The Physical Sacrifice of Thinking (2015)
journals.sagepub.com
journals.sagepub.com
"Need for cognition" may translate into the vernacular as "easily bored." So easily bored people find exercise more tedious and do less of it. It has that effect on me. And consistent with their conclusion, cogitating via wildlife tracking, orienteering, audiobooks, podcasts or conversation makes exercise more tolerable for me.
Being chased by a bear would also result in decreased boredom, increased cognition and a sudden interest in vigorous exercise, but it would probably not be as long lasting. Being chased by an imaginary bear is likely more sustainable.
This is the mindset I'm trying to cultivate, for the good of the startup, and in fintech "bear" is precisely the correct animal to fear.
One danger about that is that they might push themselves too hard. If it came down to lifting heavy car off my wife or child, messing up my back permanently is a price I would gladly pay for success in the endeavor. Messing up my back is not something that would be a great exchange for beating my personal record.
I enjoy doing moderate weightlifting not for bulking up or setting some arbitrary numbers, but for great feeling from my body (endorphins initially, long term just a body that works perfectly fine), to have strength and more importantly stamina to do whatever activity life throws at me. This is more than enough for me, very rewarding, and most importantly, sustainable.
Now that I type this out, I'm realizing that weightlifting (in an appropriate setting/mood) is not dissimilar to meditation.
Many physical skills are like that though. But maybe it is also because my strongest learning style is kinesthetic. There are technical nuances to even something that seems as simple as biking ... or even walking.
The only problem, I think, is that I now look like a jock at work. I think people look at me funny now, as if I'm going to beat them up and steal their lunch money.
Some observations:
(1) Fight-or-flight is only one out of a spectrum of conscious experiences. Any meditator or psychonaut can tell you about the endless states of mind. There is a lot to explore with just that. There are many peak experiential states (profound feeling of aliveness, connectedness, etc). I can guarantee you that a profound sense of aliveness is way better than fight-or-flight, as is the feeling called "fiero" (the sense of profound pride and joy of accomplishing something after years of arduous training or work).
(2) I don't train my martial arts with heightened sense of danger and adrenaline, or at least, that is not my only mode of training. If anything, I am going for dead calm at high intensity.
(3) Some meditation disciplines, such as Dzogchen, understand boredom as a form of restlessness, and the gateway to greater awareness. Boredom is understood as a state that can happen with any activity, and has more to do with the mind's inability to accept what is going on in the here-and-now.
Tinkering with my mind and body gives me a great deal of satisfaction (and frustration!) as does tinkering with code.
Same here, but a different life and death sport--auto racing. My sports psychologist turned me onto this (and also progressive relaxation); just four little words he told me that positively changed my driving forever "you are an observer." That state of mind of being detached emotionally from racing, transformed me from driving near the front--to being The person to beat.
Oh and btw; if your really serious about your sport--there's nothing like finding a sports psychologist who specializes in your activity. Nothing like it.
Never found a martial art as intellectual as BJJ. I usually give the same example: I doubt you could learn anything about boxing reading a book. But for sure you can expand your BJJ game reading a book (of course it's not a substitute for real training). What I mean is that there is a huge amount of of knowledge in BJJ that you can acquire, consciously, reading a book, watching a video, or listening to someone's explanation. Again, in boxing, you won't improve much your combinations just listening to an explanation on how to punch. Training is not just necessary to improve, but also to reach a minimum level of proficiency.
But even though in boxing listening to an explanation won't improve your combinations significantly, listening to an explanation on how to escape the mount (the position where your opponent is basically sitting on top of you, both knees in your armpits, ready to deliver punches or proceed with submissions) will definitely make a difference, even if you don't practice it much. If you consciously know the sequence of movements, chances are you're getting out much faster than someone who doesn't, even without the intuition that you can only achieve with continuated practice.
You can strategize at many levels, you usually have time to think (not always, obviously) about your next move, the pace is slower than in the striking martial arts, or even standing grappling martial arts. You don't need only instinct and subconscious skills, you also need hard knowledge about the technique being used.
What they found was that people with a high need for cognition were less active overall, including when not exercising.
I think at least part of what they are observing is that people tend to sit still while thinking, so if you think a lot you spend more time being sedentary.
In the full paper there is also an interesting conjecture that high NFC people may enjoy exercise less because they are more sensitive to the physical discomfort it causes. That one seems reasonable to me too but it is just a conjecture.
I suspect I'm high NFC and that's why I enjoy sitting and reading and programming like a thoughtful lump, and spend most of my time doing these things. But it's not good for health, so what's a high NFC person supposed to do, schedule in time doing things they don't enjoy? Or can they somehow reframe low cognition activities as enjoyable? Or can they add cognition to activities that normally don't require it, or combine them with high cognition activities? (E.g. using a treadmill desk while you work, or listening to podcasts while you jog)
You could simply try pushing your exercises to a point where you’re almost vomitting from exhaustion. Let’s see how boring that is.
For me working out isn't that fun. But if I push myself too far over a few weeks - then I will become ill. And I would like to keep working out as close to the limit as possible. The problem becomes a low-frequency one - and it's not that easy to manage.
Also probably worth mentioning that this paper is from 2015.
It's a pretty well-accepted standard scale.