Like, if I write about how it's a sad a murderer is going to jail because they worked in a charity shop on Thursdays, that seems like distraction to the point of complicity.

It really sniffs of agenda. Crypto folk are too familiar with paying for articles. But this was in Washington Post.

Observational studies are less good at showing causation, sure.

Whilst I can't see the original article, the news summary insinuated a dose related effect. A sample size of >2000 is also decent.

Naturally in an ideal world you'd want a 3 arm, 20 year long, randomised placebo controlled double blinded study. But who would ever 1. Pay for it, 2. Wait that long.

There is a caveat. Most science, even when high calibre and delivering clear results, doesnt reliably predict wwhat individuals should do. It only speaks to an average across the population. Individuals have unique responses, which can vary by degree and also by direction. The gold standard is always careful experimentation on a case by case basis. This phenomena is more apparent in diet science where dissecting causation and elaborating mechanism is particularly difficult. Many studies are narrow in scope, with short duration, and applied to limited demographic types... limiting generalisability. Larger, longer studies in more natural contexts produce results that often conflict, presumably because of factors we don't fully understand.

So my two cents would be to remember that results of studies are not always true for individuals, annoying as that is. If you're serious about change you'll need to experiment.

Nope! Big career fireworks instead. Props to this guy anyway, sounds like he's enjoying whatever he's doing.

Better think the serotonin/ monoamine hypothesis of depression is akin to saying a server load balancing failure is because of "electricity imbalance". Whilst electrons are undeniably involved, the explanation is not useful, and distracts from better truths.

We have such a scarcity of safe and effective tools to probe and influence the human brain. Herein lies the hope that the diseases we invent might be treated neatly by the tools we posses. Yet, given the origin of disease and the tools are sparsely interlinked, it is too often just a fantasy.

Yet to "do nothing" is usually not acceptable and so we persist, and iteration or invention become the next hope.

Assume an experienced rider, as learning is different.

Intention is set, requiring the basal ganglia and fore brain and either a notion of free will, determinism, or whatever you fancy. The area ahead is scanned and mapped for a clear path via retina- optic nerve - visual cortex and particularly the dorsal parietal pathway. Initial organised motor signal sequences originate in pre and pre pre motor areas, hitting motor strip of the brain, particularly those homoncular areas corresponding to legs, arms and torso. Basal ganglia loops prime these circuits into action and help maintain their engagement. Activated motor strip neurons pass through the internal capsule, down the pyramidal tracts, the spinal cord, and meet a lower motor neuron in the anterior horn, which then carries the baton and traverses out if the cord (still the central nervous system) into the body and to the final destination: a muscle. Electrical depolarisation along the axon hops rapidly between nodes of ranvier, enabled by insulation myelination. At the terrminal synaptic bouton lower motor neurons branch across a muscle body. Each neurons innervated patch is a motor unit; multiple combine into a motor pool. Depolarisation triggers fusion of vesicles to the membrane endplate and release of acetylcholine into the thin synapse. Rapid diffusion moves thr snall molecukes to the muscle membrane, the sarcolemma, who then bind to the membrane spanning Nm nicotinic receptors which open and allow a rapid flooding of sodium into the muscle cell syncitium and efflux of potassiun into the extra cellular matrix. Depolarisation of that muscle allows further calcium released from the sarcoplasmic reticulum to activate protein machinery; myosin and actin run across each other and fibres contract. With enough activity concentric movement is achieved across the associated joint. In a manner similar to walking, various spinal reflexes and the spinal locomotor pattern generator create a local, fast framework for actualisation of the impulses. Feed back on state of the musculature ascends the spine via dorsal root ganglia and the dorsal horn. Amongst these are proprioceptive afferents, rapidly feeding back state of tension in muscle fibres from golgi tendon organs along highly myelinated type 1a fibres. These signals pass into the cerebellum where they are co processed with signals from the eyes and vestibular system. The cerebellum modulates the intensity of descending motor activity by comparing expected to perceived muscle state. It also orchestrates balance by integrating general body state, visual cues and vestibular information. In this way the small and large oscillations of riding the bike are maintained and constrained into an orderly process.

Experienced riders can dedicate higher function, i.e Executive frontal areas to other tasks, or to refined modulation of thr task to overcome specific issues. Beginners must use all their frontal powers to focus attention on the task, painstakingly sequence actions, and reflect on the numerous errors and their consequences. Learning is slow, multi system, and largely independent of autobiographical memory.

I'd suggest that whilst you may have suffered in doing the exercise for whatever reason, there was also a parallel and strong reward process embedding and sustaining that behaviour in you.

Whilst microbiome is a fascinating topic people are quick to lend unsubstantiated pet theories new credence, harboured by the topics nasence and complexity.

Anecdotally, logical fallacy bingo is a great actual game and I recommend everyone play

Or referring to the limits of modern biology?

Still probably a healthy mantra to recite to anyone in the midst of overwhelm as most people a fine, and its a caring act.

But rules of thumb about how people generally are inevitably lose fidelity for individuals, making then often entirely wrong.

For example anxious people find certain things help their quality of life, but those things may be toxic to someone without an anxious disposition.

In the same way that we love someone who 'has the answer' - its cognitively relaxing - i suggest we are too easily led to sudpend judgement on issues which entirely deserve our full consideration