Training exercise boosts brain power, Johns Hopkins researchers say (opens in new tab)

Here are a few more articles for you. Take your pick. ;)

https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/02/17/which-type-of-exer...

https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/07/13/can-running-make-y...

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/22/well/move/jogging-the-bra...

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/14/well/move/running-as-the-...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/30/well/move/moving-when-you...

Does anyone have a similar study done for other types of cardiovascular exercise? I never run but have a hybrid MTB I got a few months ago and ride a few miles 3-5 days a week, but if its not as effective as jogging i'll start to switch it up a little.

Also, they used a mice model. Even otherwise, assuming the study showed it to be the case in humans as well, that means absolutely nothing. Science simply presents a theory that fits a particular data-set. It doesn't mean its an established fact, or that it applies to your particular biology, or even that the effect is seen in every person.

This was how I felt about lifting weights. I know about all of it's amazing health benefits, but you've got 3-5 minutes rest between sets, with most programs having you do at least 9 sets total. That's not even counting the time added on if someone else asks to work in sets with you. Plus the need for a spotter when benching.

Point is, I ended up getting into bouldering. If you want to send a bouldering problem, you have to spend a while actually planning out your movements, because if you waste time trying to figure out your next move in the middle of all but the easiest problems, you'll run out of energy before completing the problem. Like lifting, you need rest time between climbs, but you can spend that time planning out your next attempt. Only downside is that indoor bouldering walls tend to be crowded most of the time, and outdoor bouldering can require a bit of a drive depending on where you live.

Still, I find it a lot more stimulating than lifting; I actually look forward to bouldering, while lifting still felt like a chore even after 8 months of doing it.

edit: I should add that I've only been bouldering regularly for about 2 months, and mostly at an indoor gym.

"exercise is boring".

You are clearly very unimaginative when it comes to exercise. I find the gym pretty bloody boring. But whitewater kayaking, mountain biking, rock climbing easily beat sitting in front of a computer. If those are too much go for a hike in the mountains and take in some scenery. Or learn to surf.

Or cycle to work. I get an hours solid exercise every day doing that and save myself time and money as a result.

> In particular, exercise is boring. Very very boring.

I regularly spend 2-4hrs on a road bike and I've never found it boring and I have a low boredom threshold generally (outside of programming).

It's just a case of finding your niche.

It is only boring if you have a restless mind that wants to constantly preoccupy itself with distractions and run away from the slightest discomfort instead of being here and now. With some ZEN focus any activity can be interesting when done with full awareness. Sorry couldn't resist. Carry on.

Try some exercise in VR.

"Thrill Of The Fight", "Holopoint", "GORN" or similar games are a lot of fun and are at least a moderate workout. I've literally just finished a half-hour session of GORN, I'm fairly sweaty, and I wasn't bored once.

(I also recommend similar things in IRL with Actual People, but I'm aware that those tend to be both more intimidating and harder to fit into a pre-set schedule.)

I used to think that running was boring and that I'd do more of it if it were less boring. At the time I was running on a treadmill while watching a TV show. But every time I hit the end of my run and went into the 5 minute cooldown, I'd find myself becoming engrossed in the show and not want to end. The difference? I wasn't exercising as hard any more. I was getting tired, not bored.

Now I run outside for sometimes five times as long as I was running back then, without podcasts or TV shows, and I never get bored. I do run slower, though. Try going slower next time! And going outside in a straight line or long loop. I get very bored/frustrated if I have to do laps to make my distance. Of course YMMV too.

You need to find a sport that you like. I find simply running boring, but when done in a sport is a completely different thing.

Apart from the gym, I play soccer three times a week and it is nothing by fun. Switching volleyball session during the winter.

One of the best things I did both for my health and productivity was exercising + sports.

There's always something to think about while, say, running.

Is my posture correct? Are my feet hitting the ground well? Is this a good pace? And lots and lots of self talk about not shirking the next effort (30s hard running, hill run etc etc).

In my experience, how boring an exercise is seems to be inversely related to your aptitude with that exercise. Running started out to be extrememly boring. I would listen to audiobooks while out on a trail. After a few months, I would notice that I'd miss sentences here and there. If I tried harder to concentrate on my otherwise very interesting audiobook, my running pace would suffer considerably. Eventually, I couldn't do books any more and switched to music. After a couple of years, I found the music distracting, and my pace increased when I did away with it. This also seems to be a theme I've noticed while weightlifting in the gym. The more proficient I am with a movement, the more my brain is being engaged.

Running certainly started out painful and boring for me. But after a year, things changed. I started to look forward to it, and it ceased being boring.

I do my best thinking while running, and make use of it to solve problems, write articles, etc.

Lifting weights, however, remains painful and boring :-( and I think that is because it requires mental focus. Running does not, you can just drift off into something that interests you.

By default exercise is boring, but you can fix that. Headphones/earbuds for music or to listen to audiobooks. I find that if I don't do that, I notice the exertion and discomfort a lot more and that limits how far/long I can run.

You can also get your exercise from exciting activities like sports or Dance Dance Revolution (but your experience may vary!).

Boredom is probably a really good thing in many ways. A constant need for stimulation isn't healthy and makes it harder to do boring but otherwise necessary chores.

Plus there's the whole creativity thing when the mind is at rest.

> exercise is boring

Yep. So listen to podcasts during. Seminars About Long Term Thinking and In Our Time being my favorites.

Boring and painful. Seems about right.

Boring, because you frequently have to do something in addition to exercising to make the time spent exercising interesting. See the myriad of sibling comments.

Painful, because my exercise as a youth (competitive swimming) badly damaged most of my major joints, making anything but the lightest of impact workouts painful (which leads, sadly, back to point 1).

I used http://www.soakyourhead.com/ and this one which is linked elsewhere in the thread. https://sourceforge.net/projects/brainworkshop/files/brainwo...

I doubt the subtle differences between different dual-n-back matter.

I've found this to be the best iOS app for dual n-back https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iq-boost/id286574399

Not being sociable and fun at parties is a sign of intelligence?

Charisma doesn't come from the liver. (believe that was Yudkowsky)

So the working memory exercise... improved your short term memory? :)

But it is good to hear that it worked well for you

You summed up the 21st century. In a nutshell.

Mine also. This article implied they did see generalization, at least to other working memory tests - but I can't find the full text to check what they used.

Yeah, I think the head-to-head between techniques is what's novel about the paper. But what confused me is that they got a strong positive off dual n-back in the first place; other studies of that exact technique have regularly come up ambiguous-to-negative.

I haven't played this game myself, but from the description I suspect that "passes the word to someone else" should have been "comes up with and passes a different word to someone else". You end up with a stack of words where no two adjacent words are the same. Players might also try to avoid adding non-adjacent duplicate words to the stack.

Eventually, someone decides it's time to start popping backward through the stack. They respond with the same word that they were just passed and the group tries to remember the right words to continue popping back down the stack, one person and word at a time. This gets harder "near the bottom" of the stack because it's been longer since those words were spoken.

Each word is pushing onto, and then popping off of a stack.

Sounds like they make several rounds, each with a different word (not OP, just guessing).

>With drumming

Drumming, in a band context, is all about remembering certain drum patters, combinating them mentally so they fit the music as well as possible, and then playing them with perfect timing...

... all of this in real time, and as an endless while(song is not over) loop!!

>And who's gonna tell you if you got it right or wrong?

You don't want to make the bassist, the singer, the guitar player, and the keyboard player all get angry at you at the same time for making the group sound bad!