Well...
...Nuts. *kicks can down the road*. Hell with that. I'm off to the pub for a proper sulk. I mean pint.
SWINGBELLIES! Take heed AGAIN: Booze shortens your life
It might be time to bury the “J-curve” – not the hockey stick that confuses the climate debate, but one that booze-pimpers like – according to a study that just hit the BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal). The curve in question is the one that says “moderate drinking is the best”, based on studies purporting to show …
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Thursday 12th February 2015 06:49 GMT 45RPM
Taking the 'evidence' that we're continually bombarded with, we can prolong our lives by:
* Giving up the booze.
* Giving up eating meat.
* Giving up chips.
* Giving up puddings.
* Giving up caffeine.
* Giving up tobacco.
* Going to bed early.
* Getting up early.
Seriously, what next? Must we give up fucking too? I have no reason to disbelieve these reports - but I think I'd rather enjoy my life than live like a prisoner in exchange for a few extra years. And the extra years that I'll get will be at the end of my life, when my body is frail anyway, rather than in my twenties when I'd have liked to have had more time.
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Thursday 12th February 2015 07:02 GMT Anonymous Coward
While I agree with you
I think I'd assume a lot of the benefit is in terms of it taking longer to get frail in the first place. Still, I figure the formula for the best life is maximizing Y * E where Y = years of life and E = average enjoyment of each year.
If I had to make my years 20% less enjoyable to get 10% more years it is not worth it!
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Thursday 12th February 2015 07:33 GMT 45RPM
Re: While I agree with you
@DougS Yup. Although it's just possible that I may have been slightly flippant there.
I broke my leg a few weeks ago in a cycling accident - so, despite the risks involved in a healthy lifestyle, I'm not seriously suggesting that we should all live like hedonists - but I think that hedonism is no bad thing. Besides, I think that the body is usually pretty good at moderating itself. Since I've found myself on an enforced spell of no gym, no running, no cycling, no sport, I find that I don't really want to eat meat. Mostly I crave fish, salad, and chilli sauce. My body doesn't need the extra meaty energy and protein, so I don't crave it. I'm guessing. I'm as qualified in this field as 'Dr' Gillian Mckeith.
My appetite for beer and spice remains undiminished.
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Thursday 12th February 2015 09:41 GMT Yugguy
" And the extra years that I'll get will be at the end of my life, when my body is frail anyway"
Not neccessarily.
Resistance training is proven to slow the progress of osteoporosis. There may also be a link between cardio and reduced dementia risk but that hasn't been proved.
I like my ale and wine, and good food. But I take care of myself because weights and cardio mean that between now and the day I die I'll look good and there's a better chance I'll feel good too. Right now at 44 I look better than most blokes half my age. And I like that.
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Thursday 12th February 2015 07:51 GMT Amorous Cowherder
One day it does, the next day it doesn't. They said sat-fats kill, now they're saying they don't.
Here's a spiffing idea, how about we all stop giving ourselves strokes through the stress of worrying about eating the wrong things and simply eat a balanced diet, less shitty stuff ( note I said LESS not STOP ), slightly more of the fresh healthy stuff and we'll probably be OK.
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Thursday 12th February 2015 13:32 GMT Grikath
Ah, but you're forgetting the whole Advisory Industry, whose subsidies depend on people having a stroke over the next health-fad. The whole living forever while looking like you're in your prime thing is so universal you can find it in any culture, past and present, and the industry surrounding it is huge, and needs fuel.
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Thursday 12th February 2015 08:31 GMT Filippo
Half of all stuff is good for you, the other half is bad. But the effect is always on the order of a few %s or less, and which half is which switches weekly.
Personally, I figure that as long as you don't do patently stupid things (e.g. smoke, eat twice the calories you need, never ever exercise, completely exclude major food groups, get drunk frequently), you should be fine or close enough.
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Thursday 12th February 2015 13:25 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: begs the question
You might be surprised - I for one don't "drink" for no better reason than I never got a taste for it. I have tasted a few tipples and mostly conclude "how the *** do you drink that ?". It has it's upsides though - being the designated driver isn't onerous when you're going to the party/office do/whatever anyway, and mostly I don't get allowed to buy my own (soft) drinks :-)
And then there's my partner - has spent last year or two almost teetotal because it conflicts with pain meds she's been taking. Of course, the "conflicts with meds" section of teetotallers have to be handled carefully as it's a sort of self selecting group of people with something wrong with them - so you might (for example) find that there's a correlation between being teetotal and having bad knees. Someone being careless with handling the numbers might then (falsely) assume correlation=causation and conclude that being teetotal causes bad knees !
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Thursday 12th February 2015 13:29 GMT Anonymous Coward
Diety Knows...
Who wants to live forever, after all when would it all end!
The good die young, the evil hang on for grim death (on the grounds that what might happen next is not to their advantage)
For a good life take everything in moderation, even life
Die Now beat the rush
I hope I die before I get old...
Don't die, Ascend!
Guess where this lot came from.
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Friday 13th February 2015 11:21 GMT Unicornpiss
But how is not drinking saving my life...
...if staying sober makes we want to off myself after a long day of whiny users, poorly-written software, inexplicable problems, and general mayhem?
On top of that, I would cheerfully trade a couple years of the part of my life that is normally spent drooling over a plate of mush in a nursing home for a bit of pleasure and escape in life, albeit artificial.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
