Maybe not a drug. But if the improvements in health come from bio chemical signals, it should be possible to activate those signals without engaging in exercise. Eventually?
A safer option is rebounding. Every time you land, every muscle in your body is exercised. It's also easy on the joints and you can do it inside if the weather is bad.
Back in the 1970's, NASA studied rebounding as a way to help astronauts recover after being in space. They found 10 minutes of rebounding to be equivalent to 30 minutes of jogging[1].
It's also good for the elderly and disabled because you can sit to do it or even someone else can bounce you and you will still benefit from it.
My dad is 81 and is still rebounding. His core is strong and he can move around like when he was in his 60's.
The best way to make a happy, healthy person into an unhappy, unhealthy person is to keep them lonely and keep them still. It should come as no surprise that the inverse also tends to hold true.
On a tangent, I think that's part of why volunteering can be so rewarding.
I find it interesting that the article is about exercise and the title picture is yoga. In fact near the top
> To a best approximation, aerobic fitness and weight-training seem to increase our metabolism, improve mitochondrial function, fortify our immune system, reduce inflammation, improve tissue-specific adaptations, and protect against disease.
Yoga is neither aerobic fitness nor weight training
note: I do yoga probably about twice a month (should do more) so I'm not dissing yoga. I'm only noting that the picture of yoga seems to have nothing to do with the article.
> The author Daniel Lieberman has put it well: Exercise is healthy and rewarding even though it’s something we never evolved to do.
We have ostensibly spent much of our evolutionary budget on the ability to run ~indefinitely no matter what. Compared to virtually any other animal, we can vastly outperform them in the most arduous environments. Our bodies are mechanically optimized for running at every level. We have connective tissue that stores and releases energy. Our bodies can reject on the order of 1kW+ of heat steady-state through the magic of evaporative cooling.
I can directly tie my mood to how much exercise I’ve had in a given week. It’s also easy, given how busy life feels, to let the proverbial frog boil in water when it comes to this.
My partner often comments when I’ve been a little grumpier than usual by saying, “you should go on a bike ride.”
It really works wonders on the soul (and the more physical heart and lungs) getting out for a spin in the fresh air.
The fact that just by being on the bike for two hours, my brain doesn't go into negative pathways, but it just focuses on the road always brings me out of a slump.
I can also recommend easy, restorative yoga exercises, which is the lightest exercise there is, but it will help you with: sitting too much, improve sleep, stretch and reduce stress.
It's not just the exercise it's the whole experience of being outside. Even if you drive to a park and sit on a bench for half an hour you will go back home in a better mood. Won't be as good for your muscles but being outside in nature had amazing effects.
You could even try the opposite, exercising in a spinning won't have the same effect.
Sorry I’m not familiar with this platform but saw a thread where you say you collect Theranos items. I have something that maybe of interest to you. Sorry it won’t let me comment on the Theranos thread.
I go for a decent walk most days and it doesn't require effort or get boring. It goes well with listening to headphones and relaxing the eyes on the horizon plus seeing a bit of nature and humanity in action.
This does me a lot of good however the only upper body exercise I get is playing the piano! I can't see myself joining a gym or doing press-ups reliably in the long-term. I need to find a suitable hobby which has upper body + other benefits while being fun/interesting and low-risk. Carrying logs has helped but we have enough firewood now.
Exercise "simulate the arduous tasks that were once necessary to make it through a life" makes sense, as most of our ancestors were blue-collar workers and farmers. I try to integrate more physical activity in my life, which seemed like labor before, but now feels like life-saving activity. For example, I am intentionally trying to fix/diy things with my house like painting my garage, mowing my lawn instead of hiring someone else to do it, and even learning woodworking and gardening. Even in the heat of the summer, I feel more invigorated working outdoor whenever I can, and helps offset the sluggishness I feel after a day of sitting, coding, and staring at the monitors at work.
>Like someone already said: what if you get an injury going to hard at it?
There's no need to go hard, even steady walking for 20 minutes a day is healthy. And recent studies show that you don't need to jog or run, walking is almost as efficient and less stressful for your joints.
One of the best ways to exercise as long as you aren't a brain in a jar is to use an indoor rowing machine. Rowing will engage about 80% of your muscles.
For me I don't think walking 20 minutes a day is enough. I did more than that right after graduation. It didn't change any of the metrics usually used for measuring healthiness: my resting heart rate didn't change, my VO2max didn't change, my weight didn't change, etc. it was when I started regularly running 2 hours per week (aka around 20 minutes per day) that I started observing my health improve. YMMV.
Another great option is rebounding. Every time you land, every muscle in your body is exercised. It's also easy on the joints and you can do it inside if the weather is bad.
Back in the 1970's, NASA studied rebounding as a way to help astronauts recover after being in space. They found 10 minutes of rebounding to be equivalent to 30 minutes of jogging[1].
It's also good for the elderly and disabled because you can sit to do it or even someone else can bounce you and you will still benefit from it.
My dad is 81 and is still rebounding. His core is strong and he can move around like when he was in his 60's.
Older rebounders used metal springs and were harder on the joints. Newer rebounders use bungees for a softer, gentler and silent landing. Some people rebound while their partner sleeps a few feet away.
GLP-1 is a rare opportunity for our overweight nation to "get back on the treadmill" in both a literal and figurative way.
If you have been sedentary for a long time and are overweight, you obviously have too much weight for your muscular strength and connective tissues, which have concurrently atrophied with inactivity, in addition to reduced neuro-biomechanic maps in your brain since you haven't used the circuitry.
This all adds up to a high initial injury risk in starting exercise even if you have the mentally focus.
But GLP-1, if it is the miracle it purports, should be able to drop overweight people, even if it is temporarily, to the point where you can being exercise much more safely, and/or with more intensity and duration to get more benefits sooner.
On a macro level a universal health care system that is cheap and effective is really a generation or two away with heavily incentivized exercise, and not without precedent, if I am to understand what Iceland did.
We will live longer, live far better, feel better, look better, be happier, more connected, less anxious, more adventurous, smarter, more productive. These aren't 1-2% improvements at macro levels. 10% improvements, which in pharma land are considered exceptionally effective drugs, and a minimum, and 30-50% miracle drug levels of outcomes are on the table.
But our medical establishment is either drugs or surgery. The extent of insurance company inducements are "silver sneakers".
The perverse accounting involved in extreme obesity may demand a national level program of "Biggest Loser" (although, not to that insanity) for financial inducements to get people to lose weight, because the loss of "caring" for the obese (FORTY PERCENT of Americans are obese and it keeps getting worse each decade).
> That I was born in the capital of the world’s richest country is one of the greatest strokes of luck in my life—a pure accident of timing and gametes. There is no way to pay back this good fortune, and wallowing in guilt over it would do nothing, either.
Why in the world does the author have to feel so bad about beibg lucky in some way? How does luck deserve the feeling of guilt? This has to be as unhealthy as exercise is healthy.
Grateful, yes, appreciative, absolutely, motivated to do good, of course. Having to pay "back" (to whom?), feeling guilty? Absurd and corrosive
The evidence for exercise reducing all-cause mortality is more nuanced than many assume. It's crucial to distinguish between findings from RCTs (Randomized Controlled Trials) and observational studies.
A meta-analysis of RCTs with ~50,000 participants concluded that exercise did not reduce all-cause mortality or incident CVD in older adults or people with chronic conditions [1].
However, for specific high-risk groups, the causal evidence from RCTs is strong. A separate meta-analysis found that for cancer patients and survivors, exercise led to [2]:
- A 24% reduction in mortality risk
- A 48% reduction in recurrence risk
The commonly cited large benefits (e.g., 40% lower mortality) come from observational studies [3]. These are very susceptible to the "healthy user bias" or reverse causation—people who are healthy enough to exercise are already at a lower risk of dying. This makes it difficult to prove the exercise caused the benefit.
So, while exercise is strongly associated with lower mortality, the direct causal evidence for the general population isn't as definitive as it is for specific subgroups like cancer survivors.
If you exercise a lot, be sure to fuel your workouts. Eat a healthy calories surplus so your body doesn’t go into panic mode and sacrifice muscle and bone tissue.
I’m in my 40s and have exercised my whole life. But still did intermittent fasting (skipped breakfast). I’m a standard deviation below average bone density and have lost some cartilage in my knee from underfueled long runs (I was diagnosed with RED-S). Now I work with a sports nutritionist, and do a mix of strength, running, cycling with good rest days.
I’ve learned I’d rather have a bit of a belly now but very strong than underfueled and lost muscle/bone mass
I tried to outrun my depression but then I became too depressed to run. It's so frustrating to feel that exercise doesn't give me the boost it used to.
The expectation that a healthier globe = global economy will be healthier for the US economy, even if it's not literally an interest-bearing investment vehicle?
When I got laid off from my first job, I used the extra time to start going to the gym. Years later the habit has still stuck, and I actually think I was so incredibly lucky to get laid off. Working out has been such a massive improvement in all areas of life. Health problems went away, mental health got better, sleep quality got better, it truly is a miracle drug. It’s a shame that the habit is hard to form.
It's difficult to overstate how much better my life has become after starting tirzepatide, consequently losing weight, and steadily increasing exercise as I've gotten lighter. If I were the richest guy in the world, I'd negotiate with Eli Lilly to make tirzepatide (or maybe the forthcoming orforglipron) basically free for anyone who wants it.
If you ever struggle to exercise consider: for thousands of years humans needed to walk and hunt and cook and run from predators just to survive. It’s sedentary lifestyles that are the anomaly.
Not exercising is a miracle NOT drug! Exercise is what your body is engineered for by nature and thousands of years of evolution. So exercising is the more normal thing, not sitting around :)
Get out there and have fun with it! Even walking you’ll get to see the sky, sunset, sunrise, and all the big houses in your neighborhood.
34 comments
[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 65.6 ms ] threadMyokines aka exerkines
Back in the 1970's, NASA studied rebounding as a way to help astronauts recover after being in space. They found 10 minutes of rebounding to be equivalent to 30 minutes of jogging[1].
It's also good for the elderly and disabled because you can sit to do it or even someone else can bounce you and you will still benefit from it.
My dad is 81 and is still rebounding. His core is strong and he can move around like when he was in his 60's.
[1] https://www.tomsguide.com/wellness/fitness/forget-running-na...
On a tangent, I think that's part of why volunteering can be so rewarding.
> To a best approximation, aerobic fitness and weight-training seem to increase our metabolism, improve mitochondrial function, fortify our immune system, reduce inflammation, improve tissue-specific adaptations, and protect against disease.
Yoga is neither aerobic fitness nor weight training
note: I do yoga probably about twice a month (should do more) so I'm not dissing yoga. I'm only noting that the picture of yoga seems to have nothing to do with the article.
We have ostensibly spent much of our evolutionary budget on the ability to run ~indefinitely no matter what. Compared to virtually any other animal, we can vastly outperform them in the most arduous environments. Our bodies are mechanically optimized for running at every level. We have connective tissue that stores and releases energy. Our bodies can reject on the order of 1kW+ of heat steady-state through the magic of evaporative cooling.
My partner often comments when I’ve been a little grumpier than usual by saying, “you should go on a bike ride.”
It really works wonders on the soul (and the more physical heart and lungs) getting out for a spin in the fresh air.
I can also recommend easy, restorative yoga exercises, which is the lightest exercise there is, but it will help you with: sitting too much, improve sleep, stretch and reduce stress.
You could even try the opposite, exercising in a spinning won't have the same effect.
This does me a lot of good however the only upper body exercise I get is playing the piano! I can't see myself joining a gym or doing press-ups reliably in the long-term. I need to find a suitable hobby which has upper body + other benefits while being fun/interesting and low-risk. Carrying logs has helped but we have enough firewood now.
Consistency over sporadic herculean efforts always wins out.
There's no need to go hard, even steady walking for 20 minutes a day is healthy. And recent studies show that you don't need to jog or run, walking is almost as efficient and less stressful for your joints.
One of the best ways to exercise as long as you aren't a brain in a jar is to use an indoor rowing machine. Rowing will engage about 80% of your muscles.
Back in the 1970's, NASA studied rebounding as a way to help astronauts recover after being in space. They found 10 minutes of rebounding to be equivalent to 30 minutes of jogging[1].
It's also good for the elderly and disabled because you can sit to do it or even someone else can bounce you and you will still benefit from it.
My dad is 81 and is still rebounding. His core is strong and he can move around like when he was in his 60's.
Older rebounders used metal springs and were harder on the joints. Newer rebounders use bungees for a softer, gentler and silent landing. Some people rebound while their partner sleeps a few feet away.
[1] https://www.tomsguide.com/wellness/fitness/forget-running-na...
If you have been sedentary for a long time and are overweight, you obviously have too much weight for your muscular strength and connective tissues, which have concurrently atrophied with inactivity, in addition to reduced neuro-biomechanic maps in your brain since you haven't used the circuitry.
This all adds up to a high initial injury risk in starting exercise even if you have the mentally focus.
But GLP-1, if it is the miracle it purports, should be able to drop overweight people, even if it is temporarily, to the point where you can being exercise much more safely, and/or with more intensity and duration to get more benefits sooner.
On a macro level a universal health care system that is cheap and effective is really a generation or two away with heavily incentivized exercise, and not without precedent, if I am to understand what Iceland did.
We will live longer, live far better, feel better, look better, be happier, more connected, less anxious, more adventurous, smarter, more productive. These aren't 1-2% improvements at macro levels. 10% improvements, which in pharma land are considered exceptionally effective drugs, and a minimum, and 30-50% miracle drug levels of outcomes are on the table.
But our medical establishment is either drugs or surgery. The extent of insurance company inducements are "silver sneakers".
The perverse accounting involved in extreme obesity may demand a national level program of "Biggest Loser" (although, not to that insanity) for financial inducements to get people to lose weight, because the loss of "caring" for the obese (FORTY PERCENT of Americans are obese and it keeps getting worse each decade).
Why in the world does the author have to feel so bad about beibg lucky in some way? How does luck deserve the feeling of guilt? This has to be as unhealthy as exercise is healthy.
Grateful, yes, appreciative, absolutely, motivated to do good, of course. Having to pay "back" (to whom?), feeling guilty? Absurd and corrosive
A meta-analysis of RCTs with ~50,000 participants concluded that exercise did not reduce all-cause mortality or incident CVD in older adults or people with chronic conditions [1].
However, for specific high-risk groups, the causal evidence from RCTs is strong. A separate meta-analysis found that for cancer patients and survivors, exercise led to [2]:
- A 24% reduction in mortality risk
- A 48% reduction in recurrence risk
The commonly cited large benefits (e.g., 40% lower mortality) come from observational studies [3]. These are very susceptible to the "healthy user bias" or reverse causation—people who are healthy enough to exercise are already at a lower risk of dying. This makes it difficult to prove the exercise caused the benefit.
So, while exercise is strongly associated with lower mortality, the direct causal evidence for the general population isn't as definitive as it is for specific subgroups like cancer survivors.
[1] https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cluster=10512580439138189...
[2] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7273753/
[3] https://www.bmj.com/content/370/bmj.m2031
I’m in my 40s and have exercised my whole life. But still did intermittent fasting (skipped breakfast). I’m a standard deviation below average bone density and have lost some cartilage in my knee from underfueled long runs (I was diagnosed with RED-S). Now I work with a sports nutritionist, and do a mix of strength, running, cycling with good rest days.
I’ve learned I’d rather have a bit of a belly now but very strong than underfueled and lost muscle/bone mass
What exactly is moral investment and why should government be in the business of making moral investments, especially for foreign countries?
At a minimum, I don't feel the HN post title properly reflects the full contents of the article.
OTOH we have billions or more mechanisms (basically all of them) that assume that we exercise regularly, at least when we are healthy.
Not exercising is a miracle NOT drug! Exercise is what your body is engineered for by nature and thousands of years of evolution. So exercising is the more normal thing, not sitting around :)
Get out there and have fun with it! Even walking you’ll get to see the sky, sunset, sunrise, and all the big houses in your neighborhood.