#21

This sounds like a great idea if you have a bit of extra time to do it - or even if you took a cycling route which lasted 15 minutes that would probably be better than a 15 minute walk maybe?

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#22

My new bike has been great for my mental health because it’s basically a road bike that I can do long distances on but has off road capable tyres. This means that I can go for a long ride off the beaten path, get away from traffic, ride through woods, be out in nature etc and have my own head space but get further afield than on my mountain bike. It’s done mental and physical me the world of good.

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#23

So long as you don’t walk too quickly! Just giving Daniel Kahnemann’s Thinking Fast and Slow another read and he was explaining the benefits of doing this, but how there’s a tipping point where if you walk too quickly then your brain focuses too much on walking as opposed to your other thoughts. Didn’t put a figure on it but probably around the 3mph mark.

#24

Pretty balanced although my commute’s 1hr 20m each way which robs me of an hour a day which I could really do with. I make the most of it and do a lot of reading and podcast listening but when/if I get a new job I’ll smash that extra hour into gym time (before work) I reckon. Gotten into the gym recently and found myself rather enjoying it. Stick an episode of In Our Time on and get burning for half hour.

#25

Am all over the data logging since becoming a Fitbit wanker back in Feb.

Average steps each day is around 14k, which I’m pretty pleased with given that I cycle to work each day. Resting heart rate is 53 which is only slightly higher than when I was super healthy back in the day.

What it has also illustrated however is that my sleeping patterns are shot - struggling to log an average of six hours nightly. Hence physical capacity currently outperforming mental capacity as I am tired all the time. Need to try and even that up a bit…

#26

re thinking fast and slow

I think one of the mentally tiring factors is that at work I am in a permanent state of system 2 due to operating in a foreign language most of the time, translating back and forth often pretty complex ideas, initiatives, nuances. There’s not much relief from this

really need the antidote

#27

I’m convinced that Fitbits and sleep trackers are absolutely wrecking a generation of people and making them mentally and physically worse off for wearing them. Stick it in your drawer at night and don’t worry about it I’d say.

#28

oh god yeah, sleep is the other issue. I’m probably around 6 hours per night too. That doesn’t help

#29

Aha but you’ll also be programming intuition into System 1 as you repeat the process!

But yeah my job is also quite complex and draining mentally - add over 2.5 hours commuting into the mix and by the time I get home I’m pretty fucked.

#30

Recently started going to the gym before work, something I’d always dismissed as the exclusive preserve of perverts. It’s going quite well, but in order to get to work on time I have to limit myself to about 40 minutes which isn’t ideal but I do feel a lot more alert and a lot less like I’m going to die in the next 5 minutes, which is something.

#31

I had been considering this - both for the reasons you describe, but also because I would never usually wear a watch or similar to sleep in :thinking:

#32

That could be contributing to it also!

#33

Don’t feel I have capacity in either right now. More that I’m just scraping by. Can’t commit to reading proper books I have to think about, or writing stuff myself, just frittering time away on reading shit online. Feels like my brain is atrophying sometimes. I give up through politics articles halfway through, can’t read high end criticism or stuff. Struggling to even dredge up the capacity to play a video game when I can just watch US Office episodes for the tenth time and scroll Twitter. Physically, I walk a decent amount, my weight is fairly static, and I’m playing football once a week but I’m so bad at it it’s demoralising. Hopefully now I’ve moved house things might settle down but idk. This is all feels like long term stuff since having a kid.

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#34

oh my sharpness is definitely up but the stamina …I reach a mental cliff around 2pm that takes an hour or so for me to recover from

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#35

Half hour walk every weekday lunchtime. Like you, it’s difficult to find time to exercise with a small person at home, so my lunch hour is the only chance I get. If I’m feeling keen, I’ll do some running on the spot for 10/15 minutes first in a corner of the car park where I think people won’t see me.

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#36

Could you expand on that a bit more?

#37

Yeah I’ve run about in our garden once M goes to sleep as I can’t even head out for a proper run once she’s in bed, which is endlessly frustrating! Feel like a maniac doing it but I’ve noticed two of the old buddies nextdoor have started so if I join them I’ll also feel, comparatively, super fit.

#38

Our garden’s tiny. I bought a skipping rope to use, but that’s been sat on top of the fridge for months, partly because next door overlooks our garden, and I did see them looking at me once or twice, but we also put up a washing line which meant no room. The students next door are home for easter at the moment, and we’re replacing the washing line with a retractable one too, so maybe I’ll start again.

#39

I leave my fitbit at home when I’m on holiday, but I’ll wear it the rest of the time. The trick is not to take it too seriously - if I have a bad night’s sleep it’s not because of any bad habits of mine, it’s because mini-me decided that 4am is a good time to come into our room.

#40

I’d be really up for putting together a regular 5-a-side if you fancied it. I tried playing 11-a-side in Kungsholmen a while back but it didn’t really work out.