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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   33194 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 10, 2022

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quokka

complains of "akrasia" -- an inability to accomplish things, or he struggles with his own failure to live up to his standards of logic. But his problems are grounded, not in his mind, but in his body

Becoming physically strong is the cure for basically every mental illness in men, such as depression or philosophy.

Hit the gym!

If people treat bodybuilding as a cure for depression, by definition there's going to be a load of depressed people at the gym, unless it really would work instantaneously in a "lift a barbell, depression gone for good" way.

LOL, well said -- it would be like trying to discredit psychiatry by observing that their waiting rooms are full of depressed people.

I think there's also, as usual, a case of diminishing returns here. If you're inactive, and you start exercising regularly and eating healthily, I don't doubt that's good for mental health (as well as physical health obviously). But once you pass the point of 'reasonably fit and healthy' I find it hard to believe gym-going is does anything more for you mentally than any other hobby.

I think there are more potential gains than you imply. I can run a 7.5 minute mile and I feel pretty good. Running a 6 minute mile would probably make me feel even better, psychologically of course for achieving a goal, but also just in my daily fitness. It won't be as huge as the difference between 9 minutes and 7.5 minutes, but it will certainly be abig improvement.

I suppose what I'm trying to say is that returns do diminish, but never to the point where shaving another minute off my mile would equivalent to finally painting the entire map in Europa Universalis while playing as the Knights of Saint John. The fitness gains would still provide way more benefit.

Yeah, certainly the fitness gains will keep increasing, but my point is that beyond a certain level fitness isn't necessarily making you that much 'healthier', at that point the goals are fairly arbitrary. Which is fine, even good, but no different to the goal of completing a good stamp collection or finishing restoring an old car.

I understand. The point I perhaps failed to make is that the point of diminishing returns for exercise is quite high IMO, especially relative to the amount of effort people put into keeping fit. Put another way, very very few people are at the point where they wouldn't benefit from getting fitter, including people who exercise regularly. I think you hit "completing a stamp collection" levels of marginal return when you're, say, trying to shave 5% off your half marathon time or whatever (probably before then, but I'm just trying to illustrate the point).

Edit: I reread my post and I see that I didn't acknowledge that there is eventually a point of diminishing returns. Oops. I agree with you on that point.

Sure, I mostly agree with that. Though I think that's mostly a reflection of how unhealthy America/Britain etc. is as a society

Have you tried deleting Facebook and getting a lawyer?

?

The universal meme advice for men's problems is "delete Facebook, hit the gym, lawyer up".

Just a dumb joke, don’t mind me

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