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It's getting harder to die

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241–250 of 255 posts

Re: It's getting harder to die

#241

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Part of me really wants to pick up hockey - just for fun, recreationally - but at 40, I'm worried that I'll get injured to the point where I won't be able to do other things I enjoy, like cycling. Hell, I fell off my bike from a stop a few weeks ago, and landed on my knee, and it took a week and a half before I felt like I could trust my leg to hold weight.

I did MMA at 40. Problem is your reflexes just can't keep up with an 18 year old. My knee got blasted by a faint intended to just make me move back because I just couldn't move out of the way as fast as the kid's kick. Whatever you do my advice is if it's high impact join the 'old man's league'. They better understand everyone's limits.

I did Krav Maga at ~40. I don't think reflexes or stamina were my issue. Mine was recovery.

It is a tough sport and one bad day grappling or boxing and I'm in pain for weeks which limits training. It's not a easy sport to do half-way.

Re: It's getting harder to die

#242

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Use the next several years to build as much muscle as you can without damaging your joints. It gets extraordinarily difficult to add new muscle as you enter your mid-30s, but fortunately you still have time. I work out 3-4 days per week for ~90 minutes each. If you've never done strength training before, you may be pleasantly surprised to learn how much extra mass you can add, while remaining on a typical diet, with…

I started lifting weights at 37 after 10 years of being very sedentary, and within a few months people were mentioning that I had put on muscle. My impression was that sarcopenia doesn't start until the 60's and even then there are benefits to resistance training.

Those are called beginner gains, especially if you've never worked out before.

The beginner gains are great, but the plateau hits most of us.

Re: It's getting harder to die

#243

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How do you reconcile that with many people that attempted suicide due to some illness like depression, and then later very much we're glad they didn't die. "Only of sound mind" sounds difficult to measure. Related: Majority of gun deaths in the USA are suicides. In the gun control debate you might want to exclude those, right? But actually having ready access to a way to die increases the total number of suicides - i…

A permanent solution to a temporary problem still leaves the problem solved.

Louis CK has a great bit about suicide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr7z1YiAWiI

"It will solve all your problems... Once!"

Re: It's getting harder to die

#244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I started lifting weights at 37 after 10 years of being very sedentary, and within a few months people were mentioning that I had put on muscle. My impression was that sarcopenia doesn't start until the 60's and even then there are benefits to resistance training.

Those are called beginner gains, especially if you've never worked out before. The beginner gains are great, but the plateau hits most of us.

In my case it was regaining strength from taking weight-lifting semi-seriously in my 20's. It was actually amazing at how fast muscle can come back even after a decade. But I continued lifting and am stronger now at 38 than I ever have been in my life. What I am saying is that mid-30's is hardly when sarcopenia sets in. I'm sure it's individualized, but I don't seem to have a harder time gaining muscle now than I did back then; for me it's always been joint/tendon issues that have been limiting anyway.

Re: It's getting harder to die

#245

I think sometimes these articles don't pose the question all that well. The way I would ask it is: Imagine a pain scale of 1-10; pretend 10 is so high that you die from the pain. Is it worth living at a 7-8 at every moment continuously, to extend your life for 2 months? How about living at a 9 for just 2 more weeks? If you say "no" that just means you're not hooked up to a machine where that's your living experience…

Doctor here. This is overly simplistic. There is little to debate about your example of living at a 7/8 for 2 months. What is more realistic is some hypothetical situation where the average patient has an expected survival of 6 to 18 months, with the hope that the 7/8 pain can be reduced to a 4/5, and with acknowledgement that some days may be a score of 5, some days may be a score of 9. Then what? As a provider on t…

Thank you for taking the time to explain this, a really valuable contribution to this thread. When I consider this going forward, I'll think of it this way.

Re: It's getting harder to die

#246

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Why are you against religious views?

I think religion has done more harm to humanity as a whole than anything else, and none more so than the two most popular monotheistic, evangelical, 'convert or die' religions. Religion is a vehicle to power, and I dislike it. There are of course some very positive side effects like beautiful architecture and music, and plenty of philosophical debate, but I wish it came without the baggage. But then again, I feel the…

> the two Abrahamic religions

It's three main ones (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) and a bunch of off-shoots such as Samaritanism, Mormonism, Baháʼí.

I'm opposed to religious philosophies in as much as non-real/provable beliefs, and feelings based on these non-provable beliefs, are used as justification for the philosophy or moral stance.

Re: It's getting harder to die

#247

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It’s not the death that is scary, it’s the Judgement Day that’ll come after. Because you don’t know whether you did enough good stuff to go straight to heaven, or first have to suffer in hell to account for your sins. Not all of us believe in a religion that says you are already forgiven and you’ll go to heaven, because God sent himself down to Earth to become His own son to sacrifice Himself to Himself to convince H…

I was raised with a particularly idiotic strain where you cannot repent or be forgiven; one mistake (however tiny) will be hell and that’s it. It is what made me an atheist at a young age (I think I was not even 10 when I decided it’s a bag of bull): it particularly exposes how weird religion is.

That's really a fringe belief indeed. Luckily there's no such thing in my religion.

Re: It's getting harder to die

#248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doctor here. This is overly simplistic. There is little to debate about your example of living at a 7/8 for 2 months. What is more realistic is some hypothetical situation where the average patient has an expected survival of 6 to 18 months, with the hope that the 7/8 pain can be reduced to a 4/5, and with acknowledgement that some days may be a score of 5, some days may be a score of 9. Then what? As a provider on t…

Thank you for taking the time to explain this, a really valuable contribution to this thread. When I consider this going forward, I'll think of it this way.

I'm glad I could help. Thank you for your kindness.

Re: It's getting harder to die

#249
post #239
post #172

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Booze - yes. Culture around booze… not exactly. Serious drinking was reserved for festivals and generally frowned upon. Nowadays… it’s much more common and much more abused. And modern alcohol is getting stronger and stronger, same with other drugs.

I’m curious - are you American? I’ve had some former coworkers (non-Americans) who used to work in San Francisco and it sounded like they encountered a culture of drinking at work that I’ve never seen in Germany or Austria. I remember one story about every Wednesday afternoon a booze cart would go through the office and people would get absolutely hammered on hard liquor (while still at work!) I don’t know if this wa…

No. Lithuania. Here drinking culture reached bottom of the barrel during Soviet era. It’s getting somewhat better as the old generation heads for greener pastures. But it’s still pretty bad with full-on alcoholism being tolerated.

I envy some parts of German drinking culture. E.g. seemingly preferring light beer over heavy drinks. But having visited many music festivals in Germany… You guys got some issues too :D

Re: It's getting harder to die

#250
post #249
post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m curious - are you American? I’ve had some former coworkers (non-Americans) who used to work in San Francisco and it sounded like they encountered a culture of drinking at work that I’ve never seen in Germany or Austria. I remember one story about every Wednesday afternoon a booze cart would go through the office and people would get absolutely hammered on hard liquor (while still at work!) I don’t know if this wa…

No. Lithuania. Here drinking culture reached bottom of the barrel during Soviet era. It’s getting somewhat better as the old generation heads for greener pastures. But it’s still pretty bad with full-on alcoholism being tolerated. I envy some parts of German drinking culture. E.g. seemingly preferring light beer over heavy drinks. But having visited many music festivals in Germany… You guys got some issues too :D

There's loads of alcoholism in Germany and Austria, but its generally frowned upon to get drunk at work (or at work events).
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