What if regular exercise is the best cognitive exercise? (HN) →

As always, posts on HN about exercise get a lot of commentary. First, an observation: HN commentors who discuss exercise have a certain arrogance that I can’t quite place, especially when it comes to lifting. I speculate that it is unfounded confidence from inexperience. It’s quite common on the internet for people with little exposure to an activity to cosplay as experts of said activity.

The thread is full of anecdotes about lifting. While I love strength training, I find that lifting alone does not have the long-term cognitive effects described. I think people over-emphasize lifting as exercise or as the only exercise when there exist many activities that work as exercise.

I definitely agree that lifting helps improve focus and motivation, but where it seems to come short is in long-term stress management. When I started, my stress levels were under control, but I noticed that I started to get pretty flustered with customers at work. 1

Through trial and error, I found that cardio is an essential component to stress management. My unscientific theory is that working on the neuromusculoskeletal system generates stress hormones that aren’t effectively cleared by lifting alone. At least not in a person like me.

I think that both cardio and stretching are underrated activities for stress management. 2 Both of these can be light activities. Cardio doesn’t have to be strenuous. An hour-long walk is great for stress management. Riding a bike is another. And of course, exercises that challenge both strength and endurance are the best. Then stretching is next. I’m not sure what is best for stretching, but I know it really helps me relax. I do mostly static stretches that target my lower back and hips. These seem to help avoid knee pain and back pain. 3

As always, YMMV.

Footnotes

  1. I often wonder if people can hear stress in our voices and they intentionally try to incite a negative response. This is similar to the “u mad bro” mentality seen on the internet. People seem to get enjoyment out of upsetting other people. 
  2. But they must be used in conjunction with strength training. 
  3. I think pain is too general a term for knee pain and lower back pain. Sometimes it’s sharp, sometimes it’s dull. It’s not really a pain that matches any other type of pain I’ve ever experienced. I would say it’s a combination of soreness and tightness. 

After almost a week and a half of resting, I’m back to lifting again. I am almost two years into consistent weightlifting and was reflecting on times earlier in my life when I decided to give up exercise. The reason I always had for quitting was it caused more stress than it alleviated. That’s a mistake! Although I felt fine the first few weeks of being sedentary, my stress levels began to rise. My heart would beat at an alarming rate just from simple interactions with heightened emotional energy. It took a few tries to realize that I have much better control of stressful situations when I consistently manage stress through exercise.