The Island Where People Forget to Die • Hacker News Board

Re: The Island Where People Forget to Die

#71

Post by codexjourneys » Tue, Feb 10, 2015, 7:44 PM UTC

So this formula seems to boil down to:

- The lack of typical Western stress

- The physical activity of walking on the island

- The diet

Stress is the demon. If Ikarians don't face the typical Western job/money/schedule-associated stress (and I'm not saying they don't face other stress like family or social pressure), that's a huge advantage for them.

Physical activity also has been shown as a major differentiator. People who walk more than 7,000 steps daily have lower cardiovascular mortality (http://www.athleteinme.com/ArticleView.aspx?id=296). As a bonus, they are all getting enough Vitamin D from walking around in the sun.

I'm sure the diet helps, but it's probably a supporting factor.

Re: The Island Where People Forget to Die

#72

Post by kazinator » Tue, Feb 10, 2015, 9:09 PM UTC

Is it the island which causes longevity? Or is it that the island is only suitable for hardy, independent old people who are prone to achieving longevity?

You'd have to see the data beneath the surface: have all those old people lived on that island all their lives, or did they come from elsewhere to retire there?

How about islanders who move away and retire elsewhere, and who don't live that long? Is it because they moved away from the island of longevity? Or did they move away because it wasn't suitable for them to live (like that, for instance, they couldn't sustain the agricultural work due to health problems?)

Suppose someone moves away from the island at 75, because he or she requires care and there is nobody there (the kids and grandkids live elsewhere). Suppose that this person then dies half a year later, now a resident of another city or region. Will that death still be counted against the island so that it drags down its longevity average?

Re: The Island Where People Forget to Die

#73

Post by EarthLaunch » Wed, Feb 11, 2015, 1:45 AM UTC

gambiting wrote: post #44

EarthLaunch wrote: post #12

> It’s easy to get enough rest if no one else wakes up early and the village goes dead during afternoon naptime. It helps that the cheapest, most accessible foods are also the most healthful — and that your ancestors have spent centuries developing ways to make them taste good. It’s hard to get through the day in Ikaria without walking up 20 hills. You’re not likely to ever feel the existential pain of not belonging…

>>Great article. This importance of pervasive cultural factors was the key insight for me. I follow an unusual diet that happens to consist of 100% unprocessed foods. I allow myself to sleep when I'm tired. I live somewhere I can enjoy long walks and other fun exercise. I'm never late because I don't set schedules. I'd love to do that. But I also love my job so I sit in an air-conditioned office for 8 hours a day. If…

I've been there. I think it's right to do that for what you love. I'm trying to start a business I love that I can do remotely. The sole reason I can do all of this now is remote work with great low-pressure clients.

Re: The Island Where People Forget to Die

#74

Post by patal » Fri, Feb 13, 2015, 10:19 AM UTC

imgabe wrote: post #62

I wonder about these longevity clusters and whether they aren't just random. If you've read The Drunkard's Walk , (which I highly recommend by the way) there's a similar phenomenon with cancer clusters and the distribution of shells when the Germans were bombing London. In both cases people rushed to find some explanation for why the events happened in clusters like they did. What were the Germans trying to target? W…

I really enjoyed your argument. But why did you weaken it by reintroducing systematic cause:

>> if everyone in your family lives a really long time, there's a good chance you'll live a really long time too

This implies assumption of some sort of cause, which one would then expect to hold in other parts outside that cluster, too. Which I understood as: the island's longevity could be random -- but not really.