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Comment by kingrazor | Hacker News Reader

This doesn't surprise me. A personal anecdote: a couple of years ago I traveled to Japan for the first time. During my time there, I walked much, much more than I usually do. As a result, I was physically exhausted at the end of each day, and had some of the best sleep I've had in years.

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I've noticed the same phenomenon myself. On days when I don't go to the gym or engage in some otherwise exhausting activity in the evening, I get much lighter sleep. It also fits my personal wacko hypothesis as to why so many retired old people have so much trouble sleeping, which I continue to recklessly propagate despite a complete lack of solid evidence: they just don't work hard enough.

That’s definitely an intriguing idea, and imo would be worth studying. (Then we could ignore the results and instead demand pills that don’t help or have pyrrhic side effects if they do.)

Same experience here. That's my 'Convention Attendee' / 'Theme park '''vacation'''' exercise and get the heck to sleep program.

Sadly a Disneyland Paris season pass is more expensive than a home gym over the long term.

My own anecdote is the opposite: I can't sleep well if I don't regularly exercise. I think we all kinda know this, but it's good to see more data to refine our intuitions.

Hey, that's the contrapositive, not the opposite.

Or idiomatically: “on the other side of the same coin”

The body gets used to it though

You can always try and walk faster

Not disagreeing, but another contributing factor is the exposure to outdoor sunlight which helps regulate circadian rhythms. People who sit at the beach all day sleep pretty well. I think both outdoor sunlight and exercise improve sleep quality.

If you’re missing that now - perhaps a great opportunity.

yes lets leave our 9-5 to walk instead

You joke(?) but I have had tons of success in asking people if they’d like to go on walking meetings with me, both virtual and in person. I have sometimes clocked 20k steps at work!

Well, "Walk/Talk" is one of the most effective method. If the parties are abled, a walk/talk will give enough time even for non-walkers to talk and bring up topics/points. If they get tired, then the talk had extended beyond its need. I tend to have a few keywords to organize my calendar entries with the likes "TBD: foobar", "Plan: LoremIpsum", and one of them is "Walk/Talk: Awesome Person".

> one of the most effective method.

...well, for you, maybe. I'm of the kind that gets very easily distracted when walking outside. Also it's harder to take notes.

Transcription apps are your friend.

Do you have some good ones that you would recommend? I often type copious notes and I think there may be some value in the very act of the typing, but if something works really well, maybe I can change my approach.

On one "prepackaged" end the scale, MS Teams has an option to transcribe meetings. On the "Local" side, I've had success using Whisper.cpp to transcribe my own voice recordings.

I find it very acceptable and I appreciate when someone carries a small notepad (not a phone/tablet) with a physical pen to take notes. I do a lot of the times. However, here is the trick that works for me when you have none.

At the end of the meeting, the key thing is the actionable item (todo) -- say that out aloud. "So, my to-dos are this, that and this one. And you will be handling the other, and another." Say it a few times or even a few more times while adding to your calendar/notes (digital or otherwise) after the meeting.

Most of the times, you never needed to take the entire meeting's notes.

isn't that called golf for some execs?

The trick is to live somewhere where walking makes sense, and also add small opportunities to walk during the day. For example, if parking, park a bit further from where you're going. Or if you have calls to make, call people/businesses while walking. Or if hanging out with a friend, go for a walk or do something physical.

Everyone will have different constraints but it's generally possible to move more than you currently do.

Get a flexible job and spend a couple of those daylight hours active.

I do it all the time, don’t see why not

I actually get about 13,000 steps a day with a 9-5 job. I get two 15 minute breaks and an hour lunch, so I take three 15 minute walks per day. I work at a large campus, so it's not hard to get steps in.

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