This is Your Brain on Exercise (2017) | Hacker News Reader

This is Your Brain on Exercise (2017)

outsideonline.com

176 pointscaprorso38 comments

My takeaway from the article and from other studies is that exercise improves the condition of your brain, allowing one to be more efficient at what they are doing. Something that the article didn't state is that exercise has a positive impact on the creation of new neurons on the brain. The idea that we're born with a limited number of brain cells has been debunked. An analogy would be going to the gym might not make you better at any particular sport but it will help you on the path to be better at that sport; your brain possesses a certain amount of neuroplasticity, akin to a muscle, training this "muscle" and having the right physique will help with your goal, be it improving efficiency or learning a new skillset.

> exercise has a positive impact on the creation of new neurons on the brain. The idea that we're born with a limited number of brain cells has been debunked.

I'm not being a typical HN'er, I am legitimately curious, do you have some good sources that describe this? My current understanding is that new neurons aren't so easily formed because your brain is actually so efficient, it will simply form new pathways between existing neurons to do the same thing it once did with lost or damaged neurons. Would like to know that this is incorrect or not.

> My current understanding is that new neurons aren't so easily formed because your brain is actually so efficient, it will simply form new pathways between existing neurons to do the same thing it once did with lost or damaged neurons.

That's what we have been taught at school.

Meanwhile we better understand neurogenesis, creation of nerves, and neuroplasticity, rewiring of nerves:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201...

In a nutshell, the brain continues to grow new nerves and new connections throughout our whole lives.

Hth?

For the past 3 weeks I’ve been using the Pomodoro Method at work. For those who don’t know, it’s 25 minutes of deeply focused work, followed by a 5 minute break.

In my break I’ve been excercising: running up stairs, doing push ups, wall sits, etc. I’ve always had trouble focusing in open offices, but now I can focus without even needing headphones! And to top that off we use story point estimates, and I started flying through those estimates.

Obviously I’m just one story where the sample size is n=1. But after reading this article I think pairing Pomodoro with some light exercise has some unseen positive feedback.

Pomodoro fits in reasonably well with good ergonomics practices. From the Cornell University Ergonomics group's page on sitting and standing at work:

> Sit to do computer work. Sit using a height-adjustable, downward titling keyboard tray for the best work posture, then every 20 minutes stand for 8 minutes AND MOVE for 2 minutes. The absolute time isn’t critical but about every 20-30 minutes take a posture break and stand and move for a couple of minutes. Simply standing is insufficient. Movement is important to get blood circulation through the muscles. And movement is FREE! Research shows that you don’t need to do vigorous exercise (e.g. jumping jacks) to get the benefits, just walking around is sufficient. So build in a pattern of creating greater movement variety in the workplace (e.g. walk to a printer, water fountain, stand for a meeting, take the stairs, walk around the floor, park a bit further away from the building each day).

Link: http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/cuesitstand.html

Archive link: https://web.archive.org/web/20181231082003/http://ergo.human...

"downward titling keyboard tray"

Is it the front edge or the back edge of the keyboard that's supposed to be facing down?

The side closest to you should be higher. Microsoft’s ergonomic keyboards come with removable risers that achieve this.

I havent read the papers quoted in the article. But, I'm a little puzzled reading this.. It sounds more like interpreting what they want to see or think is happening.

> Aerobic exercise appears to lead to changes in both the structure of the brain and the way it operates, which together bolster learning in kids, give adults an edge on cognitive tasks, and protect against the cognitive declines that often come with age.

Given the penultimate paragraph where they say - “You shouldn’t expect to increase your IQ or anything of that nature,” How could the above statement be true? What measure is there to say "this behavior we are seeing is increasing learning ability of the brain while not increasing the IQ"?

> so the brain was able to better identify specific features during exercise.

and

>and found the same thing: After exercise, one’s senses are heightened and thus can detect the flashing at a higher frequency than before exercise.

Sure, but exercise is more of our body pushing itself to do something. Does this mean the same behavior is observed or even amplified when you cordinate that level of work and play sports instead? Then why not recommend people to play sports that need more brain work (strategy, using senses to stay sharp, motor skills etc). One would assume the more you flex your brain muscle it gets "better" No?

> They discovered that the brain uses some of that(extra energy from glucose and carbs due to increased heart rate) fuel to build more neurotransmitters, the chemicals that relay messages around the nervous system.

How does this compare to say playing chess or playing Tennis?

I'm not disputing the article. I'm trying to understand the logic and get better results by playing sports instead of running while watching Netflix on the phone.... Am I getting it wrong?

My reading is the following. Say my IQ is pretty constant. As any father can attest to, there are a lot of factors influencing whether I'm on top of my game. A few rough nights and I'm in a worse state for days. Let's say exercise usually is correlated with better sleep, better cardiovascular operation etc. and also the other way around (I train less when tired). Then I can easily follow better performance after training but also for groups that exercise more. You just make better use of your potential (IQ).

>As any father can attest to, there are a lot of factors influencing whether I'm on top of my game.

Off-topic but I really don't understand why so many parents like to imply that only/mainly they know/experience things that are common to everyone.

Grandparent didn't claim that bad sleep patterns occur only to parents. He claimed that all parents have experienced bad sleeping patterns.

I said imply, not claim.

That was only example from my life. Other episodes with the same outcome were too much partying in college, sleep deprivation because cool when a teen. I guess we all have examples where we are totally outside a normal balanced state of mind with detrimental effects to our mental well-being!

My point was more generally that in person IQ is constant but life factors and choices can lead to sub-optimal outcomes intelligence wise.

Being awakened every night, sometimes multiple times a night, for years is common to everyone?

Not being at the top of your game because you are tired (which is what the point was) is.. If one only has that experience after they become a parent - I can only envy them.

Yes, having had roommates I can attest to this. I’m also a light sleeper so it’s pretty common that say the neighbors have a fight, it wakes me up, and then a few hours later a thunderstorm comes through it wakes me up, and then a few hours later some maniac starts laying on their horn because the person they’re giving a ride to is late again.

Any excuse to talk about it will do, because people's children are important to them. Also doesn't hurt to let other people know they are a member of this club, as there are social benefits.

Because parents have kids and before that they didn't, so they can make a solid comparison. It's not common for someone without a kid to have repeated interruptions throughout the day and night and then not have any opportunity to catch up and recover from those. But it is common among parents.

This reactionary and naive antagonism toward parents is silly and wrong-headed.

>Given the penultimate paragraph where they say - “You shouldn’t expect to increase your IQ or anything of that nature,” How could the above statement be true? What measure is there to say "this behavior we are seeing is increasing learning ability of the brain while not increasing the IQ"?

Here are some examples:

3 days without sleep will give you IQ performance 20 points less than your previously measured brain IQ. That doesn't mean you permanently got dumber. Similarly, exercise can make you perform better at cognitive tasks, while still retaining the same IQ.

Reduced blood flow to the brain (e.g. due to apnea/obesity) can make you actually lose tons of IQ points (sometimes even permanently). Exercise prevents those things.

Bedroom theory, your brain was made to interpret sensory input, if you feed it a good amount of adequate[0] stimuli it will probably massage a lot of your brain.

[0] not too sophisticated, not too fast, not too parallel

Difficult to put the long and emphatic list of cognitive enhancements together with the penultimate paragraph:

'You shouldn’t expect to increase your IQ or anything of that nature.'

If I can't expect even a 1% rise in intelligence, what am I really achieving cognitively?

Motivation and will to live, maybe? What good is extreme intelligence if you can't push yourself to crawl out of bed?

Correct, excercise really makes me feel better and motivated.

It is not that you get smarter, you don't get more stupid. I think it has something to do with extraordinary energy demand of the brain. 50 year olds can restore their cognitive ability to the level of 30 year olds through physical exercise. As Jordan Peterson puts it in one of his interviews: "Your brain is a very demanding organ, and if your cardio-vascular system is compromised then you get stupid... Brain is very metabolically demanding and if you are not in good physical shape then one of the things that suffers most greatly is your cognitive function".

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29qqv-REAZk

Throughout the article they did mention improved working memory, focus, and a host of other benefits. Maybe IQ isn’t the best measure of these benefits.

You may be right. But all of the suggested benefits seem like they should effect intelligence:

  - Higher frequency brain waves increase 'attention, memory, and information processing'

  - A heightened visual cortex increases our ability to pick out features in our environment

  - Restocking neurotransmitters to optimal levels

  - Healthier blood vessels improve working memory

these are all forms of 'intelligence' in a piece of life. I say if our body has transformed its blood vessels into a more 'healthier' state then the overall organism is operating more intelligently. Just not the type of intelligence associated with analyzing our external environment.

My anecdotal data is I am able to focus better after riding a bike to work. I may not be any smarter but I can still get useful work done for longer.

I find that exercise helps me get out of analysis paralysis when writing software and just do something. Sometimes exercise also helps me disengage and later re-engage from a different direction. In that sense it's similar to taking a shower but it takes longer and the physical effort itself also changes thinking. The world does look different when you're pushing your body hard, as if fighting for your life.

I do strength then endurance - the two somewhat cancel out but I like doing it that way and my goal isn't to win any competitions.

So how addictive is exercise exactly? If you're exercising, past the point where you feel physical hurt, because it makes you feel immediately more alert (or straight up euphoric depending), is it dangerous? It's usually attested that too much of one specific kind of exercise (e.g. running) can have problems for certain muscles and joints but I'm not finding a lot on the dangers (if any) of more diverse exercise (where you keep moving with elevated heart rate for a long, sustained, time period, but don't do the same movements every day or every hour in a single day).

> I'm not finding a lot on the dangers (if any) of more diverse exercise (where you keep moving with elevated heart rate for a long, sustained, time period, but don't do the same movements every day or every hour in a single day).

This sounds like what the human body is specifically evolved to do, so I'd imagine it's fairly safe and good for you. It seems like the sort of exercise one would get from tracking an animal for a few hours through the forest before killing it with a spear.

Humans are meant to be active for long periods of time. There aren't any dangers of exercise. Only in the minds of people who are trying to justify their fat lifestyle do they perceive some sort of risk associated with what us, animals, are meant to do be doing naturally.

Exercise is good, but that article annoyed me. It noted various exercise induced changes in the brain and behavior--increased sensitivity to stimuli, increased neurogenesis, more connectivity, etc-- without actually saying why those things are good. increased connectivity between brain regions doesn't have to be good, and you can be too sensitive and alert to stimuli

I would recommend reading the book for anyone looking to get more information on same.

Spark: How exercise will improve the performance of your brain

Unfortunately, this starts off with a really bold statement.

> The toll our relatively new sedentary lifestyle takes on our bodies is clear: For the first time in U.S. history, younger generations are expected to live shorter, unhealthier lives than their parents.

This sounds really biased. Obviously exercise is good for you, but to say its the only factor causing a reduction in our life expectancy is quite a reach.

This makes me doubt their interpretation of the other research presented.

A contrarian caution on exercise worship:

Everything that makes us feel good is neurochemical in nature, including exercise. Exercise can lead to a withdrawal period of feeling shitty and unproductive, and it can be quite addictive.

Really important not to confuse "feeling good" with being good for you. Have seen a lot of people overdo it and lose their lives to pointless exercise while accomplishing very little else. Also important to realize that most things in life that give you a boost in life also give you a debt to pay back at a later time/date.

I would be hesitant to call it pointless if it makes them feel good.

It's pointless because of the hedonic treadmill. Any feel good feeling is neurochemical in nature, and any moment of feeling good will be counterbalanced at one point or another.

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