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

#91

Post by LoSboccacc » Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 9:15 AM UTC

dang wrote: post #67

LoSboccacc wrote: post #58

Don't worry too much this study is bullshit Step 1 - be an adult white male graduated at the beginning of an unprecedented and unique economic boom Step 2 - graduate out of the most prominent college of the period Step 3 - watch your asset grow themselves Step 4 - enjoy the life without never have to worry about job security, housing, spending power Yeah no shit sherlock. I guess being upper middle class does wonder…

Please don't post snarky internet insta-dismissals to HN. They greatly lower the quality of discussion, even when they have some good points to make. There are several such posts in this thread and that's a problem. The entire genre of internet comments that dismiss the life-work of others with a contemptuous hand-wave is problematic. Critique is good, but it should seriously engage with what it is criticizing. That…

There are several post of such nature precisely because the whole post is a feel good piece with pretend-science, severe bias and shaky conclusions

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

#92

Post by d3js » Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 9:29 AM UTC

dang wrote: post #70

zeteo wrote: post #17

This reads like someone consciously decided "Hey, let's build the ultimate poster boy for bad statistical studies!". 1. Sample bias : "Why just study WEIRD [1] subjects? Let's do male Harvard graduates!" (Yes, half the study included inner city men, and one eighth of the duration featured women. It's still super heavily biased towards Harvard men.) 2. Correlation is not causation : "Hmm, health is correlated with rel…

This sort of snarky comment that dispenses with the life work of others by means of internet clichés is the sort of thing for which pg coined the term "middlebrow dismissal". Perhaps you really do know better than specialists who worked in a field for decades, but if so, you're doing your superior knowledge an injustice by presenting it so basely. We're sincerely hoping to do better than that in this community, and w…

The parent comment raises some good points. The sample size here is too small and the article's conclusion has loads of confirmation bias, also displayed in majority of the comments here.

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

#93

Post by b3lvedere » Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 9:32 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…

There are times i just don't like having people around me. Then i want to do stuff i really like in my own pace/peace.

Sometimes that is tending to my little garden, toying around with a Raspberry Pi, tv or gaming or whatever.

Is that the comfort you're talking about?

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

#94

Post by pantalaimon » Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 9:40 AM UTC

b3lvedere wrote: post #93

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…

There are times i just don't like having people around me. Then i want to do stuff i really like in my own pace/peace. Sometimes that is tending to my little garden, toying around with a Raspberry Pi, tv or gaming or whatever. Is that the comfort you're talking about?

As long as you also have times where you go and meet friends, I don't see how this would be a problem.

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

#95

Post by TuringTest » Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 9:52 AM UTC

mythrwy wrote: post #52

derekp7 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really wish there were good community organizations that bring people together like a church, but weren't religious based. I guess that's what organizations such as the Moose lodge, or Lions club attempt to fill?

Agreed. Religion is a non starter for me but I would like to find some community groups doing good things with good people. I know about meetup.com etc but I'd like to have ties with something a little deeper. Preferably something without political and especially without supernatural overtones. I see there being a big need for this in the modern world.

The local RPG and board games group fills that gap for me.

You may vary it depending on your tastes about leisure activities, but there's a lot of social groups you can try.

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

#96

Post by circlefavshape » Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 9:54 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…

Yikes. I'm just about to start a new job working from home fulltime. My wife's been expressing her concern that the lack of social interaction might be difficult for me, I guess I better heed her and join up with some sort of social group (was thinking musical theatre)

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

#97

Post by pantalaimon » Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 10:06 AM UTC

kbart wrote: post #62

amenghra wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By spending most of your time at home, your immune system probably dials down. I noticed I was falling sick when I took a short break from work and was mostly home. Everything returned to normal once I resumed my normal work schedule.

You should probably check your home for toxic materials, especially if that's an old building. Short stay at home shouldn't affect your health or more so immune system.

Don't underestimate the connection between physical and mental health though.

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

#98

Post by minikites » Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 10:15 AM UTC

PunchTornado wrote: post #25

mcguire wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" Psychiatrist George Vaillant, who joined the team as a researcher in 1966, led the study from 1972 until 2004. Trained as a psychoanalyst, Vaillant emphasized the role of relationships, and came to recognize the crucial role they played in people living long and pleasant lives. " My first thought was that he found what he was looking for.

I guess that's the danger in social sciences.

That would _never_ happen in the hard sciences!

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

#99

Post by Kurtz79 » Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 11:02 AM UTC

pmiller2 wrote: post #47

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.

There is, but it's called meetup.com. You don't have to just go to tech/networking meetups, you know. :)

I also recommend it, and cannot see anything wrong in going to tech/networking meetups, it should be anything you are interested in and won't feel out of place attending.

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

#100

Post by stewbrew » Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 11:24 AM UTC

The sad thing about this is, nothing of this is news. I did some health research in the 1990s and read tons of studies telling you the same things. One of the best predictors for subjective well-being was whether people had 3+ really close friends.

IMHO there is something wrong with this kind of research that rehashes known facts but doesn't really go any deeper than what was already known before. My gratulations to the researchers involved for getting the funding for such a long running study.