Ask HN: What to do to be healthy when old?
What should you be doing in your twenties to be healthy when you're older?
What can someone in their fifties do to be healthy in their sixties/seventies?
Finally, is there a good book on this topic? A sort of "owner's manual" for the human body?
90 comments
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As always people are projecting their own behaviour on others. You have more chance to die in a traffic accident as a pedestrian, just because modern cars are ridiculously safe. I've in an accident, I was in the car on passenger seat. If I was not in the car - I would post here, because at that collision speed pedestrians doesn't survive.
It absolutely doesn't matter if I drunk that day or not. Or just was on my way to drink a lot.
Avoid overprocessed and junk food (yes, you know what is junk and what isn't)
No smoking. No harmful drugs. Low to no booze.
Exercise regularly.
Avoid social media - mental and physical health are related
If you're posting to drum up business, then just post to drum up business. Stay out of the personal and political stuff which is mostly just drama and noise. Interact only with reasonable responses to your own posts and note when people are just trying to stir something up or troll, ignore them.
so i need to use my personal profile to build relationships and sell. this means i get pulled into personal use of facebook which destroys my mental health.
Either you hire someone to manage your Social Media or decide specific rules of usage. Login only at work hours, for such amount of time to do X and nothing else. Try to have a blank account, empty of anything outside of work related, for example blank Facebook account which hosts the business page/group/whatever.
- Avoid excessive alcohol consumption
- Avoid fast food, excessive salt and sugar, deep fried dishes
- Avoid excessive stress and worrying
Besides that, focus on the basics:
- Consistent and restful sleep
- Healthy, balanced diet
- Regular exercise
- Novel and mentally-stimulating activities, continuous learning
- Strong social connections (not just online social networks, but actual friends and family you can hang out with in-person)
If you want even more, there have been studies about 5 blue zones where inhabitants regularly reach ages of 100 or more, and 9 habits they follow: https://www.bluezones.com/2016/11/power-9/
1. Move naturally: build exercise into your daily life
2. Purpose: a reason to wake up in the morning
3. Downshift: Routines that shed stress
4. Only eat until you are 80% full. Consider occasionally fasting.
5. Plant and bean-based diet
6. Moderate (1-2 cups/day) consumption of alcohol
7. Faith
8. Close family connections
9. Social circles that support healthy behaviors
https://www.faculty.umb.edu/alexandrine_noel/AlexINFO/newsta...
If you're looking for books, search for Adventist health books, there are a lot of free resources online.
'The Whole Foods Diet: The Lifesaving Plan for Health and Longevity':
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06X6LPQH9/ref=dbs_a_def_r...
As you age, strong legs will keep you walking longer. Run and jump; loading your bones with more than 1x your body weight is crucial for maintaining bone density and avoiding those broken hips later in life. Leg strength has even been correlated with brain health.
Source: a Zoom seminar with a doctor that I watched a while back at my company.
and it could just be their guilty pleasure - better than the "normal" coke
While I can mostly get on board with the idea that it’s better to consume less processed foods and beverages, if I remember correctly there’s never been a human study that showed a causal relationship between consuming zero calorie sweeteners and negative health outcomes.
I’m on my own journey to optimize my diet, and eat less processed foods, but Diet Coke is something I’ll probably never cut out.
Marry someone way younger
Be religious
Walk a lot
Fast sometimes or often
Be close to parents relationship wise
Use moisturizer even in 20s
Donate blood or plasma
Keep carbs very low
Always be learning something mental and something else physical
Eat organic
Reduce omega-6 (grass fed meat has less of it AND AVOID all vegetable oils)
All this is gonna make you is poorer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw16LPVnNco
added sources for other points as well in the comments
Organic produce is a luxury item for high-income citizens of developed countries.
Purely considering the elemental nitrogen required for supplying the global demand of calories, we currently have no viable system for eating all organic. The intensive nature of organic farming would require most city-dwellers to return to the fields, and we would still come up short by about half of the world's required calories. Please don't respond with an article about regenerative ag unless it truly addresses the process of implementation and realistic supply of calories.
This is a nuanced and complex subject. Our food system is dysfunctional and requires systemic change, but all organic farming is likely not the answer.
added sources for other points in comments as well
Theories I've heard go from increased red cells to people environment containing fewer unknown chemicals that become concentrated downstream (unknown because even wild animals are becoming obese by getting exposed to something)
added sources for other points in comments as well
Er, seems like an outlier on this list. I doubt religion, which often suggests causes and effects originating from divinity rather than predictive behavior, will overall result in life extending decisions.
Besides, just logically it would seem to be a source of acceptance of your impending death, when perhaps continuing to fight for life may be the superior strategy.
added sources for other points in the comments as well
Additionally, I see no control for "religiousness" of the gathering, only "The simple act of congregating with a like-minded community might deserve much of the credit."
So, per your own source, "be religious" is not what would extend your life and is therefore not accurate advice.
I see a lot of good advice in the comments but the one I don’t see which has had an amazing effect is an annual (or perhaps once every 2 year, if you’re still in your 20s) physical exam with a good physician.
My physician is an accomplished runner and we geek out on things during my physicals. He goes the extra mile on stuff like blood tests as indicators and whatnot.
Aside from that I’ve traditionally been into extreme endurance sports and while I wouldn’t change a thing, except perhaps doing more when I was younger, I’m questioning whether that’s wise or sustainable (injuries and wear-and-tear) for my ongoing health at this point.
It used to take a day or two to recover, but as I get older, it’s in terms of weeks not days.
FWIW I asked the Australian doctor who was inspecting me, top-to-tail, in my 37th year, whether I should be doing this every year.
“Do you feel healthy?”
“Yes.”
“Then no. No need while you’re young.”
Then the question become "what should you be doing to be healthy now".
Make the most of today, everyday.
That said, even with your interpretation, imagine that if you didn’t do something, somebody else would have to shit on the bus —- you’d have to be pretty selfish not to spend a bit of time to spare the other person of the embarrassment.
I think of it as setting my future self up for success. Go to bed early, go for groceries, have some food prepared, make plans to do something.
Staying healthy is not the goal here, it's simply one of the methods to reach the actual goal, which is ensuring that you are not a burden to others when you get old. One other method is making so much money that you can pay someone to take full care of you. Those are all valid methods; so is not getting old in the first place.
1) Minimize stress 2) Good sleep 3) Eat home cooked meals mostly (by this i don't mean microwaving stuff). Even in my late twenties i would proudly boast that the only thing i can cook is an egg. Now i can cook for myself, stuff i enjoy eating and stuff that doesn't take too long. 4) Reduce alcohol intake to no more than 3 beers once in a while. 5) Exercise 2-3 times a week. 6) Have a healthy social life, whatever that means for you.
You may say, sure, I care about physical health, but why do I care about conditioning or training? Because when you're 30, conditioning is whether you can sprint or run marathons or play sports. When you're 80, it's whether you can walk without pain.
Note: By "conditioning" here, I don't mean that you have to reach 10% body fat or 20 inch biceps or elite VO2 levels or anything like that. I don't mean obsessive levels - those can cause injury and/or result in shorter life span. I mean, though, that you make some effort to work on your body's condition (strength, aerobic, or both) in a consistent, long-term way.
In most people it involves prioritising health over other goals to some extent, e.g. if you're doing an 80 hour job, find a 40 hour one with less stress, hit the gym and cook proper meals.
Either one of those could have been a life-changing injury and I walked away with minor bruising. Seldom has anything in my life paid off that well.
2) Figure out the dental care thing early: correct tooth care - the right electric toothbrush, the right toothpaste, structural issues like tooth grinding.
3) Sleep issues - deviated septum, sleep apnea, anything like that. Fix it young.
4) Get tested for food allergies. I was over 40 before I discovered I was gluten intolerant, and this is common for the non-celiac gluten intolerances. I wound up in hospital with a very specific skin rash, and they diagnosed me on sight. 40 years of allergy behind that. Bad news.
When you're young fundamental structural stuff can be fucked up and your body will just power through it without noticing. Catch it before you age into it.
Good luck!
However, the break falls cannot be just learned, they must be practiced from time to time, which requires an appropriate surface, e.g. some kind of hard mattress, resembling a tatami, or even the real thing (i.e. a special mattress or tatami made for wrestling, judo or aikido, put on an elastic floor, e.g. a wooden floor).
Going to an actual dojo would be the best, if that is possible. While the practice of Aikido, as done in most places (i.e. based on cooperative training in pairs), is not something that would transform you into a killing machine or an UFC competition champion, it is a very appropriate relatively low-effort training method for old people, useful to preserve their flexibility and balance, making them much less prone to injuries.
Also the daily practice of some solo kata taken from some martial art, or of some Tàijíquán form, is something that can be done at any age with very good results for preserving the body fitness, by exercising all muscles and articulations in coordinated movements, with the advantage that no special space is required. Most such kata can be adapted to be practiced even in a small room, or outside on the ground in some yard, when no better space is available.
That's it.
Find a good MD to be your primary care provider.
If you lose confidence in your MD, find another one. Until that happens, don't try to be smarter than your doctors (you will probably have several before too long), and do what your doctors say. Let all your doctors know that you trust them, follow their advice, and respect and rely on them.
Find a good dentist and give them the same treatment that you give your MD.
Do balancing exercises -- broken bones reduce your mobility and vitality; they are often the cause of a downward spiral in health. Don't shun using a cane, walking stick, or walker when there is any chance you might fall, but scrupulously avoid riding around on one of those damned electric carts if you are lucky enough to be able to walk, however slowly.
Have friends and enjoy life.
Exercise as much as you can; eat as little health-damaging food as you can; get 8 hours good sleep every night if you can.
Most of my older friends have Medicare "advantage" plans which I assume are what you're speaking of by "managed care plan". They seem to prefer those plans to plain Medicare.
Why do you suggest Medicare instead of a managed care plan?