyone. I was not
bothered, and it made me laugh, knowing it was just a temporary condition. But
this is damn important feedback for people to hear rather than letting
everyone exist in total denial enabling further self-neglect.

I've had a number of experiences like this with Chinese women, their culture
is a lot different in this regard. Americans tend to see it as rude, I see it
as necessary, and really appreciate the honest unsolicited feedback.
</anecdata>

There was just some adjustment that needed to take place. It's learning you've
been lied to for a very long time by many people to the point you were lying
to yourself. Kind of similar to the atheist rage that commonly occurs when
someone raised in some religion realizes everyone growing up was lying to them
the moment they discovered it's all fiction.

Then there's the challenge of simply acclimating to having all this attention
from the opposite sex when previously there was none. Depending on your
personality, this can be quite a burden and stressful. I miss the freedom to
just go out and be ignored everywhere I go. It's not something I predicted
losing when I started taking better care of myself. But when you're fit, and
I'm not even talking like some body builder or anything - unfortunately in the
USA it doesn't take very much effort to be well above the average fitness -
people give you substantially more attention.

I'm nothing special. All it seems to take is doing a few hundred pushups every
day and eating copious amounts of produce, for years. People get all hung up
on spending hours exercising, seriously just spend a dozen minutes a day on
lots of pushups every damn day and you'll get most of the benefits exercise
has to offer in my experience.

But be warned, socially, I've found it's a mixed bag.

~~~
HeroOfAges
I've found that professionally it can be a mixed bag as well. I'm in pretty
good shape physically and I take care to wear clothes that fit me well, even
going so far as to have my shirts and blazers altered. I've found that
displaying what would otherwise be considered positive and confident body
language, coupled with a fit, muscular physique tends to make people assume
I'm arrogant and overconfident without having exchanged a single word. In the
average workplace where your ability to do your job well takes a back seat to
being able to deftly navigate a politically charged environment, this will
cause you to be isolated very quickly. It took me a very long time to
understand what was happening, because I just couldn't believe it. It made
absolutely no sense. Still, I wouldn't change a thing.

 _just to be clear, by "politically charged environment", I'm referring to
office politics, not politics in terms of our government_

\-- edited for clarity

------
notadoc
Adopting a more active lifestyle will benefit you in nearly every way
possible, mentally and physically, both immediately and in the long term.

We did not spend millions of years evolving to be inactive, sedentary, or
slow. We are not sloths, tortoises, plants, or mushrooms. We are an apex
predator optimized for frequent mobility and efficient travel over long
distances for extended periods of time. Perhaps if we spend a few more million
years sitting constantly while over-consuming garbage foods, we will evolve
into blobs of fat and cartilage surrounding a central brain.

------
henryw
I recently started going to the gym for yoga, cardio classes, or just walking
on an inclined treadmill for about 2 hours per day. This has been the best
I've felt in life. I don't mind doing this for the rest of my life. The
quieting of mind from yoga really helps me step back and see things from a
higher viewpoint (like not being stuck in a local minimum).

~~~
bradjohnson
Out of curiosity (because I would like to organize my day to be able to fit 2
hours of exercise each day) how is your typical day structured? Between work,
commute, personal projects, grocery shopping, appointments, cooking, and
sleep, I barely have enough time to fit 1 hour/day 3-4 times a week. Weekends
are the exception, but I'd like to be able to have more flexible time during
the week.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
It is all very doable until you have...kids.

~~~
eatbitseveryday
One can jog while being with the children via a sturdy wheeled stroller.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
We tried that, but had to put ours away for an Uppababy instead because he
didn't like sitting way down in the jogger seat.

------
agjacobson
I found, at least for myself that there was a large opportunity for reversal,
when adopting a more active lifestyle in retirement.

