WHO – Physical Activity
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Look at Figure 2C in particular. The hazard ratio of smoking is 1.41. The hazard ratio between "Low" (<25th percentile) and "Below Average" (25th-49th percentile) cardiovascular health is 1.95.
In other words, it is by far better to be a smoker than in the lower 25% of non-exercisers.
The biggest problem with fitness today is that fitness outside of group sports is where fun goes to die. It is 2023, and we still have very few gaming-like integrations at the gym, fun isn't even on the radar for the fitness industry. They might throw a TV showing the news into the corner and some "achievements" on your Fitbit/Apple Watch.
Ultimately, there is a lot we could do on fitness/exercise to make people WANT to do it, but we aren't. We just keep repeating the whole "exercise should feel like chore, and you should want to do it anyway" strategy over and over with new lipstick and being surprised when it fails.
Where is fun? The industry is essentially innovation free.
I don't even run - I walk fast at ~3.4mph at a 10% incline. It's my "zone 2" training. And lemme tell you - when that hour is over, there is sweat all over the place. Even in winter.
And the entire time I'm happily programming (or social-mediaing).
Most entertainment isn't so engrossing that it needs my undivided attention sitting on a couch. The best example lately has been Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom where a surprising amount of time is spent just running around. Might as well do it from a treadmill.
Americans don't even build their cities where they can walk anywhere, so exercise is seen as this thing you compartmentalize into a gym. You go there for exercise. Outside of it, you don't move at all. It's bleak and probably hard to notice until you've lived elsewhere.
The ideal is probably when you don't have to think "uh oh, gotta get my exercise in" at all—you've already done it going about your day.
Why would that be? That wood is going to turn into carbon dioxide when aging anyway.
Sure open fireplace are now accepted to be bad for the health but it's not complicated to "upgrade" an open fireplace into a closed one (which moreover offer much better efficiency).
Last winter I warmed the (relatively small) house with the closed fireplace only.
Now, granted, it may not be an option for city dwellers living one on top of another: negative externalities of chimneys are a thing.
But for anyone living in suburb or in rural, wood heat is great.
All the person around me who are doing sport do not smoke and all smokers around me do not do sport. It's worse than "smokers can be both", it's "smokers are usually both".
But where do you fit other adult responsibilities, chores, social life, spiritual life, self-care, entertainment, learning, hobbies, intellectual pursuits, and other things? Where do you fit your commute, shopping, and kids - the non-negotiables? So something has to give. Sleep or exercise, right? Perhaps this is why we're all so unhealthy?
This primes you to think that everything is for a 24 hour period.
And why stay at home moms are a thing.
And why stay at home moms often complain about their husbands not being there for kids, etc.
Because good luck.
Come on, we've been over this. Mary Wollstonecraft? Betty Friedan? Silvia Federici?
It’s a lot of work and specialization on both sides. Pretending everyone can do everything equally on all sides all the time, let alone would want to or have good outcomes is a fantasy.
Amusingly, in my experience the woman is actually in charge in these situations anyway because if the man doesn’t make her happy he will regret it, regardless of how reasonable it is, laws, or facts.
He who can destroy a thing controls a thing?
Any subordination is usually a facade, but I’m sure not always.
There is no perfect, and nothing that ‘works’ for everyone.
Anecdotally, most women I’ve run across would love to be a stay at home parent, but can’t find someone willing to do the ‘other side’ with them. If they say it out loud, they get jumped by most other women though. YMMV.
It’s like women going into labor, construction, combat, etc.
Go ahead, knock yourself out - it destroys one’s body quickly, even for men who are genetically more predisposed to physical toughness and strength, and in some cases one’s mind. Why do it if there is another, more comfortable option? Especially one that fits needs they might have better.
Even if one can, why does one want to? And how likely is it to produce an outcome someone will be happy with later?
Arguably at least you'll have spent the same number of hours awake as, say, the person sleeping 1/4th more and dying 1/4th of his life later.
This 8-9.4 hours "working" is what needs to be adulterated with movement, social life, and intellectual pursuits. It also needs to be shorter. As workers, we need to set stronger boundaries around our health. Our demand for better working conditions should take these scientific findings into account.
Edit: movement, I might add, should also be social and/or spiritual, and shopping should be more social.
Bonus: when getting back to my laptop I feel refreshed and full of ideas, and often solve blockers fast.
Now I know that .int has the strictest possible application requirements!
Many creators are very good at this
Things in life are sometimes hard. We need to go through hard things to create great things. Let’s instead teach kids that they need to do hard things to become great people. As a footnote, it will do wonders for their dopamine addiction (which is fueled by everything being fun and easy).
Ehhhh, bullshit. Making learning fun isn't just about making things easier, it's about making concepts stick.
We're mammals. Look at how mammals learn - they play.
> Let’s instead teach kids that they need to do hard things to become great people.
There's no reason a class teaching that very concept couldn't be fun.
And what makes great people great isn't the fact they did something hard, it's that they did something great. Something with meaning.
The hardness isn't the point. Power steering doesn't make for worse drivers, and difficult homework alone doesn't make great mathematicians.
E.g.:
> should do at least 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity; or at least 75–150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity; or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity throughout the week
If I do the recommended amount of physical activity but at the same time I’m also rather sedentary (e.g., spend many hours in front of the computer), am I “fine”? Family and friends tell me all the time “You spend so much time with your pc”… but I do a lot of aerobic and anaerobic exercises during the week. Not sure if the effect of the latter somehow gets diminished by the former. I feel great, tho.
It's probably better to figure out any sort of incidental movement you can add to your life in a way that you enjoy.
I still do some bicycling (MTB) but that's about it.
I bet my health on bedroom activities!