I listened to two podcast episodes in the past few days that were really interesting. One shifted my view on sleep. The other confirmed a suspicion that I’ve had for a while.

Note: I didn’t take notes, and I don’t understand the science behind a lot of this. I highly recommend listening to either or both episodes if this interests you.

Sleep & Exercise

In Modern Wisdom #750 - Dr. Rhonda Patrick - The Most Important Daily Habits For Health & Longevity Dr. Patrick pointed out in that exercise can counteract the effects a lack of sleep. This was interesting to me because I don’t sleep well. In the past, this has led me to skip workouts. Excuses, right? But I thought the poor sleep and exercise together would be worse than the poor sleep alone.

Exercise Snacks

The science is clear: our ancestors were much more active than us. I’ve always thought it strange that we tend to exercise a few times a week for an hour or so. I suspected that exercising throughout the day would be good for us. In FoundMyFitness Episode #82 - Martin Gibala, PhD: The Science of Vigorous Exercise - From VO2 Max to Time Efficiency of HIIT. Dr. Patrick and Dr. Gibala cover a lot of ground, but what really stood out to me was the benefit of brief bouts of exercise spread throughout the day. Even sessions as short as one minute can be beneficial. Dr. Gibala calls these exercise snacks. I’ll be trying to add more of these in my day-to-day. As a knowledge worker, I spend a lot of time working on my computer.