80-year Harvard study has been showing how to live a healthy and happy life • Hacker News Board

Re: 80-year Harvard study has been showing how to live a healthy and happy life

#171

Post by MicroBerto » Sat, Jul 22, 2017, 7:16 PM UTC

indescions_2017 wrote: post #132

I've got a simple hack I employ when in a new city. All through my twenties, I moved basically every year or two. Most of the time I had a network of family or associates to drawn upon before arrival. But often, I'd find myself a complete stranger, knowing not a single soul. What I'd do is this: find a local diner, not a touristy place, but a real local institution and landmark. And then eat dinner there every single…

Sand Volleyball and volleyball classes for anyone remotely coordinated. Best way to meet young and healthy people with plenty of the opposite sex as well.

Re: 80-year Harvard study has been showing how to live a healthy and happy life

#172

Post by DougN7 » Sun, Jul 23, 2017, 2:01 PM UTC

beefield wrote: post #76

sillysaurus3 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish there were a Tinder for friends. It's a shame no one would use it.

At some point I thought there should be an app for lonely people to get know each other. but I am a bit afraid that being lonely is much more difficult to admit to even oneself than being single, so I started thinking that the app should not be about loneliness, but about things to do or help needed in simple things. So I guess it should be something remotely resembling twitter that is geographically filterable. so t…

I've been on Reddit and seen how many people are truely lonely. If this app could reach critical mass, it could have a hugely positive effect on thousands (millions?) of lives. I hope you (or someone) will do it. I'm not lonely, but I would use it too - everyone can have more friends.

Re: 80-year Harvard study has been showing how to live a healthy and happy life

#173

Post by DougN7 » Sun, Jul 23, 2017, 2:07 PM UTC

beefield wrote: post #136

graphitezepp wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the IT company I used to work at, our CTO constantly raged over people asking for technical solutions for their own management problems, which is a pattern I have internalized. Sometimes things are social issues that need to be solved socially. I don't think there is going to be a systematic way to keep creeps out and prevent the asshole minority, people are just going to have work things out as a society.

I think it is quite difficult to let complete strangers to your home without any help from technology. I don't think this app would need any rocket science, but I would guess that a simple way to verify who you are dealing with and make that public ("John Doe is joining our board game night today") and some kind of scoring system ("John Doe has wanted help x times and given help y times and on average people do not s…

Wow, you've put some good thought into this. Being able to say "I could use help taking down a tree" would be great - signing up and attending an event is one thing (meetup.com), but hard to do if you're down. But actually being needed and being able to help! THAT is powerful! Please do this. I'll help if I can.

Re: 80-year Harvard study has been showing how to live a healthy and happy life

#174

Post by EGreg » Sun, Jul 23, 2017, 2:17 PM UTC

beefield wrote: post #136

graphitezepp wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At the IT company I used to work at, our CTO constantly raged over people asking for technical solutions for their own management problems, which is a pattern I have internalized. Sometimes things are social issues that need to be solved socially. I don't think there is going to be a systematic way to keep creeps out and prevent the asshole minority, people are just going to have work things out as a society.

I think it is quite difficult to let complete strangers to your home without any help from technology. I don't think this app would need any rocket science, but I would guess that a simple way to verify who you are dealing with and make that public ("John Doe is joining our board game night today") and some kind of scoring system ("John Doe has wanted help x times and given help y times and on average people do not s…

We are building exactly this app. And we are releasing it soon.

https://qbix.com/groups

Re: 80-year Harvard study has been showing how to live a healthy and happy life

#175

Post by jeffdavis » Sun, Jul 23, 2017, 10:28 PM UTC

SpikeDad wrote: post #169

jeffdavis wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if you are not religious, you may want to reconsider church. It can be good for people and communities in many ways, and often for reasons you don't understand. Sometimes I feel like American culture is being sterilized. Just like white bread and a multivitamin, we only take what we understand and leave everything else behind. And then when we encounter social problems after eliminating church (or health problem…

Your logic is flawed associating social problems with eliminating church. There should be more socially accepted ways to congregate other than under the auspices of an ancient superstition. And I won't even comment on your connection to health problems and natural foods (whatever those are). You mean like what prehistoric man ate? And lived to 25 years old?

My point was that sometimes something may have a positive effect even if we don't understand why or where the positive effect comes from. We can't easily reproduce the positive effects of church because we don't know what about it, exactly, is responsible for the benefits.

Similar to how a multivitamin and junk food doesn't replace a balanced diet. That's just an analogy to help illustrate my point, not a point on its own.

I think it's more likely that churches will adapt to our modern understandings than someone will build the perfect atheist social institution from first principles.

Re: 80-year Harvard study has been showing how to live a healthy and happy life

#176

Post by jeffdavis » Mon, Jul 24, 2017, 12:47 AM UTC

mythrwy wrote: post #163

jeffdavis wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting point, thank you for answering. I wonder if the "next thing" is going to come from atheists constructing such an organization from scratch, or from religious people adapting churches to fit our new understandings?

I think I see your point and it's a fair one, militant atheists are usually too busy being just that to be constructive but we aren't talking about cool electric guitars at the pulpit and admitting a few gays. What I see being different in evolution this time is that it isn't an issue of whether God and Jesus are the same being or different beings or whether the Pope is the mouthpiece of God or the King is or Jesus o…

Maybe religion could transition slowly away from supernatural to "living with forces outside of your control". And away from heaven and hell to some notion that being good is its own reward, and good for your descendants.

Re: 80-year Harvard study has been showing how to live a healthy and happy life

#177

Post by eiffel31 » Mon, Jul 24, 2017, 8:54 AM UTC

rubicon33 wrote: post #8

What I take from this article is that social interaction is extremely important to ones health, and it's something that we largely taken for granted. In the age of computers and secluded work environments, I think we need to be aware of the effect that even casual interaction has on our mental and physical health. I have some personal/anecdotal experience which back this research up and affirms my belief that communi…

Have you considered looking at full-spectrum lights which may have some influence on your symptoms? Did you health check include Vitamin D check?

Re: 80-year Harvard study has been showing how to live a healthy and happy life

#178

Post by BatFastard » Mon, Jul 24, 2017, 4:19 PM UTC

mythrwy wrote: post #163

jeffdavis wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting point, thank you for answering. I wonder if the "next thing" is going to come from atheists constructing such an organization from scratch, or from religious people adapting churches to fit our new understandings?

I think I see your point and it's a fair one, militant atheists are usually too busy being just that to be constructive but we aren't talking about cool electric guitars at the pulpit and admitting a few gays. What I see being different in evolution this time is that it isn't an issue of whether God and Jesus are the same being or different beings or whether the Pope is the mouthpiece of God or the King is or Jesus o…

You might consider the Unitary Church, they are a non-denominational church, which means even people who don't believe in religion can join. The few that I have been to would pretty laid back groups of people who were just trying to understand life.

Re: 80-year Harvard study has been showing how to live a healthy and happy life

#179

Post by beefield » Tue, Jul 25, 2017, 9:44 AM UTC

DougN7 wrote: post #173

beefield wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is quite difficult to let complete strangers to your home without any help from technology. I don't think this app would need any rocket science, but I would guess that a simple way to verify who you are dealing with and make that public ("John Doe is joining our board game night today") and some kind of scoring system ("John Doe has wanted help x times and given help y times and on average people do not s…

Wow, you've put some good thought into this. Being able to say "I could use help taking down a tree" would be great - signing up and attending an event is one thing (meetup.com), but hard to do if you're down. But actually being needed and being able to help! THAT is powerful! Please do this. I'll help if I can.

There are a few problmes here. first one is that I have currently my hands quite full. Second is that for a successful launc, I guess a good idea is about 1%, technical MVP is another 1%, execution of everything else maybe 18% and pure dumb luck 80%. Here, even if I had time to come up with the MVP (and honestly, I am very sue that there are people reading this that would come up with the MVP in a fraction of time than it would take me), there is still the 98% left that I am really bad with.

I am open to discuss about this further, though, if there are people interested in taking a lead. (Ideally I would see this built as a open source client on top of some distributed data store and not a for-profit thing, but that probably is way too idealistic)