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What does my 80 year old father do to stay healthy?

lifespanbook.com

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Re: What does my 80 year old father do to stay healthy?

#81
post #77
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One thing right now that is available is rapamycin which basically improves health span and lifespan for every animal it is given Note every animal. Quoting https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11357-020-00274-1 : ] Although the overwhelming majority of studies on the effect of rapamycin on longevity in mice have shown a significant increase in lifespan, there are five studies that have reported either no eff…

Of course we cannot be 100 % sure it will work for humans, but the results on mice are promising and they are replicated by different labs which is very rare for anti-aging compounds. Rapamycin consistently shows effect. The effect on humans probably won't be anywhere near the 25% increase that is shown on mice, we will maybe get some extra years + better health span but the cumulative effect on society will probably…

That's a convoluted way to say you don't know of any demonstrated lifespan increase result beyond mouse and flies.

> it showed that it increases the influenza vaccine effectiveness

I was asking about lifespan increase, which was your point, not secondary effects.

> The dog aging study is ongoing

Which I already mentioned, and it's linked-to in my earlier comment.

> Some smaller scale study on rapamycin for dogs

Yes - it's literally the same paper I already mentioned in my earlier comment.

> more promising than rapamycin

The question I asked was: If it's only flies and (most) mice, is that really enough to call it "promising" in humans?

Not the comparative "which is the most promising of the many compounds which have been reported to increase mouse lifespan?"

> Rapamycin consistently shows effect

Really? You write that after my comment, where I quoted how "five studies that have reported either no effect or reduced lifespan when treated with rapamycin" and provided the citation that shows your assertion to be incorrect?

Re: What does my 80 year old father do to stay healthy?

#82
post #76
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that the father appears lucky to have avoided issues such as debilitating disease due to random genetic mutation. Even the father acknowledges that "lots of good luck" was involved. The article does not appear to overstate the significance of this single example. Anecdotes are not useless. They can be inspirational and they can help illuminate possibilities and methods that are otherwise opaque in large-sampl…

I addressed some of this in another comment: "You can control the side effects you may get from a medication you take? If you get an infection you are taking meds. If you get kidney stones, you are very likely getting meds, if you injure yourself and need surgery you are getting meds. These carry risks, therefore, every time your chances of "perfect health" are decreasing. I get that most people on HN, can control th…

> You can control the side effects you may get from a medication you take?

You can eliminate unneeded medication to eliminate side effects.

You can reduce or change your needed medication to control side effects.

You can change your lifestyle to eliminate the need for medication.

Even if there is no way to eliminate your need for medication, you still don't necessarily have to accept bad side effects. Doctors make mistakes and the standard treatment doesn't work for everyone. The first medication a doctor prescribes is often a poor fit. Doctors sometimes need to be prompted to look for better alternatives.

> I get that most people on HN, can control the air they breath as they have the means to decide where they want to live, this isn't the case for most of the people.

Even with very limited means, there is still likely to be something you can control such as: how close to major road traffic you live, how well-ventilated your home is, whether you allow unnecessary particulate or VOC sources in your home, whether you exercise outdoors on days with higher than normal pollution levels, or whether you go running near a highway or at a park. These simple things can have a significant effect on one's air quality.

> Cancer is literally just a numbers game, people in perfect health at their PEAK get diagnosed with cancer.

Cancer has controllable risk factors. There is overwhelming evidence that we can take reasonable actions to significantly reduce our risk of getting cancer.

Re: What does my 80 year old father do to stay healthy?

#83
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> However, we cannot control the medication that we take, which carry side effects. What makes you say that? The medications one takes are due in part to decisions made earlier in life, which result in conditions experience later for which the drugs are prescribed. Also, drugs aren't the only solution to certain medical problems. For example, you can take weight loss pills, or you can actually cut your caloric intake…

> The medications one takes are due in part to decisions made earlier in life, which result in conditions experience later for which the drugs are prescribed. This seems like a naive take. While it is technically correct, you most likely cannot significantly influence a number of significant illnesses, such as mental illnesses (e.g. Alzheimers), cancers, blindness, etc. You might slow down the onset at best with some…

> what else is there to do that has significant benefits..?

Screening.

Re: What does my 80 year old father do to stay healthy?

#84

> His resting heart rate is just below 60 beats per minute. The steps pushed it up to 155 beats per minute. (His maximum heart rate should be 220 minus his age, 80. That’s only 140 beats per minute — far below what he is capable of!) Sorry, that's not how this works. 220 - age is a very crude and not very good guess at the heart rate for a population. It is not YOUR max heart rate, and your max heart rate being highe…

> On the other hand, resting heart rate of under 60 is good. Under 50 is likely better.

Not true in the general case. Asymptomatic bradycardia without increased risk of death may be present in athletes but assuming that's always the case can be dangerous. Other causes include a number of heart diseases, hypothyroidism, sleep apnea, medications such as betablockers...

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