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Slow walking at 45 'a sign of faster ageing'

bbc.co.uk

1–10 of 63 posts

Re: Slow walking at 45 'a sign of faster ageing'

#2
> A number of treatments, from low-calorie diets to taking the drug metformin, are currently being investigated.

Everything I read about metformin is exciting: cheap, simple structure, causes weight loss, reduced all-cause mortality in diabetics (ie: they studied it long enough to make sure it works, not just to ensure it reduces blood sugar), reduces blood sugar without hypoglycemia and might prevent cancer.

Re: Slow walking at 45 'a sign of faster ageing'

#4
Full article is available at the Journal of the American Medical Association's website:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle...

An interesting take-away not mentioned in the BBC write-up is that the researchers found significant effects as early as three years old, suggesting causal factors found in early childhood or a genetic origin. Perhaps sedentary behavior early in life has long-lasting effects for the CNS?

> Lifelong compromised brain health—including poor neurocognitive functioning as early as age 3 years and childhood-to-adulthood decline in cognitive functioning—was associated with slower gait at midlife.

Re: Slow walking at 45 'a sign of faster ageing'

#5
At the risk of sounding like confirmation bias, I have found many relatives and friends to adhere to this kind of simple rule. The more agile and active you in middle age, the better your sleep quality probably is, and both of these are a proxy for how well you will age, apart from genes.

Re: Slow walking at 45 'a sign of faster ageing'

#8

> A number of treatments, from low-calorie diets to taking the drug metformin, are currently being investigated. Everything I read about metformin is exciting: cheap, simple structure, causes weight loss, reduced all-cause mortality in diabetics (ie: they studied it long enough to make sure it works, not just to ensure it reduces blood sugar), reduces blood sugar without hypoglycemia and might prevent cancer.

Yes, I want to find a doc to prescribe me this and also understands the negatives. Why aren't there more docs doing this kind of stuff? Maybe bc it is not so simple?

Re: Slow walking at 45 'a sign of faster ageing'

#9
Study link: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle...

The study was done in NZ in Dunedin. I wonder how much difference/coorelation there is between locales. I've found that Wellingtonians walk very fast in general - I thought I was a fast walker always passing people in San Francisco, but when I moved to Wellington everybody was passing me.

Re: Slow walking at 45 'a sign of faster ageing'

#10

> A number of treatments, from low-calorie diets to taking the drug metformin, are currently being investigated. Everything I read about metformin is exciting: cheap, simple structure, causes weight loss, reduced all-cause mortality in diabetics (ie: they studied it long enough to make sure it works, not just to ensure it reduces blood sugar), reduces blood sugar without hypoglycemia and might prevent cancer.

Yes, I want to find a doc to prescribe me this and also understands the negatives. Why aren't there more docs doing this kind of stuff? Maybe bc it is not so simple?

Preventative pharmaceutical treatments are, culturally, a hard sell unless you have some documented risk factor better than "life".

But if you can find a provider that specializes in "anti-aging", it might be the first thing they reach for. Just don't buy into too much of what they say :)

I would say anti-cholesterol medications were vastly marketed/sold and prescribed to those likely to only benefit a bit. The "Number Needed To Treat" (NNT) was over 100 for most populations prescribed it. But at $1/day and several pharma companies manufacturing their versions, there was a lot of profit from influencing.

But metformin is cheaper than cheap, so that won't happen.

Mass vaccinations were (mostly) an easy sell when they prevented debilitating diseases that harm children (e.g. polio), but remain harder sells when the benefits are primarily for the old/already ill (e.g. flu vaccines).

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