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Comment by jryan49 | Hacker News Reader

Do you get good, exhausting exercise? I've found that's the magic formula for me.

The magic exercise for me is jogging at least 3 miles at about a heart rate of 150-160. I consistently get 3 hours deep sleep according to the AutoSleep app and dream heavily. Otherwise I’m usually getting 1-1.5 hours deep sleep with other exercise and less than 1 if I don’t do anything all day. Just an anecdote for comparison.

I tried running / jogging (lower HR because my heart is bad) but beside this I worked at a recycling factory. Handling truck parts, crouching to unscrew frames etc etc. This kind of evergoing physical activity drained me deeper and smoother than jogging.

This is why I wish there was a job where I could work at a computer part of the time and do some strenuous physical activity part of the time. I am so useful sitting at a desk but it’s not so useful to me to always be sedentary. Sadly nobody would want to pay my engineering rate for picking weeds in the garden or taking out all the trash.

I did this in June, 39h/week on trucks. Paradoxically I was pumped by this because having regular activity and financial safety freed me from a ton of issues. So much that during lunch pause I was doing pushups and before bedtime I'd learn Django to make an application for this job. Unfortunately the boss did me wrong so I quit.

To babble a bit more: in August I tried taking a part time morning delivery gig (4-8m 24h/week) thinking it would feel the same but not at all (newspaper delivery is physically stressful), so I quit drained after a month, even though it required no effort and was less time per week than the truck thing.

Right now I have a 30h/week food delivery gig, it's just right to keep me active and the rest of the day I'm writing vue code now.

I may try to find something that would make my body more fit. Maybe having a woodworking shop or something similar.

Here here, I feel the same. I'm not really a fan of sports or working out, but doing physical activity for a job or such (in college I worked at a supermarket stacking shelves) I enjoy.

My wife and I are thinking of buying and renovating an old apartment ourselves. Of course economically it would be better for me to work and pay someone else to do it, but the benefits of learning a new skill and doing something physical are worth it IMHO.

Just fyi... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hear,_hear

Ahhh yes renovating an old house sounds like fun! As long as you give yourself all the time you need to finish (otherwise it would be stressful). I think some day I’ll buy an old house and fix things on the weekend.

My team (those who want to) and I spend about one hour per day working out over lunch. As team manager I believe these positive effects far outweighs the time “lost”, on so many levels.

“Working out” is difficult for many, but it can be so many things. For a year or so we spent time on movement training, something I highly recommend in general.

I'm up for hire ! :p

I worked at google and found the gym nice but not my preferred way of exercise. I want to be outdoors. I grew up outdoors. The cold white walls of the gym were as depressing as the office. Now I work at a beautiful farm though still mostly at the computer. I could try a mid day hike though! Ideally though I wish I could be getting paid for some kind of physical work part of the time. I understand that if I want to get high pay then I’m not going to be paid to pull weeds, I’m just lamenting my sedentary career.

commenting for breadcrumbs, I'm working on a relevant project and am encouraged by how many people are expressing this sentiment!

could you tell more ?

The most basic version is to combine a sandbox or incubator with a productive rural property. I think breaking up one's building sessions with a session of physical work in a garden or similar would really help prevent burnout and would keep the costs of starting up super low. I grew up in a rural area and several of my friends and I have been discussing how those sorts of large properties could be used productively, and that is a solution we think is worth trying.

Rather than quoting the HR, it would be more useful to share the % of MHR. Is your MHR 220bpm? 170bpm? Dramatically changes the meaning of exercising @ 150-160bpm.

Good point. Never measured MHR explicitly although I know there are estimations. It’s probably between 55% and 65% of my MHR. It’s literally right at the transition point of being able to talk while running and not being able to haha

Do you run in the morning or in the evening?

I usually run in the evening. Honestly a good question because that could be significant in its sleep impact.

Great question. I suppose not exhausting enough! Getting my heart rate up from walking rapidly up steep hills, doing low-weight squats, pushups/bicep curls, etc seems to have no effect.

I guess I should try lifting heavy, consistently over weeks, and see if that does anything.

I've found certain types of martial arts to be one of the most exhausting activities I have ever done. Boxing, Muay Thai, BJJ, Wrestling, no amount of lifting has gotten me as exhausted as those have. Slept like a baby.

I’d also suggest some interval training. If you have access to stair steppers, I highly recommend them. Easy to get started, and not too tough on your joints. 2 minutes at a pace that’s tough to sustain, and then 2 minutes off. I have a max HR of ~200 and I tend to level off at 180-188 during the interval section. Once you get accustomed to it you can play around with the timing ofc.

Higher intensity, which doesn't have to come from heavier weight per say, but increased power, work/time meaning total work, higher weight up or time down.

HIIT/interval/crossfit style are prime examples of in my opinion the most efficient way to achieve "exhausting" workouts (lowest time commitment, and with group gym style, lowest mental effort to formulate workout plans; it's all left to the trainer).

I would think that more strenuous cardio would be more effective than lifting heavy.

Watch out for that spikes your adrenaline like sprinting or heavy lifting in the evening though. That said I always get amazing sleep after heavy deadlifts as done properly they fatigue your CNS much more than the individual muscles so its like your brain forces a shutdown to recover. Squats and bench just wake me up though.

I've found that it works this way for a while, but as fitness rises getting that same bone deep exhaustion gets quite difficult (at least without spending hours on it). Is there a way to switch things up and keep that going long term?

Higher intensity interval style exercises can get you there no matter your level of fitness. If you’ve never tried sprint intervals on an assault bike I’d recommend giving those a shot.

What's working for me right now is 'running' up hills. Running not in the 'fast' sense yet but it works. I found a nice route, 7-8km, 250m up and the same down in three climbs and descents each and will keep running it for now. As I can always increase speed to make it more demanding, it will be fine for a long time most likely.

For me it has the opposite effect. After intense exercise I feel more awake and energetic than before, and this lasts long enough to disrupt my sleep.

Heavy exercise makes me very hot at night for some reason. It's nearly impossible to sleep or stay still. It's worse if I do it later in the day, but if it's intense enough it doesn't matter when. I wonder why...

Do you shower off? The layer of salt makes me sticky & hot right up until I rinse it off.

Yeah always. Usually I go to the gym in the morning so I shower after getting back.

Perhaps get a chilli pad sleep cooling system for your bed

Quite expensive but maybe worth it, thanks for the tip

curious how do those apps know when you are having deep sleep? also seems that being exhausted works for me as well. thanks for mentioning.

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