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lmm comments on Rationalist Sport - Less Wrong Discussion
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Comments (58)
You may put a high value on physical activity, but my impression is that the averaged community as a whole does not. (It's not a socially acceptable thing to say directly that one does not value physical activity, but reading between the lines...)
Sure, however, most LWers put a high value on rationality and as our brain has some impact on our rationality (any dualist around?), our body has some impact on our brain and physical activity has some (positive) impact on our body, it seems rational to me to engage in some physical activity rather than "waisting your intelligence" on playing chess (which I also did a lot).
I haven't researched this, but I was told by a neuroscientist/martial arts-practicing friend that particular sports (like martial arts) where you have to practice a very wide and varied range of technical motions and thus challenge/develop neuromuscular systems widely may be particularly good for general brain health and plasticity (in the same way that varying your routine widely, etc, apparently is). Seems plausible, but I repeat that I haven't researched it.
Big wodge of evidence about karate in particular (not martial arts in general) being unhealthy.
A lot of it is about karate masters-- it's quite possible that if you stop when karate starts seeming like it's bad for you, it's not all that destructive.
I've poked around a little to see whether belly-dancing and tap-dancing (complex movement of very different kinds) increase longevity, but haven't turned up anything.
This probably wouldn't be an issue for karate, but a lot of high-level judo and jujitsu people in the last century died of stroke because blood chokes ( a major part of jujitsu technique) put unusual loads on the cardiovascular system. The modern consensus is not to practice them on people over forty-five or so, or with existing cardio issues.
Fascinating, thank you for this!
You're welcome. I keep hoping someone with more knowledge of statistics than I've got will take a look at the karate study.
Huh? In the absence of further evidence I'd think the best way to get better at abstract reasoning is to practice abstract reasoning, which chess is going to be better at than sports. Sure, sport has effects on your brain, but so does chess.
The positive effects of chess may be higher, but I presume that the average rationalist or LWer practices 8 hours of abstract reasoning a day, simply by doing their job. Let us think about Bobby Fischer. He probably practiced at least 10 hours a day - maybe then another hour of chess did not have an impact as positive as an hour of tennis, swimming etc. At least, he did not think so.
The situation is of course very different, if you are a professional athlete. Then some hours of chess in the free time is (probably) a better way to train your brain, but so would be reading a book about AI, rationality, etc.
All I am saying is that the time you can improve your mental abilities by thinking about some hard problems is limited and above a certain threshold (maybe 8h a day, maybe a lot more or less depending on the kind of activities, the specific person etc.) it might be better to do something else, like sleep, go for a walk, listen to music or engage in some physical activity.
Here is some further evidence that physical activity might have a positive impact on your brain: (I neither have the time nor the competence to evaluate the quality of these papers; also I hope that they're visible from outside a university network)
Cotman, Carl W.; Engesser-Cesar, Christie: Exercise Enhances and Protects Brain Function. http://journals.lww.com/acsm-essr/Abstract/2002/04000/Exercise_Enhances_and_Protects_Brain_Function.6.aspx
Cotman, Carl W. , Berchtold, Nicole C., Christie, Lori-Ann: Exercise builds brain health: key roles of growth factor cascades and inflammation. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0166223607001786#
Colcombe, Stanley J., Erickson, Kirk I., Raz, Naftali, Webb, Andrew G., Cohen, Neal J., McAuley, Edward, Kramer, Arthur F.: Aerobic Fitness Reduces Brain Tissue Loss in Aging Humans. http://biomedgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/58/2/M176.short
Google Scholar finds thousands of such articles.
I don't think that there's a consensus. I think there are a bunch of people who do understand that the academic consensus is that physical activity is very valuable and therefore value sport. There are other people who don't identify themselves with their body and don't value physical activity.
I think the second group simply holds irrational beliefs on the matter.
It would be interesting to get a relevant question into the next census.