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Advice from a 104-year-old PhD student [video]

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Re: Advice from a 104-year-old PhD student [video]

#91

Post by jp57 »

duopixel wrote: post #86
jp57 wrote: post #60

Fruit and cold showers! Every interview with a centenarian asks "what's the secret of your longevity?" They answer and we all nod and stroke our chins and think maybe there's something to that cold shower thing after all . Or whatever. If his secret had been that he drinks three Dr. Peppers a day, or that he does a headstand for five minutes every morning at sunrise, our response would be the same. He no more knows t…

> I have to think that he knows this He exclaims out loud "I don't know!" (in Spanish) before humoring with his own speculations about his longevity. But attributing it entirely to hitting the genetic lottery would also be a mistake: the genetic potential can be easily squandered by allowing your mind, heart and body to decay at an accelerated rate. It is obvious this is a happy and lucid human being who still finds…

Sure. I think there are lots of things that can incrementally increase your longevity. Don't smoke, don't drink too much, don't abuse drugs, eat food (not too much, mostly plants), watch your weight, exercise your body, exercise your mind, have sanguine outlook on life, love and be loved, etc. None are silver bullets, but taken together they probably significantly increase your chances to get to 90. But after 90, everyone is increasingly living on borrowed time.

In any case, when the reporter asks the secret of your longevity, they're not really asking "what did you do 50 years ago that contributed to your still being here today?"

Re: Advice from a 104-year-old PhD student [video]

#92

Post by majkinetor »

ngold wrote: post #35
dzink wrote: post #29

You can trial the cold shower experience by just a washing your face with cold water after you wake up every morning. Growing up in Bulgaria that was a standard practice for my whole family. It does wonders for the skin and is very refreshing.

That sounds awful. I think I'll give it a try.

Its not awful at all. Its the only way to do it.

Re: Advice from a 104-year-old PhD student [video]

#93

Post by m00x »

majkinetor wrote: post #87
jp57 wrote: post #60

Fruit and cold showers! Every interview with a centenarian asks "what's the secret of your longevity?" They answer and we all nod and stroke our chins and think maybe there's something to that cold shower thing after all . Or whatever. If his secret had been that he drinks three Dr. Peppers a day, or that he does a headstand for five minutes every morning at sunrise, our response would be the same. He no more knows t…

Indeed. Cold showers sure have potential to reduce wrinkle formation tho. And to make you temporarily much more alive, if not live longer (just go and try it, use as much cold as possible which probably means you will scream at start). The centurian thing is probably ocam's razor: specific genes in combination with specific environment must be a good fit for longevity. Knowing that we are in no way closer in understa…

> Cold showers sure have potential to reduce wrinkle formation tho

Do you have scientific papers to prove this?

Re: Advice from a 104-year-old PhD student [video]

#94

Post by m00x »

offtop5 wrote: post #85
every wrote: post #43

I'm a mere youngster at 71. I had to wait until retirement before I could spend the time I wanted on things that interested me. Currently that is the Unix Toolkit. There should be enough there to keep me busy for a while...

Are you at all disappointed in the lack of discipline in younger programmers. I know when JavaScript first started to become a server-side language, I worked with a slightly older programmer, he was maybe 40 in 2014, and he hated it. I tend to stick with higher level easier languages for the most part ( JS, Python, C#)

Isn't that generalizing a bit too much? There's a plethora of younger programmers, some with good discipline and some with bad discipline. I know C++ programmers with no discipline and JS/Ruby programmers with amazing discipline.

Re: Advice from a 104-year-old PhD student [video]

#95

Post by majkinetor »

kecupochren wrote: post #47
dzink wrote: post #29

You can trial the cold shower experience by just a washing your face with cold water after you wake up every morning. Growing up in Bulgaria that was a standard practice for my whole family. It does wonders for the skin and is very refreshing.

Or you can start by turning on the cold water for couple of seconds at the end of your regular shower. Holding your breath helps. Gradually you will be able to stay in the cold water for longer and longer and it won't hurt. A neat side effect to this is that you won't feel cold when you get out.

You do lose some of the benefit tho - you need mild stress for it to be functional.

Also, hot water, especially with chlorine in it (as usual, unless you have a filter) will make it evaporate and thus you will inhale it (not good). Very damaging for the skin too as you wash up natural oils that protect it.

So its not the same.

Re: Advice from a 104-year-old PhD student [video]

#97

Post by majkinetor »

m00x wrote: post #93
majkinetor wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. Cold showers sure have potential to reduce wrinkle formation tho. And to make you temporarily much more alive, if not live longer (just go and try it, use as much cold as possible which probably means you will scream at start). The centurian thing is probably ocam's razor: specific genes in combination with specific environment must be a good fit for longevity. Knowing that we are in no way closer in understa…

> Cold showers sure have potential to reduce wrinkle formation tho Do you have scientific papers to prove this?

No, its more about experience (both personal and various books on topic) and understanding basic skin biology and how hot water with chlorine in it affects it.

Re: Advice from a 104-year-old PhD student [video]

#98

Post by majkinetor »

m00x wrote: post #96
majkinetor wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not awful at all. Its the only way to do it.

The only way to do what?

Face washing. Doing it with hot water is totally different experience. To say it another way, I do it for the cold water effect, not for cleaning.

Re: Advice from a 104-year-old PhD student [video]

#99

Post by djedr »

dk775 wrote: post #82
djedr wrote: post #6

wow, an exceptional character what caught my attention is that when asked about his secret to longevity, he said that he eats lots of fruit and takes cold showers not the first time I'm hearing about cold showers being beneficial; been doing that myself regularly for a few months and I definitely find benefits this is definitely encouraging to continue does anybody have a longer experience with cold showers and can s…

What benefits are you noticing at a few months in?

Stimulation, increased energy, elevated mood and self-confidence, a nice toasty feeling afterwards, quicker cooling after exercise, optimum alertness achieved faster in the day if done early.

Definitely lots of psychological benefits.

I do combine it with meditation and exercise. All three seem to have mutually-reinforcing effects.

Re: Advice from a 104-year-old PhD student [video]

#100

Post by majkinetor »

lazyant wrote: post #52
dzink wrote: post #29

You can trial the cold shower experience by just a washing your face with cold water after you wake up every morning. Growing up in Bulgaria that was a standard practice for my whole family. It does wonders for the skin and is very refreshing.

There seems to be a lot of benefits from it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diving_reflex

Wow, nice find:

> Bradycardia is the response to facial contact with cold water: the human heart rate slows down ten to twenty-five percent.

I just had comments above on washing face with cold water.

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