Hi InquilineKea. I’m almost new to posting here myself, and am also a long-time lurker. I’m also a borderline Aspie and a generalist rather than a specialist, and my brother has been diagnosed with ADD, so I can likely relate to you more than the average person, though perhaps not more than the average user of this site. I’m also impressed with the levels of intelligence and rationality, usually superior to my own, that I encounter on Less Wrong, though I do wish that the site were more active. I’ve recently told some of my friends about Less Wrong (usually via HPatMoR), and I also plan on contributing more to this site myself. (I realize that I expressed my hope to contribute more this past summer in a post earlier this year, but now I do finally have the time to contribute. Let this comment serve as social pressure for additional motivation).
I’m curious about the specifics of your reasoning on exercise, InquilineKea. If you’re afraid of exercising inconsistently, why not practice exercising consistently so as to get better at exercising consistently?
Hey, I appreciate your post a lot. Yes, true, I agree on the additional motivation.
On exercise, it is true that exercising consistently might make me better at exercising consistently. But unfortunately (from all my other non-exercise habits), I know that I’m bad at maintaining a routine every day (especially in the light of lots of schoolwork) so I’ve figured out that I’m better off not trying for now (actually it seems that mid-life exercise is more important than early-life exercise for preventing sarcopenia/muscle wasting).
I find his evolutionary arguments plausible, though I think there may have been some long distance running (not at marathon pace) for transportation and/or cursorial hunting in ancestral environments.
His approach seems like a reasonable experiment—plausible, not especially dangerous. The idea that a regular schedule for food and exercise is better seems like an unexamined fairly modern assumption.
This is certainly interesting, but I’ll wait for more studies before I try any of this on myself, since parts of Taleb’s approach are a bit dangerous, including improper sleep duration and prolonged periods of physical inactivity. Risk-benefit analyses of fasting and infrequent intense exercise are also inconclusive at present.
I’m not sure if he meant prolonged periods of no exercise at all, or (as I suspect) prolonged periods of nothing more intense than long leisurely walks.
Ah. I understand that time management is a problem, but I wouldn’t give up just yet. Try exercising one day a week, then moving on to two, etc., as opposed to starting off exercising every day without fail (of course, even with an optimal exercise routine, rest days are still important). What I mean by practicing consistent exercise is starting from the bottom, not starting from the top. As a perfectionist I find this difficult, but it’s generally easier than starting with a perfect habit from scratch. Also, if you are bad at maintaining a regular routine, don’t forget to tsuyoku naritai.
I’m usually bad at maintaining routines as well, but have trained myself up to engaging in aerobic exercise approximately 4-5 times a week, mostly for the anxiety and depression-reducing effects, since the improvement in mental health more than makes up for the time used in exercising. Don’t forget to factor your own issues with anxiety into your aerobic exercise cost/benefit analysis. However, I currently don’t have time for anaerobic exercise, which is not as important but still useful. I have time management issues, myself.
Hi InquilineKea. I’m almost new to posting here myself, and am also a long-time lurker. I’m also a borderline Aspie and a generalist rather than a specialist, and my brother has been diagnosed with ADD, so I can likely relate to you more than the average person, though perhaps not more than the average user of this site. I’m also impressed with the levels of intelligence and rationality, usually superior to my own, that I encounter on Less Wrong, though I do wish that the site were more active. I’ve recently told some of my friends about Less Wrong (usually via HPatMoR), and I also plan on contributing more to this site myself. (I realize that I expressed my hope to contribute more this past summer in a post earlier this year, but now I do finally have the time to contribute. Let this comment serve as social pressure for additional motivation).
I’m curious about the specifics of your reasoning on exercise, InquilineKea. If you’re afraid of exercising inconsistently, why not practice exercising consistently so as to get better at exercising consistently?
Hey, I appreciate your post a lot. Yes, true, I agree on the additional motivation.
On exercise, it is true that exercising consistently might make me better at exercising consistently. But unfortunately (from all my other non-exercise habits), I know that I’m bad at maintaining a routine every day (especially in the light of lots of schoolwork) so I’ve figured out that I’m better off not trying for now (actually it seems that mid-life exercise is more important than early-life exercise for preventing sarcopenia/muscle wasting).
Taleb on the advantages of irregular eating and exercising.
Hmmm. This does seem based on self-experimentation, unfortunately. To which research is Taleb referring to?
I don’t know what his research sources are.
I find his evolutionary arguments plausible, though I think there may have been some long distance running (not at marathon pace) for transportation and/or cursorial hunting in ancestral environments.
His approach seems like a reasonable experiment—plausible, not especially dangerous. The idea that a regular schedule for food and exercise is better seems like an unexamined fairly modern assumption.
This is certainly interesting, but I’ll wait for more studies before I try any of this on myself, since parts of Taleb’s approach are a bit dangerous, including improper sleep duration and prolonged periods of physical inactivity. Risk-benefit analyses of fasting and infrequent intense exercise are also inconclusive at present.
I’m not sure if he meant prolonged periods of no exercise at all, or (as I suspect) prolonged periods of nothing more intense than long leisurely walks.
Hmmm. Good point. I’d still be careful with sleep duration, though.
Actually, this post explains what I’m attempting to express on the subject of exercise more eloquently than I do.
Ah. I understand that time management is a problem, but I wouldn’t give up just yet. Try exercising one day a week, then moving on to two, etc., as opposed to starting off exercising every day without fail (of course, even with an optimal exercise routine, rest days are still important). What I mean by practicing consistent exercise is starting from the bottom, not starting from the top. As a perfectionist I find this difficult, but it’s generally easier than starting with a perfect habit from scratch. Also, if you are bad at maintaining a regular routine, don’t forget to tsuyoku naritai.
I’m usually bad at maintaining routines as well, but have trained myself up to engaging in aerobic exercise approximately 4-5 times a week, mostly for the anxiety and depression-reducing effects, since the improvement in mental health more than makes up for the time used in exercising. Don’t forget to factor your own issues with anxiety into your aerobic exercise cost/benefit analysis. However, I currently don’t have time for anaerobic exercise, which is not as important but still useful. I have time management issues, myself.
Oh okay, good ideas (and nice references). Yeah, I should try that sometime.