Chove's Log

[sanjiu27]

My mood is improving a bit, possibly connected to starting a healthier diet and doing more (read "any") exercise. I feel a bit annoyed that exercise really does make me feel better, I always assumed that was just something people said. But the link also works in reverse, in that it's a lot harder to get motivated to exercise and to cook something healthy if I'm feeling low.

A part of the trick is what you've described as "something people said", in my opinion. We are conditioned to feel good about ourselves, when we exercise. Whether the neurotransmiters responsible are truly released by the physical exercise itself or by our satisfaction "yes, I'm doing what everybody admires", that is not so clear. I believe the later a bit more, but I am biased (but I think the people saying it's the exercise itself are a bit biased too, including some of the research ). So, when you find the strength to exercise, you are supposed to get some reward (for some weird reason, I usually don't get anything except for the happiness it's finally over ), and I'm glad it works for you.

But when you're down, it is totally normal to not have any spare energy for that. Don't believe the people telling you to cure depression, anxiety, or anything else with sports. You need to feel good enough for that. If medication, therapy, or lots of rest get you to that point, great. If you are not there, don't beat yourself up, please.

It's like with the vitamins. A reasonably healthy person can indeed profit a lot from buying a bottle of mutivitamine and taking one pill a day. But expecting it to treat any serious problem, including a real vitamine deficiency, is very naive. But still, you'll find lots of insensitive morons telling you that your illness is caused by your bad discipline and not taking that daily multivitamine pill.

Actually I think that it goes a little beyond in the sense that apparently the muscular system behaves as an endocrine organ as well. There are some interesting papers in that regard, like this one.

Sorry if I'm a bit brief, but I don't feel quite comfortable talking about such a complex and technical topic in English

[Cavesa]

My mood is improving a bit, possibly connected to starting a healthier diet and doing more (read "any") exercise. I feel a bit annoyed that exercise really does make me feel better, I always assumed that was just something people said. But the link also works in reverse, in that it's a lot harder to get motivated to exercise and to cook something healthy if I'm feeling low.

A part of the trick is what you've described as "something people said", in my opinion. We are conditioned to feel good about ourselves, when we exercise. Whether the neurotransmiters responsible are truly released by the physical exercise itself or by our satisfaction "yes, I'm doing what everybody admires", that is not so clear. I believe the later a bit more, but I am biased (but I think the people saying it's the exercise itself are a bit biased too, including some of the research ). So, when you find the strength to exercise, you are supposed to get some reward (for some weird reason, I usually don't get anything except for the happiness it's finally over ), and I'm glad it works for you.

But when you're down, it is totally normal to not have any spare energy for that. Don't believe the people telling you to cure depression, anxiety, or anything else with sports. You need to feel good enough for that. If medication, therapy, or lots of rest get you to that point, great. If you are not there, don't beat yourself up, please.

It's like with the vitamins. A reasonably healthy person can indeed profit a lot from buying a bottle of mutivitamine and taking one pill a day. But expecting it to treat any serious problem, including a real vitamine deficiency, is very naive. But still, you'll find lots of insensitive morons telling you that your illness is caused by your bad discipline and not taking that daily multivitamine pill.

Actually I think that it goes a little beyond in the sense that apparently the muscular system behaves as an endocrine organ as well. There are some interesting papers in that regard, like this one.

Sorry if I'm a bit brief, but I don't feel quite comfortable talking about such a complex and technical topic in English

I am well aware of such papers and of the ways this is supposed to work . I am just also aware of how multifactorial one's well being and mental health is. If it was that simple and sport worked that miraculously for everybody, I'd be out of work.

[sanjiu27]

I am well aware of such papers and of the ways this is supposed to work . I am just also aware of how multifactorial one's well being and mental health is. If it was that simple and sport worked that miraculously for everybody, I'd be out of work.

Oh, how interesting! Are you by any chance a psychologist?

[chove]

I seen this video about the use of Scots online, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSkggGiR8_s
I tend to feel I'm doing some kind of affectation when I type like I speak, but a lot of people do it and I kind of envy them

[DaveAgain]

.. a lot of people do it

Isn't this just fanatical SNP supporters?

[chove]

.. a lot of people do it

Isn't this just fanatical SNP supporters?

No Politics Please!

[Cavesa]

I am well aware of such papers and of the ways this is supposed to work . I am just also aware of how multifactorial one's well being and mental health is. If it was that simple and sport worked that miraculously for everybody, I'd be out of work.

Oh, how interesting! Are you by any chance a psychologist?

A psychiatry resident, about to change my specialty though.

So, while I totally believe the research about how it is supposed to work with sports and neurophysiology or the natural neuropharmacology we make for ourselves under various stimuli, I am sceptical about the outcomes people are so hyped about (it's like when you're cooking. You can't say your muffins taste awesome just because of the flour). Just yesterday, I was listening to an experienced psychiatrist's lunch lecture on how we don't actually know how some of the treatments work (and sometimes, we get results through a surely different mechanism than the supposed one). This is similar, plus there are always other things in the mix. There are people, who will even get very sad or angry due to sports (for example due to having it tied to lots of bad memories, or it just enhances bad emotions they start the activity with, or they feel ashamed for their body, and so on. let's not forget adrenaline get's produced too, and lots of other stuff I definitely cannot just list). Another thing in the mix may be simply stronger than the supposed sport=happiness miracle.

Also, you may notice that only some kinds of people are that loud about these effects. Usually those naturally good at sports, or who have gotten to that point, but they always get some more profit from the sport (like the society admiring them, sexual attraction, social contacts they value). But yes, some of the chemistry stuff is definitely part of it, as sport can actually work even like drugs too, we just treat this behavioral addiction as something much better than the others (such as too much computer games playing), because the people are usually beautiful, and the society values their activity much more. But when it comes to some sport lovers, excited about how happy it makes them, you will find the same patterns of avoiding other kids of interests, not growing in other areas, damaging their relationships, and sometimes even damaging their own health. So, there is no doubt this "move and get your drug" mechanism works, it is just not that simple and we should stop the humiliation of people with various physical or mental health conditions by this "you're just too lazy to fix all your problems by sport" attitude.

But I know, it is an unpopular opinion.

Sorry for the log invasion, Chove

[chove]

Had another iTalki Polish lesson, sticking to 30-minute sessions so I don't tire out. We practiced verb conjugations, and after that we're going to move on to cases. At the moment I know a fair number of words but without the grammar I can't use any of them properly.

Spoke German a few days ago, also via iTalki, but I think I won't try more conversations until I can express myself a bit better in German. As with Spanish I can get my meaning across but with very inaccurate grammar and etc. I pause a lot to remember genders and cases, especially with the adjectives. German adjectives are one of the most awful things ever, I bet they only do that to troll foreigners/learners.

[chove]

I'm a bit stuck for how to proceed with German at the moment. I need to be at a sort of lower-intermediate level for the course I start in October, but how to get there? Most courses are too easy but native materials are still beyond me. There's some basic vocabulary I've forgotten over time but mostly I need more complicated words to have a conversation. Do I just push on with extensive reading on the Kindle and hope? I've been playing with the DuoLingo course, I'm nearly at the 4th checkpoint and it's good for drilling grammar etc but a bit dull. I should be getting my textbooks in September so then I'll have a better idea of what my level should be. TBH I feel like my German at the moment is better than where my Spanish was when I started 2nd-year of that one. (I took several years off where I had entirely given up on the degree, so I forgot a fair bit in that gap.)

Spanish I can hopefullly maintain/slowly improve by reading and watching YouTube stuff. Basically just interacting with the language in my daily life.

I need to find ways to study in a focussed way for longer periods, my illnesses make it very hard for me to get motivated to begin tasks and to stick with them. I get demotivated pretty easily. But every little helps, as I constantly tell myself!

[DaveAgain]

Most courses are too easy but native materials are still beyond me

There's a magazine for German learners called Deutsch Perfekt you might like to try, the articles are graded by difficulty level. You can download copies from the Goethe eLibrary.

https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... 784#p53129