Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years • Hacker News Board

Re: Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years

#11

Post by lukan » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 5:50 PM UTC

throwawalien wrote: post #4

asdfman123 wrote: post #3

Yes. The time to fix your health is now. Any unhealthy habits put time on the biological clock, and they'll just get harder to undo later. This is true if you're 20, 40, or 60. Plaque even starts building up on the arteries of healthy teenagers. It all adds up. But don't read this and panic or beat yourself up, that's a waste of energy. That's choosing the punishment instead of the fix. Instead, quietly start doing o…

yep. eat healthy food as much as possible. walk. exercise. and SLEEP.

"eat healthy food as much as possible."

I usually stop, if my body signals me I had enough.

(might seem like pedantery, but I know some people do believe it literally, that it is healthy to just fill themself up with "healthy food", but it is not).

Re: Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years

#12

Post by intrasight » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 5:55 PM UTC

sublinear wrote: post #9

johsole wrote: post #7

The importance of walking can not be overstated. Walking for 30 mins every other day will dramatically improve your life if you are sedentary. If you can't do 30 minutes, start with 15.

Lifting weights also helps. I'd argue that if someone wants to go beyond walking into running or even jogging, they ought to get their strength up so they don't have blood sugar crashes or cramps. It's never a bad idea to gain some muscle.

And don't drink alcohol

Re: Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years

#13

Post by hombre_fatal » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 6:01 PM UTC

sublinear wrote: post #6

> Hypertension was defined as a systolic blood pressure of 140 mm Hg or higher, a diastolic blood pressure of 90 mm Hg or higher, or the utilization of blood pressure-lowering medications. Whoever defined this, thank you for having common sense! This stood out to me because there are so many lunatics defining it as 121/80 or even 121/70 with the backwards idea that the systolic is more important. Worse still is when…

The 120/80 benchmark isn't lunacy. Most people in the west have issues with hypertension because that's the direction it goes due to the common risk factors.

If you're at 135/85, and you're middle aged / younger, and your diet and lifestyle aren't already optimized, it's something you should probably care about, not look for the next highest rung on the ladder so that you can celebrate for being below it.

Re: Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years

#14

Post by _wire_ » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 6:10 PM UTC

You are going to die, and it's a painful ugly business.

The right to die humanely is the single most under-regarded and under-valued aspect of life hygiene.

Re: Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years

#15

Post by mattv8 » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 6:13 PM UTC

asdfman123 wrote: post #5

throwawalien wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yep. eat healthy food as much as possible. walk. exercise. and SLEEP.

IMO developing good sleep hygiene is by far the most important habit to cultivate. It has lots of benefits, but the most important one is it replenishes your willpower. If you're trying to develop other healthy habits, it's 10x harder if you haven't slept well.

It's also the easiest to implement, imo. But there is a tradeoff: fewer waking hours during your best years cognitively for more years when you're older...

Re: Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years

#16

Post by bookofjoe » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 6:16 PM UTC

lukan wrote: post #11

throwawalien wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yep. eat healthy food as much as possible. walk. exercise. and SLEEP.

"eat healthy food as much as possible." I usually stop, if my body signals me I had enough. (might seem like pedantery, but I know some people do believe it literally, that it is healthy to just fill themself up with "healthy food", but it is not).

I think the commenter meant such that as much as possible of your diet consists of healthy rather than unhealthy food — NOT as great a quantity as you can take in.

Re: Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years

#17

Post by lukan » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 6:19 PM UTC

bookofjoe wrote: post #16

lukan wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"eat healthy food as much as possible." I usually stop, if my body signals me I had enough. (might seem like pedantery, but I know some people do believe it literally, that it is healthy to just fill themself up with "healthy food", but it is not).

I think the commenter meant such that as much as possible of your diet consists of healthy rather than unhealthy food — NOT as great a quantity as you can take in.

I know, I took the literal meaning because I know some do live by that.

Re: Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years

#18

Post by Centigonal » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 6:19 PM UTC

mattv8 wrote: post #15

asdfman123 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO developing good sleep hygiene is by far the most important habit to cultivate. It has lots of benefits, but the most important one is it replenishes your willpower. If you're trying to develop other healthy habits, it's 10x harder if you haven't slept well.

It's also the easiest to implement, imo. But there is a tradeoff: fewer waking hours during your best years cognitively for more years when you're older...

Waking hours is both a quantity game and a quality game. I don't remember too much from the parts of my life where I was very sleep deprived

Re: Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years

#19

Post by jr3592 » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 6:21 PM UTC

johsole wrote: post #7

The importance of walking can not be overstated. Walking for 30 mins every other day will dramatically improve your life if you are sedentary. If you can't do 30 minutes, start with 15.

Had an uncle who swore by this. He died at 57 of ALS.

That obviously doesn't mean walking is bad, I just mean to point out that even those people who believe in it as a silver bullet, can be hit with something totally out of left field.

Life is really quite brutish and short. You can do all the right things, and die early. All the wrong things, and live a long time. Take care of yourself for sure, but also find a balance and enjoy your life.

Re: Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years

#20

Post by criddell » Mon, Aug 10, 2026, 6:27 PM UTC

Aurornis wrote: post #8

> Maintaining optimal midlife vascular health was associated with up to 12.6 additional dementia-free survival years, Stay on top of your cardiovascular health. Even moderate diet and lifestyle changes can have a significant impact on the last decade of your life. These things compound over decades.

Being human, I think more about the number of dementia years than number of dementia-free years. Could having good dietary, sleep, and exercise habits result in living longer with dementia?

I've hard about cognitive reserve and how healthy lifestyle choices can build that. But I never read about ways to minimize the number of years you have to live with dementia. I wish I could sign an order that would grant me a dignified death once I'm deemed no longer fit to make that decision.