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Brief aerobic exercise immediately enhances attention and perceptual speed
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- thecopy 8y agoI normaly ride my bike hard every morning to work (3,6 km). Compared to how i feel when i take the tram to work i definitely feel a lot clearer and sharper when i take the bike. Also, another benefit is that i can get to work in 10 minutes door-to-door with the bike, the tram takes around 20 minutes, and sometime i have to wait an extra 5 minutes if i miss the first.
- ehnto 8y agoI try to ride ny bike, but failing that the brisk 10 minute walk from train to work is usually pretty invigorating. When I take the car I am almost definitely grumpy by the end of the trip.
- Melchizedek 8y agoProtip: If you're mentally tired, do some unweighted squats and pushups, then wait a couple of minutes before getting back to work. Enjoy feeling refreshed!
- icebraining 8y agoDoesn't work for me at all. It just leaves me grumpy. And sweaty, which helps even less.
- pc86 8y agoWhy does it leave you grumpy? What is upsetting about 45 seconds of light exercise?
- icebraining 8y agoHow should I know? It's not a conscious decision, it's just an effect. Some kinds of exercise (e.g. biking for 30m) don't have that effect, but some others do.
- pc86 8y agoIt would be worth testing out various forms of exercise and seeing what the common factor is in this you enjoy v. those you don't.
- k__ 8y agoI think this only works for people that aren't overweight. My overweight co-workers are already heavy breathing from going to the coffee machine
- elchief 8y agoI was studying for the GMAT in Palm Beach in 08. And working out heavily at the gym. I noticed that i did much worse at test questions after a big workout. I'm sure you do better long run, but a heavy workout can tire you out enough to slow your brain a bit
- gpmcadam 8y agoWhat type of work-out?
- GarvielLoken 8y ago"BRIEF AEROBIC exercise immediately enhances visual attentional control and perceptual speed..." "...And working out HEAVILY at the GYM..."
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- andai 8y agoI saw an interesting study that found in ADHD individuals, aerobic exercise immediately before a test improved concentration to beyond normal levels, while in non-ADHD people it made them perform worse. I will see if I can find it.
- walamaking 8y agoPlease share, that's fascinating
- zamber 8y agoPlease ping me if you do find it :).
- CelestialTeapot 8y agoThis might be it. GE-EF is the ADHD with exercise group, GC-EF is the non-ADHD with exercise group. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7585/7b94628b425919efde51dbf8ff45c4998e8c.pdf https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7585/7b94628b425919efde51db...
- lelf 8y agoYep. Found it too (independently, haven’t updated the comments). Another link (same paper) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274087768_Measurement_of_the_Effect_of_Physical_Exercise_on_the_Concentration_of_Individuals_with_ADHD https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274087768_Measureme... > The results of this study also show that the GC group has a performance that is 42% better than the GC-EF group. These data seem indicate that after an intense physical exercise, people without ADHD show impairment in attention performance. However, this hypothesis requires further studies, which include the assessment of the duration of this effect.
- jimkri 8y agoThanks for posting this. Its crazy how I've noticed the difference at work when I worked out in the morning compared to the days that I skipped the gym. Doing 15 mins on the stair climber seems to put me in a positive mood/pattern for the day.
- choot 8y agoI used to cover 4 km in 5-10 minutes to school everyday on my moutain bike. Used to leave exactly at 6:55 when school starts at 7:05. If I went slow, I would have definitely missed the class, this forced me to ride as fast as I could. It definitely enhanced my cognitive skills.
- collyw 8y agoI ride to work every day, closer to 20 minutes of moderately hard riding. It definitely feels like it helps me to wake up.
- czechdeveloper 8y agoSounds nice, but I would just sweat for another 30 minutes and look all kinds of unpleasant. But good for you if you could pull it off.
- gaius 8y agoI’ve often wished I could just drop for 20 beside my desk to get the blood pumping but that would be considered super-weird anywhere I’ve worked recently.
- hollerith 8y agoHearing that makes me sad.
- mikekchar 8y agoIt's only weird the first couple of times you do it. After that, it will be your thing. People get used to things by seeing it frequently. It's like if someone wore a really stupid hat to work. The first time you see it, you think "Hmm... that guy is strange". After a while you still think the hat is strange, but it's normal in the context of the person. There may be people who discriminate against you, but likely the damage will be small (especially for something like push ups).
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- matwood 8y agoNot only that, but health and fitness is the 'in' thing right now. If the GP started doing something healthy they might get a few weird looks, but I promise other people will start doing them with them.
- k__ 8y agoThis. We had a guy who put an inflatable mattress inside an empty office and took naps there on his breaks. First people laughed, after a week it was just "his thing".
- 738472527784 8y agoThe awkwardness could enhance stimulation of blood flow AND after you're finished can't be sustained because of exhaustion. Super effective.
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- saiya-jin 8y agoWhy is this such a big news? Its logical, any other result with moderate exercise wouldn't make much sense. Hard/long effort will tire you also mentally for some time, again makes complete sense. Deep breathing will also wake you up, to certain point, after that you become dizzy with too much O2 in your blood. Meditation or mindfulness exercise will slower your heart rate and make you feel cold. I could go on and on like this whole day. Its nice if there is a scientific proof for logical behavior of reality but it shouldn't make big news for anybody here. If there is some proven discovery of at-first-glance-illogical behavior of our bodies or reality, now that's something newsworthy.
- kristiandupont 8y ago"It's common sense that the sun revolves around the earth". Logic is only helpful if you have the right premises. You might well have that, but they could also be too simplistic. Case in point, meditating tends to make me feel not cold but warmer (specifically, if I have cold hands and feet, that goes away).
- saiya-jin 8y agoThen you're doing something different (not claiming wrong if it works for you) than what meditation generally is supposed to achieve. There can be various reasons, but its definitely not the standard output nor in me nor any person I know is meditating.
- kristiandupont 8y agoI am guessing you are not suggesting that the goal with meditation is to achieve cold hands, so maybe you are assuming that my heart rate goes up or something similar. However, I can assure you that is not the case. There are theories that Raynaud's syndrome (unreasonably cold hands and feet) can be triggered by stress and so one could hypothesize that the opposite holds true as well. That may be related, or it may not be. I am just pointing out that such a simplistic view of something so extremely complex like our bodies can be misleading.
- jeromebaek 8y agoIt baffles me how some people need Science to know what you can easily know by (gasp) moving your body.
- edoo 8y agoOne of the best tricks I used growing up was doing 10 pushups every time I died in games like counterstrike. The increased blood flow to the brain slightly increases your intelligence and decreases response times. It also acted as a gate to recklessness since you try harder not to lose. On top of that you get in pretty good shape if you game a lot.
- fabricexpert 8y agoI used to do push ups until the round restarted, which could be 2 or 3 minutes long - it was a good incentive not to die early on!
- therealdrag0 8y agoSimilar strategy is to do it during commercials if you watch TV.
- SZJX 8y agoWouldn't that strain your arms so that your controls get worse in the next round? Though it certainly sounds a good idea to do some exercise in between such rounds. I am a top PES player ranking in the 1%, though I just sold the game so that I can get on with my life. Would have been a nice strategy.
- zimbatm 8y agoFor the past month I started doing 7 minutes of cardio every morning with a ridiculous YouTube video[1]. Just 7 minutes! It improves my mood level, energy for the whole day, I have better core strength, makes me want to move more overall. I wanted to share this because to me it always looked like "doing sports" was to invest multiple 1-2h sessions per week and going all hardcore. Which is quite demotivating frankly speaking. So if you are a couch potato like me then know that a bit of cardio is already showing good results. The best thing is that I am not exhausted afterwards so it can be done every day. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL_dE81O_mw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL_dE81O_mw
- sacado2 8y agoFor strength training, I can only recommend the "minimalist routine" from the bodyweightfitness subreddit[1]. Basically, push-ups, rows, lunges and planks. Works all major muscle groups, needs very little to no material, and will not take more than a few minutes, every other day. A good example of the 80/20 law: that and a few cardio training (can be as simple as walking everytime you are given the opportunity) does not seem to be a lot, but it's way better than nothing. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/comments/6u0nne/concept_wednesday_the_minimalist_routine/ https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/comments/6u0nne/c...
- dfsegoat 8y agoPsh. Don't forget burpees: https://media.giphy.com/media/lEYcevSwZ55Go/giphy.gif https://media.giphy.com/media/lEYcevSwZ55Go/giphy.gif
- 0xcde4c3db 8y agoThe headline is truncated and thereby misleading. The full headline is: "Brief aerobic exercise immediately enhances visual attentional control and perceptual speed. Testing the mediating role of feelings of energy" In other words, this study took some amount of cognitive enhancement across the subjects as a given and was designed to test for a correlation between that effect and reports of feeling energized by exercise, which the authors did report finding. If the numbers and methodology back that up, it suggests a couple of obvious (and not mutually exclusive) possibilities: 1) There is a primarily psychological mechanism, with the belief that a practice is energizing being a key factor. Note that the control group practiced relaxation techniques, which is arguably the opposite of an energizing practice. 2) Both the experience of feeling energized and the increase in cognitive performance are mediated by some physiological difference in exercise response. For example, it may be that some portion of the population has subclinical exercise intolerance (which is mostly studied in relation to cardiovascular disease, but has also been linked to mitochondrial dysfunction, neurological conditions, and sleep apnea).
- JoeAltmaier 8y agoor 3) the cognitive improvements were imaginary. If they didn't measure them, we have no idea if they were real?
- sp332 8y agoThey did measure them, so I'm not sure what you're getting at.
- JoeAltmaier 8y agoSorry, I mis-interpreted. I thought only speed was measured/improved, not any other cognitive performance
- keehun 8y agoI also find that whenever I feel sluggish, I get up and get a big glass of water. I then drink that on the spot and then fill up another one before getting back to my desk. Helps tremendously.
- bad_good_guy 8y agoGod damn I love water. It shocks me no end that some people have trouble drinking enough water, or even hearing some people say they hate water.
- taborj 8y agoI love water, but still had a hard time drinking enough (and, of course, incorrect diet choices) to keep kidney stones away. Twice (with 15 years between). Now I'm a water junkie. 3-4 liters a day, every day. Also cut out high-oxalate foods (RIP peanuts, I miss you). Seriously, folks -- drink your water. Keep a water bottle handy, and make sure you go through it a couple times a day.
- kbutler 8y agoGoing to do this right now...
- christophilus 8y agoI do a DareBee[0] break several times a day, whenever I find myself getting frustrated with the code I'm working on. It's super helpful. [0] https://darebee.com/ https://darebee.com/
- i_am_good 8y agoThanks for sharing this!
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- markroseman 8y agoWhile most people intuitively would agree with the headline, the study itself doesn't add a whole lot. Single study with 100-ish undergrads, evaluated only via the standard 'trails' test. Not a bad beginning, but a broader audience, a wider set of neuropsychiatric measurements and quantifying the duration of effects would be good to see.
- cultus 8y agoThere’s been a lot of work showing mental benefits of exercise in general. It also seems to line up with my experience. Of course, this isn’t a particularly high quality study, and exercise science is as bad as social psychology with regards to replication.
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- seanwilson 8y agoI don't have access to the PDF...how big a difference was there? 1% improvement? 50% improvement?
- piotreksz9 8y agoEssentially, the researcher introduced a Vigor Activity (VA) variable which assesses various aspects of your mental readiness. They monitored the values of VA pre and post workout. The mean value pre workout is 18.13, post workout 20.23. The values in control group are significantly different (also lower post workout) + the variance also decreases after the exercise.
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- jangasiewski 8y agoHi guys, we are building an app - TimeFit - that I think addresses this issue. The short description of what we do is: During a break from work the app will give you advice on what physical exercises you should do, what exercises for eyes and what snacks to eat. We have called a break during which you try to do the recommended activities a Power Break as it enhances your productivity and wellbeing. You don't need to do a Power Break every time you take a break but three or four times a day will give you a great boost. Please check our page for designs: https://www.timefit.mobi https://www.timefit.mobi Let me know what you guys think about this idea. We will very much appreciate any feedback :)
- mrdoops 8y agoBest investment I've ever made is a small-group training membership. The workout is good, but learning the exercises I can do in my bedroom when I'm feeling restless is priceless. Very enabling.
- gdubs 8y agoBiking to work is one of the best habits I've ever developed. In the beginning I could handle a couple of days a week. I've gotten to a point where I prefer it over driving, even on days I feel a little under the weather.
- sAbakumoff 8y agoWorking out is like taking mini doze of Ritalin and Prozac at the same time.
- parliament32 8y agoNot quite "immediate" but I've noticed I feel far more awake when I go for a run or swim in the morning before work. Days I skip the morning workout I find myself drinking way too much coffee trying to clear the head fog.