One piece of obvious advice I’ve heard a lot is that you should exercise more.
I have a lot of … probably weak … counterarguments to this. They seem to be rationalizations; e.g. “I don’t want to do this because …”.
For example, I’ll list a few.
Why should I exercise if I’m already at a good weight?
Why should I exercise if my daily life (programming) does not require significant physical skill?
Why should I exercise if I already go on a short (15 min) daily walk—is more really needed?
I don’t want to feel tired, so exercising doesn’t feel rewarding to me at all
Exercising takes up time, I’d rather not spend this time exercising
If you live a longer life because of exercising, how do you know you’re not running a red queen’s race (you have to stay fit lest you get a heart attack 6 months later because it’s old and you die anyway)
Rather than looking for cutting edge ideas to be more productive, I’m rather looking for a cutting edge idea as to why obvious advice would work / be given.
Possibly I should make a reddit account and post on changemyview or something. I just don’t see why I should exercise at the moment given that I have the weight I want and the fitness to do what I need to do and don’t have any health issues related to fitness (dental issues, but that’s a separate point and due to a filling that seems have been placed improperly).
Then again, I sometimes feel as if I’m one-eyed, saying “I understand how having two eyes would be better, but is it really necessary? Operating is hard, it costs money, it takes time, I’d have to go to the hospital, it’d be a huge thing, and I can already see right now, so I don’t see why you’d want two eyes. Yeah, okay, the redundancy would be nice, that you’re not blinded if your one eye gets dirty or develops issues, but is all the hassle really worth a second eye?” And I’d feel that the answer that would convince me is actually seeing out of two eyes and realizing that hey, you can sort of see in 3D now and estimate distance and you get depth perception and a wider field of vision and it’s easier to read or skim text and blah blah blah blah—but you wouldn’t know that, because you only have one eye.
Meta: if something has tons of evidence and you can’t bring yourself to try it for a month ask yourself TDT-wise what your life looks like with and without skill of ‘try seemingly good ideas for a month.’
Why should I exercise if I’m already at a good weight?
Great question! The benefits of exercise run beyond weight loss. Exercise generally improves your health and keeps your system running and in check. Most people report extra clarity of mind relating to exercising as well. Something about chemicals and endorphins. Actually lots of people enjoy exercise, or if they don’t at first—come to enjoy it quite easily.
Why should I exercise if my daily life (programming) does not require significant physical skill?
Why should I exercise if I already go on a short (15 min) daily walk—is more really needed?
Actually that’s probably enough. Numbers cited are usually 30mins of moderate exercise 3 times a week.
I don’t want to feel tired, so exercising doesn’t feel rewarding to me at all
if done correctly you can manage to not feel tired and instead feel energised. Sometimes it’s different types of exercise, sometimes it’s making sure you are eating the right things to help you feel great.
Exercising takes up time, I’d rather not spend this time exercising
QALYS, DALYS, Microlifes. It’s usually quoted that exercising now will increase the length and quality of life later. (with diminishing returns) something like half an hour of exercise will add an extra several hours of life onto the end of your life. So the time returns later. You don’t need to exercise alone or do nothing else. Can listen to books, can enjoy nature, can play a team sport. plenty of options to not make it wasted time.
If you live a longer life because of exercising, how do you know you’re not running a red queen’s race (you have to stay fit lest you get a heart attack 6 months later because it’s old and you die anyway)
You don’t. But if you want your best chance of survival for as long as possible, it’s generally agreed that exercise helps you get there.
Then again, I sometimes feel as if I’m one-eyed, saying “I understand how having two eyes would be better, but is it really necessary?”
You know, discovering LessWrong forced me to reconsider exactly this. I mean, the “you don’t know what you’re missing if you never had it” argument never seemed wrong before LW, just annoying.
Realistically, if a cheap and quick-to-heal eye repair/replacement method became available tomorrow, I can only try to imagine how my brain would respond to a random extra input. And depth perception sounds like some terrifying mindscrew, and what is this business about eye-crossing and seeing double? And I am a wee bit worried about what having the ability to see people in full detail would do to me (my one good eye went bad before I ever considered looking at porn… the possibility is unsettling for some hard to identify reason). And driving, and getting a decent reading speed, and hand-writing, would all take a very long time—years, most likely.
But nevertheless, leaving money on the ground is leaving money on the ground. I like braille, but it’s less useful than print precisely because print is everywhere and everything is available in it. Learning math and science when most of the best books aren’t readable is a pest. And I would be surprised if a whole sense shutting off isn’t inherently depressing just due to decreased stimulation.
Does exercise work similarly? Eh, it depends? The whole forcing yourself to do something you simply can’t get excited about for nebulous health benefits suffers from a heavy cost in effort. OTOH, if an activity can be engaging and healthy, the effort-reward ratio is high from the beginning. So this is where we look for something fun to do, rather than hitting the gym. Of course, if there is not a fun or otherwise rewarding solution available, then we’re right back where we started.
Recall the last time you had a cold with a fever or something similar. How did you feel? Slow, heavy, sluggish, low-energy, every movement takes an effort? Take that state and draw a line from it to you healthy condition. Now extend that line in the same direction: that’s where regular exercise will take you.
One piece of obvious advice I’ve heard a lot is that you should exercise more.
I have a lot of … probably weak … counterarguments to this. They seem to be rationalizations; e.g. “I don’t want to do this because …”.
For example, I’ll list a few.
Why should I exercise if I’m already at a good weight?
Why should I exercise if my daily life (programming) does not require significant physical skill?
Why should I exercise if I already go on a short (15 min) daily walk—is more really needed?
I don’t want to feel tired, so exercising doesn’t feel rewarding to me at all
Exercising takes up time, I’d rather not spend this time exercising
If you live a longer life because of exercising, how do you know you’re not running a red queen’s race (you have to stay fit lest you get a heart attack 6 months later because it’s old and you die anyway)
Rather than looking for cutting edge ideas to be more productive, I’m rather looking for a cutting edge idea as to why obvious advice would work / be given.
Possibly I should make a reddit account and post on changemyview or something. I just don’t see why I should exercise at the moment given that I have the weight I want and the fitness to do what I need to do and don’t have any health issues related to fitness (dental issues, but that’s a separate point and due to a filling that seems have been placed improperly).
Then again, I sometimes feel as if I’m one-eyed, saying “I understand how having two eyes would be better, but is it really necessary? Operating is hard, it costs money, it takes time, I’d have to go to the hospital, it’d be a huge thing, and I can already see right now, so I don’t see why you’d want two eyes. Yeah, okay, the redundancy would be nice, that you’re not blinded if your one eye gets dirty or develops issues, but is all the hassle really worth a second eye?” And I’d feel that the answer that would convince me is actually seeing out of two eyes and realizing that hey, you can sort of see in 3D now and estimate distance and you get depth perception and a wider field of vision and it’s easier to read or skim text and blah blah blah blah—but you wouldn’t know that, because you only have one eye.
What’s the two-eyed benefit of exercising?
Meta: if something has tons of evidence and you can’t bring yourself to try it for a month ask yourself TDT-wise what your life looks like with and without skill of ‘try seemingly good ideas for a month.’
Let me have a go:
Great question! The benefits of exercise run beyond weight loss. Exercise generally improves your health and keeps your system running and in check. Most people report extra clarity of mind relating to exercising as well. Something about chemicals and endorphins. Actually lots of people enjoy exercise, or if they don’t at first—come to enjoy it quite easily.
http://thefutureprimaeval.net/why-we-even-lift/
Actually that’s probably enough. Numbers cited are usually 30mins of moderate exercise 3 times a week.
if done correctly you can manage to not feel tired and instead feel energised. Sometimes it’s different types of exercise, sometimes it’s making sure you are eating the right things to help you feel great.
QALYS, DALYS, Microlifes. It’s usually quoted that exercising now will increase the length and quality of life later. (with diminishing returns) something like half an hour of exercise will add an extra several hours of life onto the end of your life. So the time returns later. You don’t need to exercise alone or do nothing else. Can listen to books, can enjoy nature, can play a team sport. plenty of options to not make it wasted time.
You don’t. But if you want your best chance of survival for as long as possible, it’s generally agreed that exercise helps you get there.
You know, discovering LessWrong forced me to reconsider exactly this. I mean, the “you don’t know what you’re missing if you never had it” argument never seemed wrong before LW, just annoying.
Realistically, if a cheap and quick-to-heal eye repair/replacement method became available tomorrow, I can only try to imagine how my brain would respond to a random extra input. And depth perception sounds like some terrifying mindscrew, and what is this business about eye-crossing and seeing double? And I am a wee bit worried about what having the ability to see people in full detail would do to me (my one good eye went bad before I ever considered looking at porn… the possibility is unsettling for some hard to identify reason). And driving, and getting a decent reading speed, and hand-writing, would all take a very long time—years, most likely.
But nevertheless, leaving money on the ground is leaving money on the ground. I like braille, but it’s less useful than print precisely because print is everywhere and everything is available in it. Learning math and science when most of the best books aren’t readable is a pest. And I would be surprised if a whole sense shutting off isn’t inherently depressing just due to decreased stimulation.
Does exercise work similarly? Eh, it depends? The whole forcing yourself to do something you simply can’t get excited about for nebulous health benefits suffers from a heavy cost in effort. OTOH, if an activity can be engaging and healthy, the effort-reward ratio is high from the beginning. So this is where we look for something fun to do, rather than hitting the gym. Of course, if there is not a fun or otherwise rewarding solution available, then we’re right back where we started.
Recall the last time you had a cold with a fever or something similar. How did you feel? Slow, heavy, sluggish, low-energy, every movement takes an effort? Take that state and draw a line from it to you healthy condition. Now extend that line in the same direction: that’s where regular exercise will take you.