Exercise is good, everyone knows. The problem is advising people to exercise doesn't work and doesn't scale. Gyms are for people who have plenty of intrinsic motivation and money and time.
To improve physical activity at the population scale and over a lifetime, it literally has to be built into the design of the cities, so people get enough exercise while walking to work or grabbing groceries.
https://cs.stanford.edu/people/jure/pubs/activity-inequality...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPUlgSRn6e0&ab_channel=NotJu...
We lack basic education in fitness, really, we do! They don't teach it in schools, but really just walking your 8-10k steps a day + simple own-weight exercises at home do wonders! Gym is fine for those who like it and can afford it (time, money), but by far not the only solution. We need to educate ourselves better. Plus, better cities, I am with you on that one.
Hear hear! Exercise at scale is an urban design problem.
I have found stair walking a good, zero-cost, easily accessible and fast-to-execute means of exercise in urban areas. You can also scale-up/scale-down intensity and duration to your heart's content.
Yeah, during covid and little bit after I was in amazing shape because I was able to go on nice long bike rides a few times a week. It got me thinking what would our society feel like if everyone was able to exercise?
or you can just buy a kettlebell and do swings for as long as you can last
That requires intrinsic motivation, which is part of OPs point. If you build a walkable/bikeable city, you raise the exercise floor for everyone.
> If you build a walkable/bikeable city, you raise the exercise floor for everyone.
That requires intrinsic motivation for people to want to leave their house. I'm not kidding, if jobs are going to go away we're all gonna become super fat. Thank god for Ozempic I guess.
I think it would also help to not have everyone working so damn much.
Or maybe work harder in the physical sense.
AI will help by doing all the intellectual work.
I am pretty confident from my own experience that the study’s conclusion is broadly true. But the study leaves open one obvious alternative explanation: people who have enough free time to exercise regularly (and exercise was used as a stand-in for fitness level, it doesn’t look like they actually measured anything else) could have less stressful and anger-inducing lives overall.
Anecdotally, I started lifting again a few weeks ago. Took a few years off due to Covid complications, but was previously exercising regularly.
Walked up to the bar stressed about all sorts of things, everything is expensive, car is making weird chafing noises when I make sharp turns, politics, this and that.
Did 3 sets of 5 deadlifts with a 60kg bar. Barely any weight on the bar since I didn't want to annihilate my joints. Regardless, as I finished the sets, all that stress was just gone, and it stayed away for days. I was calmer, clearer, more present.
I don't think I have fewer reasons to be stressed since getting the gym membership, but I sure am less stressed.
Deadlifts in particular, but really any full body lifts have always been a mental state degauss button for me. Doesn't matter how many problems you have before you walk up to that bar, you'll barely remember them when you're done.
Alternatively: People who spent their time regularly exercising instead of arguing on Facebook or X, have lower anger and anxiety.
I thought of “people who have enough time to exercise because they don’t have to work multiple jobs in an attempt to scrape together enough to make ends meet”.
Under 10 million people in the US (less than 6% of workforce) work multiple jobs.
And alternatively again, you need to have lower anger and anxiety to engage in excercise!
I'm sure all of this is an inseparable mess.
But it doesn't affect the recommendation does it? Everyone should aim to be physically fit and that involves engaging in cardiorespiratory exercise.
Which introduces variables such as: "believes in righteous anger"
Pretty much everything related to exercise is a direct or indirect positive effect for health.
Stress relief, tiredness leading to better sleep, physiological effects of muscle gain, physiological effects of weight loss, social interaction in shared spaces, exposure to sunlight, push to improve diet in pursuit of fitness goals, better self image, social effects of becoming more physically attractive…
The angriest people I have met have, without exception, had 30 mins to hop on a bike or march in place or something.
I wonder if there is some underlying lizard-brain thing going on here.
If you "know" you are physically unfit you are quick to anger and aggression because you potentially need to act like that to not need to rely on physical fitness if it came to needing it? I.e. you need to deter others through your aggression rather than relying on fitness if it came to a fight?
Or alternatively the other perspective if you "know" you are fit you can keep the stress hormones low safe in the knowledge that if it comes to it you've got the fitness to handle a fight?
...Or perhaps none of that!
Interesting.
Or even more lizard brain: if you have more cardio capacity/fitness, your body actually FEELS better, so you feel better emotionally and cognitively.
If you have lower capacity, your body feels bad and this is reflected in your emotional and cognitive state.
Cardio is unpleasant and stressful, which is why most people don't do it. Someone willing to do something that is not fun, on a regular basis, is going to have stronger mental status that someone who doesn't try at all.
As Calvin's dad says, misery builds character.
Once you get over the hump and develop a certain amount of cardiovascular fitness, it stops being unpleasant and stressful.
The real problem is that most people don't feel like this is true. It really takes a solid 6ish months of earnest effort (AT LEAST 3x per week, probably more) to develop cardiovascular fitness. For some people, it'll take even longer.
I run an average of 6 days per week for the past 10+ years. At this point running is just about the easiest thing I do, it doesn't take any mental fortitude at all to do it. It wasn't always that way though, I used to dread it.
It's only unpleasant and stressful when you're unfit. I cycle 4-6 hours a week and it's wayyy more pleasant than sitting around at home
People who enjoy exercise are in the minority. Literally doing anything I find interesting would be preferable to exercise, I exercise because I have to, not because it is enjoyable in any way.
I think it depends. People should branch out more and try different sports. I'm sure there's something most people could find that just happens to be exercise
I was like that when I was into lifting weights. I wanted the results, but found the process incredibly grueling
With running/cycling I like the activity, not that interested in the results
Agreed, cardio is actually generally enjoyable, hence the massive popularity of run clubs and marathons. It is unpleasant for the first couple months of someone 20 years sedentary and overweight going into 9/10 effort runs though (when they should jog)
I used to feel this way until I discovered cycling, I started running because I don't want to bike in NYC winter weather. Highly recommending trying cycling since you get to make it as hard as you want and it builds amazing cardio
I am 100% certain my resilience to stress and anxiety is directly tied to my cardiovascular health. I'm prone to a heart-racing, hot-eared flywheel of anxiety. When I've been running a lot I can FEEL the vagal tone/HRV fitness that gives me an physical off ramp for the mental space to take a fucking chill pill.
My final year of college I lived 2 miles off campus and would daily bicycle to school. In previous years I would commute via car as I lived too far to make the trip conveniently. I perceived greater emotional well-being during the 1 year period of moderate daily exercise. My grades also improved dramatically and I was more resilient during periods of sleep deprivation or intense study. As an adult with a family it has been more difficult to establish a pattern of daily physical activity. Going to the gym is very boring for me.
> Going to the gym is very boring for me.
Try group exercise studios, if you have one available. The classes are usually one hour. It makes planning very easy. Same time, every week. All you need to do is to show up.
You could try signing up for a race. 5k’s are a good intro if you’re new to running. Plus it’s a nearly free hobby.
Fitness or the exercise to get there?
You get the fitness from the exercise. They didn't subject people to exercise, they surveyed them on what they already do and found a correlation between exercise and emotional resilience.
Related:
Exercise may relieve depression as effectively as antidepressants - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46541672 - January 2026
Exercise twice as effective as anti-depressants - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39396047 - February 2024
Running from the Pain (2018) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27306725 - May 2021
Running from the Pain - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16573009 - March 2018
Would a stressed out Amazon/Uber eats delivery person who is very fit from working 10 hours a day, but with barely enough money to feed their family going to be less angry/anxious than a rich person lounging at his villa with zero worries? This is looking at one variable which isn't very useful.
> This is looking at one variable which isn't very useful.
It’s a core part of the scientific process: “All else being equal…”
working != working out
if you don't believe me, take one look at a construction site and the workers on it.
Diet is the main driver of obesity, not exercise. These folks are often in great shape under a layer of fat.
More apropos, have you ever met an anxious construction worker? I haven’t.
But the article mentions cardiorespiratory fitness, not working out vs working.