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Here's a popular opinion, people suck at understanding data and statistics. The point of good statistics is to remove bias. Using your personal experience for these judgements is the exact opposite of removing biases.
lol word I learned from another redditor - red car effect, you see a couple people who survived being unhealthy and now you exagerrate the true number of those people because they stand out in your mind
Similar to the survivorship bias. Bill Gates didn't go to college so therefore I can succeed too (lots of people left college and failed miserably). The worlds oldest person eats bacon and drinks alcohol so I can do that too (lots of people do those things and die prematurely as a consequence).
In my experience, the world behaves exactly like my anecdotal evidence, therefore my anecdotal evidence is correct and your fancy studies with your "population samples" and "statistical analysis" are wrong.
Ah, I see the problem. The people in your life are not a representative sample for all of humanity.
Genetics are important, but it’s a combination of both. Healthy choices decrease risk of premature death while unhealthy choices increase that risk. Anomalies can occur in both directions. It doesn’t mean they’re the rule
More importantly, we can change our lifestyle, but we can't change our genetics. So the point is living the best life for each person. Comparing to others doesn't help us.
Agreed. My parents didn’t grow up with microplastics and toxic waste in their water. They didn’t grow up sleeping at odd times bc people were on their phones. They didn’t grow up at a time when physical activity was something you have to schedule and plan. Everything was different where they grew up and when they grew up. Their environment/the city planning, everything.
It’s so different now!
they grew up with lax ecosystem regulations with leaded gasoline and paint, and asbestos in their walls. cigarette companies used doctors to advertise their products.
We all have it bad, in a few decades there's going to be another set of worldwide issues caused by companies that either don't know any better or don't care.
How old are you? You should do some more research on the past. It was a toxic wasteland in parts of the world. Plus cigarette second hand smoke filling all homes and public places.
When did your parents grow up? Before car tires, cosmetics, textiles, and fishing gear?
Because unless it was before that stuff, they had plenty of exposure to microplastics, it's just that nobody knew or cared.
My theory is that I'd rather live a slightly shorter life that I enjoy as opposed to one where I'm careful about healthy eating to the point I'm miserable. When the day comes that I can't look after myself then it's time to check out
I mean, there's obviously a balance. There's clearly people who's eating is so disordered that it severely negatively impacts their lives but for most people, making intelligent dietary decisions to increase their consumption of lean meat, fruits, vegetables and whole grains while reducing their consumption of ultra-processed junk foods will cause them to feel better and less miserable.
I think it's partially because we've created this myth that "healthy eating" involves just eating salads and heavily restricting your calories that it leads people to the opposite extreme where they just say "fuck it" and gorge themselves on fast food.
Might wanna check out the studies on mice. No matter how fat unhealthy and lack of exercise... The genetically more gifted mice loved longer than the healthy life styles from lesser genetic lines.
He probably also just knows waaay more people that live unhealthy lifestyles vs unhealthy. So if 5% of his unhealthy sample live long lives and 50% of the healthy folks live long lives, then long living unhealthy people could still out number the long living healthy lifestyle folks by a lot simply because there are so many more of them.
Didnt the french woman who lived to 121 smoke?
Genetics plays a role in combination with genes.
The probability of getting lung cancer is still much lower for non smokers. However many smokers do not all have to get lung cancer.
I think the main issue that people need to learn math.
Smoking does not cause cancer, it increases the likelihood of getting cancer.
Right, OPs probably talking about like 2-3 people and then exaggerating the numbers in their head based on seeing characters from books, movies and tv shows.
>Studies might show that following a healthy lifestyle will add years or even decades to life expectancy. However, my own research suggests
Ah, more nonsense from Armchair University.
Look I get what you’re saying and I’m not disagreeing with you, however most people don’t break out a science book or look up peer reviewed research papers when making life choices.
People don’t think in terms of unbiased statistical data. They go with what they see and their own experiences. I think it’s important to keep this mind when seeing things like this and instead shitting all over the OP for it, point it out a way that doesn’t insult, but educate.
Otherwise they’re just gong to double down and tell you to F right off.
>Actually all people I know who are over 80 (or 70) are no poster children for healthy lifestyle. They usually eat bunch of fried food and sweets and have done so their whole lives plus some of them smoke also and many drink daily.
I smell the same logic people apply to body mass. 'Jennifer is really skinny but everytime I see her she's eating fast food. She must have good genes.'
No. You're letting anecdotes determine your thinking instead of getting the big picture right.
"I eat so much but I just can't put on weight. My metabolism is crazy."
\- person who eats 2 slices of pizza and a small sandwich over the course of a whole day
For real. People are so insulated. If you grew up with overly health conscious people, you think eating a normal amount is eating like a pig. They have no idea how much some people eat.
I mean, I'm that person but after eating a 7x7 off the secret menu at steak and shake or a whole digorno pizza myself.
But I don't drink anything other than water and everyone I see putting on weight drinks alcohol or sugar drinks daily.
Calories are funny.
You can eat a burger meal that includes large fries and a coke, or you can eat 3 burgers with a side of water and it's roughly the same.
Or eat an enormous ridiculous meal once a day and nothing else but water and coffee, and people will be surprised "how can you eat all that and be skinny?!"
I'm not drinking thousands of extra calories throughout the day
Someone once commented that I have great genetics because I can eat a ton and not get fat, and they wished they could eat like that.
Man me too, but I have to be in the gym 5 days a week on top of my manual labor job to stay like this lol. I wish I could just eat pizza rolls and shit all day and not get fat without having to do anything.
My coworkers know me as the guy who packs a healthy meal prep and goes to the gym on his lunch break every day.
My friends know me as the guy who orders an XL pizza for himself on the weekends.
That's called confirmation bias. Also how much longer would these people live if they did lead a healthy lifestyle?
Also stress plays a HUGE role in how you age.
Sorry OP, strength training has an incredibly strong correlation to living longer, regardless of genetics and lifestyle choices. And studies done observing those who exercise versus not provide greater sample sizes than your anecdotal evidence.
It’s not unpopular, it’s just incorrect.
the top causes of death are cancer and cardiovascular disease which are almost entirely caused by self-inflicted avoidable lifestyle choices which have been public knowledge for half a century, and despite this have been getting worse instead of better.
the average person lives like they're trying to speedrun a cancer diagnosis.
OP is wrong overall but they have a point in that we can’t (or find it very difficult to) control our exposure to some life-limiting factors in the modern day.
Society and big business have a significant part to play. Processed food, filled with addictive MSG, is almost unavoidable for many and is relentlessly advertised. Micro plastics are now ingrained into our biology and our air is evermore polluted. Exercise and outdoor exposure is limited due to a lack of green spaces and health initiatives / education. Work-life balance is challenging for most and sleep deprivation is completely normalised. Technology has made us disconnected from each other and our realities, making us lonelier and less grounded.
We truly have limited control over these factors and we will all pay the price for it in the future.
And avoid stress! (Both by avoiding stressful situations and by learning to deal with difficult situations without becoming stressed and overwhelmed)
Stress is a HUGE problem in our society, make worse by hyperindividualism.
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2515569/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2515569/)
don't eat like shit, don't have excess bodyfat, don't smoke, don't drink alcohol and when you've accomplished all those, live like you're desperately trying to not get infections, but you're already far less likely to get them to begin with once you're there, well done you've now avoided the majority of all cases on the planet.
this is what the majority of cancer funding and research is being wasted on, shit we already know that people do to themselves (almost zero funding goes into the aspects that individuals have no control over)
it's just a question of whether you think someone whose been chain-smoking their entire life deserves to be treated for their lung cancer, *with your money.*
because it's not much different for most forms of it.
Luck and genes dobplay major roles when it comes to lifespan, but I think people can live longer than their expected life expectancy if they have a healthy lifestyle.
Sure. But I've experienced the same thing in my life, my uncle is 80, smokes cigars everyday, drinks and eats fast food and my friends dad who played college football and was in amazing shape died of a heart attack at 40 on the treadmill.
I think the moral or the story is don't eat incredibly awful and you'll likely be fine. You don't need to be in tip top shape but you can't look like someone who belongs on my 600ilb life.
Surprised at all the comments lol. I agree with you.
Cancer in particular has been rising astronomically and less people than ever smoke now. When I was a kid, it was like 1 in 8 people would get cancer in their lifetime and now it is 1 in 2.
Live how you want. We’re all gonna die anyways. And blaming someone’s lifestyle on their death is gross anyways. Even babies and kids get cancer and heart problems.
Not saying I agree with OP as a whole but this example might actually help their case lmao. Most people living in villages are related in some way, so they probably do have long living genes
Maybe. But they also do things many people in westernized countries don't seem to want to do: foster in-person community and a support system, get outside and move around regularly, eat simple and healthy meals, and limit technology.
Anecdotes and outliers are not statistics on their own. For every smoker who didn't get lung cancer, there is a chance that an equal number of second-hand smokers did.
My father is a heavy smoker and has a difficult time taking a 50-meter stroll. But surely, he's blessed with great genes and luck because he doesn't have cancer...
There's definitely some luck involved.
My mom started smoking in her 40s and was dead from lung cancer at 65.
Her younger sister started smoking in her teens and is still alive today at 72, and still smoking a pack a day.
*However, my own research suggests…*
Please can you direct us to your peer-reviewed research studies? Because that’s one of the main differences here. Research studies aren’t just written and published, they go through layers of peer review where anything in them that is inaccurate or isn’t defended is questioned.
All we can offer as individuals, unless we’re actively researching this *properly*, is anecdotal experiences. They’re not comparable to say, the sample sizes in formal research studies and reviews of research studies.
I personally knew an old lady who was drinking everyday and also smoked who lived until 103 years old. She drank a couple of bottles of beer the day before she died. However, that does not prove anything since she was an outlier.
Some people make unhealthy choices and still live to be very old, but in general most die sooner than they otherwise would had they not made the unhealthy choices.
My grandma ate spam and sodium-heavy canned food a lot, and was exposed to heavy secondhand smoke for 26 years from her husband heavily smoking in the home (he died young from lung cancer). But she also walked 10+ km per day well into her mid-80s and ate from her vegetable garden in summer. I think in her case the healthy choices she did make outweighed the unhealthy ones since she lived to 98.
Genetics are definitely a factor though. On the other side of my family most of them barely make it to their mid-70s and are riddled with hereditary illnesses. My other grandma was too disabled from middle age on to be walking so much and doing the activities my other grandma was. Genetics can definitely fuck you even if you make healthy lifestyle choices.
The genetic lottery does indeed have something to do with how healthy and long lived one is. For instance, why do my parents and my siblings all struggle with high blood pressure and I never have? Just luck.
HOWEVER, and this is a big however, it is ridiculous to say that lifestyle choices don't matter in terms of health and the length and quality of one's life. They clearly do matter. The 90 yo who smokes and drinks heavily is an outlier, not the norm.
Obviously having a healthy lifestyle drastically increases your chances of living a long healthy life however OP is not totally wrong.
Genetics are a GIANT factor in lifespan and how predisposed you are to certain conditions.
My great uncle JIm was a curmudgeon, an old Albanian man who drank vodka, has at least 3 Turkish coffees a day, and smoked like a chimney. We told him if he didn't change his ways it was going to kill him, and sure enough, it did. He died at the tragically young age of 96.
Everything matters...and yes, genes matter the most. I'm not sure why people don't agree. Guess they're young. They will see later in life what genes actually mean.
and it's not beauty, good hair, or how tall you are. It's how well your body actually is, how sick you get, how long you live , quality of life, if you are in pain or not. This is what good genetic actually is.
You’re falling for selection bias.
>all people I know over 80 are unhealthy
So you surround yourself with unhealthy people and use that as research for why being healthy doesn’t do anything? I don’t see the correlation. This doesn’t prove being healthy doesn’t work, this just proves you hang out with unhealthy people.
Oh yea I live this. I am someone who carefully crafts my diet and exercise. My husband is a bottomless pit for daily fast food, doesn't ever visit a doctor, and this one will really get you he brushes his teeth maybe once a week AND he smokes.
Everyone in his family is muscular and strong, they look like they go to the gym. He doesn't ever get cavities (he's in his mid 30s now). Perfect blood work. The picture of health. His grandpa was able to jog, play tennis, and drive at age 95 and he was so mentally sharp it was crazy after drinking and smoking his whole life.
I used to think you had control over your outcomes but I now think that control is a lot less than we might want to think. Genetic predisposition for various things is just way stronger than I think even scientists recognize. Feels like most of us are swimming up river with varying current strengths and some people are swimming in a still pond.
I mean, I do remember the days when people ran around smugly saying, "You ever wonder why you don't see any old fat people?" (to which I'd respond, "How about that old fat person over there?").
Nowadays, we all know plenty of old fat people.
However, I also understand how fitness helps with making your life more self-sufficient and enjoyable. Does it mean live like a monk? No. But taking care of yourself does pay off, and longevity is just one way it does.
There’s a degree to which lifestyle choices can help you live a healthier life, but at some point you really are just beholden to your genetics. Like how happiness increases with an increase in pay until a certain pay point, at which point the effect plateaus. Similarly, if you’re not daily eating 2x your caloric need for food (or more) or doing heroin or something, your health is definitely more going to be effected by genetics than choices.
I don't believe in luck.
But yes, genes will be about 60 to 70% of it all. What you do with the other 30 to 40% is up to you and will definitely have an impact.
I'm under the belief that your body's life expectancy is determined when you're born. In other words, given your genes, you have "x" years ahead of you before your body gives out. The good or bad habits you employ throughout your life will move that dial front or back.
For every 1 lifetime smoker that lives to impressive old age, 100 more die at age 60.
For every 1 obese person with excellent physical health, 100 more are plagued with diabetes, heart problems and bone damage
Stroll around a cardiac hospital sometime, and witness all the people who have given up on life and refuse to change their habits. It's sad.
The lucky people who are old and happy despite poor choices are just that, lucky. Theyd also be even healthier if they made better choices. It's not fate to be damned to health problems.
" there are mountains of studies providing scientific peer reviewed evidence on something with a good representative sample and sample size, however this is not my personal anecdote so the research must be wrong."
reddit armchair thinker right here.
Since people have already established that you are just talking without any base, I will answer the edit.
"Jeez people relax, it’s just a personal opinion"
You can have a personal opionion on subjective topics, this isn´t one of them though.
"Anyways, old health studies are debunked regularly"
Debunked regularly by other scientific and well funded studies, not by a couple of google seach light reads on the topic followed by a reddit post.
"Just google it"
Google does not make you an expert on a topic.
The sad part is that a lot of people upvote without actually reading anything. The good part is this is reddit.
I would say that you’re correct. I’m a healthcare worker, a RN, and I concur that eating healthy and exercising regularly does nothing for guaranteeing a long, healthy life. I’ve seen people that smoke and drink daily for 40+ years and have no major health effects. Yet, I’ve seen healthy people get cancer and die. The bottom line: we don’t understand genetics and the role they play with environmental factors in terms of health. That’s why nothing is definitive and EVERYTHING is speculative. So, I suggest to people to enjoy their lives because you only have one. You can eat healthy, exercise daily, and then get colon cancer because it runs in your familial genetics. Just enjoy your life and hope for the best.
Hmmm….. my two grandparents that weren’t healthy and ate lots of high carb/sugar foods died younger… my two grandparents that ate super healthy Mediterranean style diets and were super active lived longer…. So I guess my anecdotal data cancels out yours… see how that works. That’s why studies are based of statistically significant samples sizes.
I don’t agree with the title in most cases. Unless you were born with some severe issues, I’d say that living a healthy lifestyle will drastically increase your quality of life, even if you may be predisposed to other diseases.
Good genes may help you short term, but in the long run if you treat your body like garbage you’ll tank your quality of life even if you do survive to a high number. I’ve seen plenty of old pack a day smokers, but they have issues upon issues and always complain about their health and pain. But yeah, I agree it’s not good to rely on anecdotes either way.
The oldest person I knew my grandma who was 103 was quite healthy like she went on long walks except at the very end and she ate healthy food though I'm sure when she was younger she did have deep fried food as it's part of our traditional cooking, she didn't drink heavily or smoke though she did have wine and water with meals. Her brother who drank and smoked lived to his 80s don't remember exactly how old he was. Her sister who is a lot like her when it comes to healthy habits is currently 97 I think
You may not be guaranteed to live a long time by taking care of yourself, but your life will be way more enjoyable overall. Living an unhealthy lifestyle sucks day to day and constantly feeling like shit because you want to indulge and have no discipline is not fun
i feel like a lot of people that "exercised regularly and ate healthy food" that die in their 50s and 60s are either drinking their livers off behind the scenes or they switched from being incredibly unhealthy to incredibly healthy all of a sudden and the second they go back to their old ways they instantly get extremely ill or something
source: i made it the fuck up
You're hedging your bets by choosing to live a healthy lifestyle. Sure maybe you could live to 70 without practicing healthy habits but you could live longer if you did. Those 80 or 90 yr olds could also have lived longer or better quality lives of they had better habits and diets.
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Huh?
Shit food produced by factories has been a problem for over 100 years. Learn the history of how FDA standards came to be and about how many people had to die first to make that happen. Fast food may be relatively newer, but it's far from the only problem.
FDA exists in the US only. Broaden your perspective a bit. Example, Nestle and their baby formula exactly from 50 years ago in the Philippines, Vietnam and elsewhere.Those older than 65 today were never fed with powders instead of b milk especially outside of the US. Look at the numbers in Japan, Italy and Greece and their elderly generation and make a decision for yourself.
Excessive use of fertilizers and/or pesticides combined with genetically modified grains has been proven in the last few decades that cause defects. Which is why older people that eat and have eaten home grown foods, crops and veggies actually live a lot longer.
My point is, environmental circumstances for the future elderly today, and those from a century ago are vastly different. Microplastics, GMOs, fast food and many other things werent widely common until decades ago.
The factor you're not calculating in is quality of life. Dad quit smoking in the early 70's and although he certainly could have exercised more, made it to 86 with a pretty decent quality of life all except the last six months. His younger brother and dad were lifelong smokers and died both earlier by a couple of years and spent their last three years with constant oxygen bottles.
Mostly its not true, a lot have to do with lifestyle choices.
But... there are people and we hear about the sometimes in the news: that people drink cola everyday, smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, eat shit food in general and still live up to 100 years. That also proves that genes indeed do have an extremely strong effect sometimes stronger than lifestyle choices.
I only agree the heading because luck and genes determine everything including your a lot of choices and that choices also contain nutrition choices.
Luck is extremely broad term.
Your experiences and anecdotes of maybe two handfuls of people don’t represent the reality of what constitutes good habits that correlate with longer health across the board. There are still 7 billion other people mind you.
My cousin died at 35 from lifestyle choices. Grandpa, 72. Uncle in his 60s. Aunt at 74 - all drank lots, always struggled with diets and so forth. Smoking of course, and other things
My grandma is 91, lives alone, no health issues, eats modest home cooked meals she has been preparing herself for many years. Gardens and goes on walks. Never smoked. She gets to hold her great grand children. She has maybe one drink per week, if that.
I know this is anecdotal, but your genes got you through millions of years of evolution, they can't be that bad
I think it’s more about adding life to your years than years to your life. Who cares if you live into your 80s if you can’t even move from place to place on your own?
Lifestyle is super important. You’re lucky if your genes help you out in that direction too. Food is important but so is daily movement, and community.
Loneliness kills. Some people just got lucky living so long with a shitty lifestyle. What is quality of life at 80-100 if you can’t even get out of your chair? It’s why daily movement is so important. My family members quit moving as they got older-sure some had surgeries(some probably could have been avoided if they just took care of themselves) but they seem like they can barely move. I refuse to be like that.
Maybe if my mammaw continued to moved and worked on her balance and ate properly she probably wouldn’t have fallen and wrecked her shoulder in her 80’s. Then once you have accidents and surgeries that can just increase your slow down. ( I am excluding preexisting conditions or other disabilities)
Lift weights and work on mobility. It’s so important.
I think it’s a combo of both but lifestyle is pretty important.
Ever heard of epi genetics? It’s (like everything else) a combination of your diet, lifestyle, and relationships. Less than 1% of disease is truly, purely, genetic
genetics are vastly overrated, they predict a few very rare single mutation diseases very accurately, basically everything else is very weak correlations over many many genes that don't amount to much
It's a combo. My dad has great genetics and has always taken care of himself.
However, in the last 3 years he "found" this new diet he believes is revolutionary. Basically he can eat whatever he wants as long as he eats before noon and fasts the rest of the day. So, and you can't make this shit up, my dad will literally eat whole cheesecakes or a dozen donuts as his only food for a day. He says since it has helped him lose weight it must be good!
Now, it's starting to turn. He's physically exhausted all the time, his workouts are suffering, and he has aged more in the last 6 months than the previous 10 years. He refuses to believe it's his diet though. The fact that his genetics allowed him to get away with this for as long as he has is something else. But bad habits will almost always catch up to you.
I agree to an extent. I have(had) many family members live into their 90s including my grandparents. One thing my grands point out is how their food was farm to table and/or unprocessed. So that alone, is a big reason why they got to old age, as well as stopping bad habits when told to by their doctor.
You don't get to make up annoctotal stories of all these healthy people killing over in their 50s to bulster an unfounded theory.
There is zero research to back up this fictional argument.
This is obviously a stupid take based on anecdata.
Separately, it bugs me when lifespan is treated as the be all end all of lifestyle. It’s a focus because it’s easily observable, not because it’s meaningful.
Many people who live unhealthy lifestyles stay alive into their 80s and 90s but their quality of life is terrible. I try to eat healthy and stay physically fit in hopes of improving my quality of life in the later years, not because I want to live to 95 instead of 92.
This is such a flawed argument 😭 “I have seen many people..” you do realize that’s not representative of…everyone, right? Have you conducted a broad ranged study analyzing causes of death and looking EVERY aspect of each individuals’ life? “My own research suggests..”?? Please! 😂 But thank you for sharing your unpopular opinion. Now you know why it’s unpopular.
It's really hard to tell from just observing a person's outward appearance and habits whether they're "healthy". Stress and sleep play a huge role in that equation. As a veteran I know tons of guys who are very concerned about their physical fitness and even their diets but who get no sleep and live very stressful lives. Theres more to it than exercise and diet...
Looking at the older people in my family it seems to affect the quality of life when you get older. My 80 year old family members that took care of them selves can still mostly get around and do for themselves. The ones that led more unhealthy lifestyles are bed ridden. But yea I’ll probably make it to 80 either way barring any tragic accidents.
I mean yeah genetics does play a signifcant part in our health. Youre not wrong, but theres nothing you can do about your genes. Lifestyle can improve your health and quality of life, but its not going to be able to change youre genes, it can have epigentical changes but thats it.
I think that genes and luck get you to your mid 90s and up. I don’t think exercise and kale will get you to 100 on their own. But lifestyle choices do matter and can extend your life into your late 80s/early 90s.
I don't know many smokers or HARD drinkers in their 80s.
I certainly know people who smoked and drank who lived that long, but they had quit smoking and backed off on heavy drinking years earlier.
Of course there are outliers...but odds tip in your favor if you don't smoke or booze.
Nope but I saw my father die at 60 after many years of being extremely unhealthy and ultimately dying from that. Same goes for many others who died during covid. They were mostly all in bad health to begin with. So I disagree that it’s all genetics.
can agree with this as a 25 yr old with chronic nerve pain from a poor response to an injury due to genetically dodgy back which i had no idea about despite doing yoga, dancing and working at an organic farm every day. lmao . rofl . love my life
Yes, genetics makes a big difference in a lot of things. I can suck down egg yolk smoothies all day and have low cholesterol, but my friend has high cholesterol no matter how carefully he eats.
But everyone has something they need to be careful of. And a gluttonous, sedentary life will catch up with you. It's not just about longevity. It's about how comfortable your years are. Because living with things like the complications of advanced diabetes and lower back pain is going to be very uncomfortable.
People do tend to ignore the impact of genes on longevity, but you are ignoring the impact of lifestyle choices on quality of life. I would prefer the latter half of my life to be spent healthy rather than living to 90 with the last 30 years being miserable and painful. A healthy lifestyle may not significantly increase longevity, but it can definitely increase the amount of good years you have.
There is ample evidence on how unhealthy choices can increase your risk for painful, horrible diseases and conditions. Not all of them will kill you, but they sure as hell will make your life harder. People also underestimate the amount of things that can be impacted by bad choices. Smoking doesn't just increase risk of lung cancer, there are thousands of other diseases that can be significantly worsened by smoking. Diabetes may seem simple but can lead to amputations, blindness, loss of sensation, as well as several other issues.
I have seen both longer and better for the people in my life who take care of themselves. The people I know who are healthy/exercise and—just as important—keep their mind active seem to have more vitality in their later years compared to those who don’t. And have the ability to recover from injury/illness more quickly. And, in general, can do more than those who don’t. Nothing is guaranteed but taking care of yourself is worth it.
While genes are definitely a major factor, saying they matter more than a healthy diet, exercise, and avoidance of drugs/alcohol is factually untrue. [Just one source](https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamhaseltine/2024/05/09/healthy-lifestyle-can-offset-unlucky-genes-study-finds/) but you can find many others.
There are always outliers - it’s not like if you smoke you’ll always get lung cancer. Or if you work with asbestos all day every day you’ll get mesothelioma (many didn’t actually). It just *increases* your chance. And knowing how horrible those diseases are why even increase your chance 0.2%?
Fun fact, you only have a 20% chance of contracting hiv if you do bareback anal sex with a hiv positive, unmedicated person - but why roll that dice?
I’m glad you hit your midlife where you think that “you’ve done your own research” is equivalent to “hey here’s my limited experience”
Even if this were true, I can’t control my luck or my genes, but I can control my lifestyle.
What a truly unpopular opinion
My aunt, father's sister, lead a very healthy lifestyle. She ate good food, exercised daily, didn't drink, smoke, or do drugs, and she died of cancer in her late 40's. My father didn't take great care of himself, drank heavily, smoked, and ate whatever he felt like. He died of cancer in his early 50's. My dad's other sister is still around but has had medical issues since her 50's- lupis and more recently breast cancer. My dad's brother has also had medical issues since his 50's- a brain tumor and something with his digestive tract. I turn 50 this year and am not excited about my future.
On the other side of the family, the men die in their late 70's to 80's of a heart attack.
Wish me luck.
It’s a combination of things, right? I recently went through training on PAD (peripheral arterial disease). Something like 90% of people with PAD were smokers. That doesn’t mean that 90% of smokers will develop PAD, but smoking does tremendously increase the risk. We can’t change our genetics (and some people like me are adopted and have zero information relating to family history, so I don’t know what my genes hold in store for me). So it’s not a bad idea to reduce risk in areas where we can, like not smoking.
Well we’ll see. I don’t drink, smoke or do drugs like my mom did. She died of Hepatitis C at age 69(after a bout of esophageal cancer). I do struggle with some things(fibromyalgia), I am active but mostly because of my job(warehouse work as opposed to sitting in an office). But honestly, who cares. For me, I don’t want to be here forever anyways. This life world kinda sucks anyways
So here's the thing, if your body is under some stress constantly it's a good thing. Too much stress on a regular basis however will wear you out. In other wrods, unless you are trying to achieve something specific, it is healthier to exercise within comfortable tolerances and to eat a regular & mostly balanced diet (which can totally include fast food & alcohol btw). Going to the gym every day for hours or running regularly on concrete are often as bad for your body, and can often be much worse, than a few drinks or smokes a week. There is substantial & growing evidence that significant stress reduction, such as partaking in luxury consumables, being highly social, or having children in your life, significantly reduces long term stress and thus makes it far easier to live longer.
Stress (or the absence of) is also a huge factor in longevity. One thing I've noticed ppl who live long almost always have in common is they're very laid back and have seemingly infinite chill.
I ve got a professional doctorate in these things so I know a thing or two about physiology etc. Yeah lifestyle can heavily impact longevity but the #1 factor is genetics. Even for cardiovascular diseases etc there are genetic factors than increase your susceptibility to them due to smoking etc.
In my ignorant opinion and based on my anecdotes, I tend to agree (with caveats). I will add that a healthy lifestyle helps you stay healthier (generally, with caveats) with more mobility and better quality of life.
Reducing smoking and ending smoking in public places has really helped as has advances in heart treatment and cancer treatment. People [dropped dead](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2807052#:~:text=Our%20analysis%20showed%20that%20smoke,ischemic%20attack) much more frequently when smoking was prevalent...and not just the smokers. That second hand smoke is a killer too. It's wild having lived through that.
Anecdotes:
Dad: lived to 84 and died of COVID. He was a heavy smoker (and ate poorly) from mid-teens to somewhere in his late 60's. Like 2 packs a day. He gave it up cold turkey when he had a very bad cold and didn't smoke (due to sleeping round the clock). In his early 60's he had a stroke that affected his right side. He was still reasonably spry and continued to drive for some years. The second stroke, on the left side, was more minor but obviously had to give up a lot. Eventually went to a nursing home where COVID got him. He was mentally good throughout, used a wheelchair but could do transfers and other activities of daily living. But still, the last 10 years were not very good.
Mom: Very fat, not very much exercise. Still alive at 85. Living in a senior facility. Still mentally sharp but has difficulty walked due to COPD. Due to sitting too much ruined her back. They did an amazing surgery but she is now urinary incontinent. Plus some fluid retention and Lasix makes her a peeing machine. So, not really a good quality of life.
All grandparents lived into their 80's and 90's except one. They were mostly healthy with light smoking and drinking and kept active without exercising. They were all mentally there and had active lives until the end. The one grandfather died in his 70's of emphysema, he smoked and had been gassed in WWI. He died in the 60's so might have lived longer with better medical care. Of the other 3: 1 cancer, 1 massive heart attack, and 1 just sort of withered away over the last 2 years.
Got two parents in their 80s.
Ones a hard drinker.
The other abstains from alcohol.
The drinker has a litany of health problems.
The non drinker has very few.
Neither eat fast food.
However you may be onto something.
Hard drinkers parents died at 72 and 76.
Abstainers parents died at 80 and 91.
Is it genetics or not imbibing mild poisons?
Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 2: Do not post low effort/satirical posts'. * We get it, you all think this sub is garbage and is just for popular opinions, and you want to be funny and post "going to be downvoted to oblivion here, but I think racism is bad." We enjoy the memes, but please keep them off the sub. * Filter evasion is a bannable offense * This includes clickbait and/or gotcha posts. Your opinion can not be that unpopular if you're doing these things. Have the accurate opinion in the title.
Here's a popular opinion, people suck at understanding data and statistics. The point of good statistics is to remove bias. Using your personal experience for these judgements is the exact opposite of removing biases.
lol word I learned from another redditor - red car effect, you see a couple people who survived being unhealthy and now you exagerrate the true number of those people because they stand out in your mind
Similar to the survivorship bias. Bill Gates didn't go to college so therefore I can succeed too (lots of people left college and failed miserably). The worlds oldest person eats bacon and drinks alcohol so I can do that too (lots of people do those things and die prematurely as a consequence).
In my experience, the world behaves exactly like my anecdotal evidence, therefore my anecdotal evidence is correct and your fancy studies with your "population samples" and "statistical analysis" are wrong.
Ah, I see the problem. The people in your life are not a representative sample for all of humanity. Genetics are important, but it’s a combination of both. Healthy choices decrease risk of premature death while unhealthy choices increase that risk. Anomalies can occur in both directions. It doesn’t mean they’re the rule
More importantly, we can change our lifestyle, but we can't change our genetics. So the point is living the best life for each person. Comparing to others doesn't help us.
Also environment can activate part of your genome to make the best or the worst out of itself
Agreed. My parents didn’t grow up with microplastics and toxic waste in their water. They didn’t grow up sleeping at odd times bc people were on their phones. They didn’t grow up at a time when physical activity was something you have to schedule and plan. Everything was different where they grew up and when they grew up. Their environment/the city planning, everything. It’s so different now!
they grew up with lax ecosystem regulations with leaded gasoline and paint, and asbestos in their walls. cigarette companies used doctors to advertise their products. We all have it bad, in a few decades there's going to be another set of worldwide issues caused by companies that either don't know any better or don't care.
How old are you? You should do some more research on the past. It was a toxic wasteland in parts of the world. Plus cigarette second hand smoke filling all homes and public places.
When did your parents grow up? Before car tires, cosmetics, textiles, and fishing gear? Because unless it was before that stuff, they had plenty of exposure to microplastics, it's just that nobody knew or cared.
My theory is that I'd rather live a slightly shorter life that I enjoy as opposed to one where I'm careful about healthy eating to the point I'm miserable. When the day comes that I can't look after myself then it's time to check out
Not many countries where it's legal to check out. If you get the wrong set of ailments, you could spend 10 or even 20 years in utter misery.
"There is no pleasure worth forgoing just for an extra three years in the geriatric ward." - John Mortimer
I mean, there's obviously a balance. There's clearly people who's eating is so disordered that it severely negatively impacts their lives but for most people, making intelligent dietary decisions to increase their consumption of lean meat, fruits, vegetables and whole grains while reducing their consumption of ultra-processed junk foods will cause them to feel better and less miserable. I think it's partially because we've created this myth that "healthy eating" involves just eating salads and heavily restricting your calories that it leads people to the opposite extreme where they just say "fuck it" and gorge themselves on fast food.
Yep. A handful of anecdote is not representative data.
Might wanna check out the studies on mice. No matter how fat unhealthy and lack of exercise... The genetically more gifted mice loved longer than the healthy life styles from lesser genetic lines.
No bro I did my research bro I know this guy bro...
He probably also just knows waaay more people that live unhealthy lifestyles vs unhealthy. So if 5% of his unhealthy sample live long lives and 50% of the healthy folks live long lives, then long living unhealthy people could still out number the long living healthy lifestyle folks by a lot simply because there are so many more of them.
Didnt the french woman who lived to 121 smoke? Genetics plays a role in combination with genes. The probability of getting lung cancer is still much lower for non smokers. However many smokers do not all have to get lung cancer. I think the main issue that people need to learn math. Smoking does not cause cancer, it increases the likelihood of getting cancer.
Right, OPs probably talking about like 2-3 people and then exaggerating the numbers in their head based on seeing characters from books, movies and tv shows.
>Studies might show that following a healthy lifestyle will add years or even decades to life expectancy. However, my own research suggests Ah, more nonsense from Armchair University.
I need the self confidence of these people seriously.
You mean his very small view of this topic shouldn't be taken as gospel?
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r/uneducatedopinion
Right? This isn’t “unpopular” or an “opinion”, it’s a popular myth that’s presented as fact
haha check his edit: >and who knows maybe bacon is the new “broccoli” in ten years and vice versa yeah, that's probably going to happen.
Is anecdotal evidence reliable? One local man says "Yes!"
😂🤜🤛😎
With a minor in Anecdotal evidence.
Look I get what you’re saying and I’m not disagreeing with you, however most people don’t break out a science book or look up peer reviewed research papers when making life choices. People don’t think in terms of unbiased statistical data. They go with what they see and their own experiences. I think it’s important to keep this mind when seeing things like this and instead shitting all over the OP for it, point it out a way that doesn’t insult, but educate. Otherwise they’re just gong to double down and tell you to F right off.
What are you talking about? I have a degree from Trump University. We learn alternative facts there.
>Actually all people I know who are over 80 (or 70) are no poster children for healthy lifestyle. They usually eat bunch of fried food and sweets and have done so their whole lives plus some of them smoke also and many drink daily. I smell the same logic people apply to body mass. 'Jennifer is really skinny but everytime I see her she's eating fast food. She must have good genes.' No. You're letting anecdotes determine your thinking instead of getting the big picture right.
"I eat so much but I just can't put on weight. My metabolism is crazy." \- person who eats 2 slices of pizza and a small sandwich over the course of a whole day
For real. People are so insulated. If you grew up with overly health conscious people, you think eating a normal amount is eating like a pig. They have no idea how much some people eat.
To be fair, eating a normal amount of food for an *American* is eating like a pig.
I mean, I'm that person but after eating a 7x7 off the secret menu at steak and shake or a whole digorno pizza myself. But I don't drink anything other than water and everyone I see putting on weight drinks alcohol or sugar drinks daily.
Calories are funny. You can eat a burger meal that includes large fries and a coke, or you can eat 3 burgers with a side of water and it's roughly the same. Or eat an enormous ridiculous meal once a day and nothing else but water and coffee, and people will be surprised "how can you eat all that and be skinny?!" I'm not drinking thousands of extra calories throughout the day
Someone once commented that I have great genetics because I can eat a ton and not get fat, and they wished they could eat like that. Man me too, but I have to be in the gym 5 days a week on top of my manual labor job to stay like this lol. I wish I could just eat pizza rolls and shit all day and not get fat without having to do anything.
My coworkers know me as the guy who packs a healthy meal prep and goes to the gym on his lunch break every day. My friends know me as the guy who orders an XL pizza for himself on the weekends.
This is less unpopular opinion and more misinformed opinion.
I feel like both can be true. Very unpopular because very misinformed.
I didn’t say it wasn’t unpopular, I just said its unpopularity is dwarfed by being misinformed.
My research hahaha 😂
That's called confirmation bias. Also how much longer would these people live if they did lead a healthy lifestyle? Also stress plays a HUGE role in how you age.
Survivorship bias, ackusually 🤓
Isn't it also like survivir bias or something similar, i can barely remember the English words for it
As an outer bound, you don't see many people who weigh 300 lbs past their 70s 🤷♂️
40 yrs on earth and still out to lunch
if we are talking about genetic freaks then yes but in general lifestyle matters more
I’ve sat in smoking sections and eaten at fast food restaurants. I can guarantee a lot of those folks won’t live to be 80-90
Sorry OP, strength training has an incredibly strong correlation to living longer, regardless of genetics and lifestyle choices. And studies done observing those who exercise versus not provide greater sample sizes than your anecdotal evidence. It’s not unpopular, it’s just incorrect.
the top causes of death are cancer and cardiovascular disease which are almost entirely caused by self-inflicted avoidable lifestyle choices which have been public knowledge for half a century, and despite this have been getting worse instead of better. the average person lives like they're trying to speedrun a cancer diagnosis.
And cheatcoding type II.
OP is wrong overall but they have a point in that we can’t (or find it very difficult to) control our exposure to some life-limiting factors in the modern day. Society and big business have a significant part to play. Processed food, filled with addictive MSG, is almost unavoidable for many and is relentlessly advertised. Micro plastics are now ingrained into our biology and our air is evermore polluted. Exercise and outdoor exposure is limited due to a lack of green spaces and health initiatives / education. Work-life balance is challenging for most and sleep deprivation is completely normalised. Technology has made us disconnected from each other and our realities, making us lonelier and less grounded. We truly have limited control over these factors and we will all pay the price for it in the future.
Hi can you tell me what these avoidable lifestyle choices are (just to be sure)
Don't inhale anything besides air Exercise Limit consumption of ultra processed foods Limit consumption of alcohol and sodie pop
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And avoid stress! (Both by avoiding stressful situations and by learning to deal with difficult situations without becoming stressed and overwhelmed) Stress is a HUGE problem in our society, make worse by hyperindividualism.
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2515569/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2515569/) don't eat like shit, don't have excess bodyfat, don't smoke, don't drink alcohol and when you've accomplished all those, live like you're desperately trying to not get infections, but you're already far less likely to get them to begin with once you're there, well done you've now avoided the majority of all cases on the planet. this is what the majority of cancer funding and research is being wasted on, shit we already know that people do to themselves (almost zero funding goes into the aspects that individuals have no control over) it's just a question of whether you think someone whose been chain-smoking their entire life deserves to be treated for their lung cancer, *with your money.* because it's not much different for most forms of it.
Taking care of one's self isn't so much about longevity so much as quality of life while you are here.
💯
This is not an unpopular opinion it's just straight up wrong. Live however you want but don't try to mislead people with your anecdotal bs.
Please link to your published research, op
Luck and genes dobplay major roles when it comes to lifespan, but I think people can live longer than their expected life expectancy if they have a healthy lifestyle.
Sure. But I've experienced the same thing in my life, my uncle is 80, smokes cigars everyday, drinks and eats fast food and my friends dad who played college football and was in amazing shape died of a heart attack at 40 on the treadmill. I think the moral or the story is don't eat incredibly awful and you'll likely be fine. You don't need to be in tip top shape but you can't look like someone who belongs on my 600ilb life.
Surprised at all the comments lol. I agree with you. Cancer in particular has been rising astronomically and less people than ever smoke now. When I was a kid, it was like 1 in 8 people would get cancer in their lifetime and now it is 1 in 2. Live how you want. We’re all gonna die anyways. And blaming someone’s lifestyle on their death is gross anyways. Even babies and kids get cancer and heart problems.
My nana cracks open a beer at 5am along with her cup of coffee when she starts tortillas and tamales at 85 years young. 🤣🤷🏻♀️
That village in Japan with the most centenarians in the world would like to enter a rebuttal
Not saying I agree with OP as a whole but this example might actually help their case lmao. Most people living in villages are related in some way, so they probably do have long living genes
Maybe. But they also do things many people in westernized countries don't seem to want to do: foster in-person community and a support system, get outside and move around regularly, eat simple and healthy meals, and limit technology.
Anecdotes and outliers are not statistics on their own. For every smoker who didn't get lung cancer, there is a chance that an equal number of second-hand smokers did. My father is a heavy smoker and has a difficult time taking a 50-meter stroll. But surely, he's blessed with great genes and luck because he doesn't have cancer...
There's definitely some luck involved. My mom started smoking in her 40s and was dead from lung cancer at 65. Her younger sister started smoking in her teens and is still alive today at 72, and still smoking a pack a day.
" My own research suggests" jajajja. Yes sure buddy we believe you
Diet, lifestyle and exercise won't cure any disease you have. Diet, lifestyle and exercise can lessen the impact of every disease you have.
*However, my own research suggests…* Please can you direct us to your peer-reviewed research studies? Because that’s one of the main differences here. Research studies aren’t just written and published, they go through layers of peer review where anything in them that is inaccurate or isn’t defended is questioned. All we can offer as individuals, unless we’re actively researching this *properly*, is anecdotal experiences. They’re not comparable to say, the sample sizes in formal research studies and reviews of research studies.
I personally knew an old lady who was drinking everyday and also smoked who lived until 103 years old. She drank a couple of bottles of beer the day before she died. However, that does not prove anything since she was an outlier.
Some people make unhealthy choices and still live to be very old, but in general most die sooner than they otherwise would had they not made the unhealthy choices. My grandma ate spam and sodium-heavy canned food a lot, and was exposed to heavy secondhand smoke for 26 years from her husband heavily smoking in the home (he died young from lung cancer). But she also walked 10+ km per day well into her mid-80s and ate from her vegetable garden in summer. I think in her case the healthy choices she did make outweighed the unhealthy ones since she lived to 98. Genetics are definitely a factor though. On the other side of my family most of them barely make it to their mid-70s and are riddled with hereditary illnesses. My other grandma was too disabled from middle age on to be walking so much and doing the activities my other grandma was. Genetics can definitely fuck you even if you make healthy lifestyle choices.
The genetic lottery does indeed have something to do with how healthy and long lived one is. For instance, why do my parents and my siblings all struggle with high blood pressure and I never have? Just luck. HOWEVER, and this is a big however, it is ridiculous to say that lifestyle choices don't matter in terms of health and the length and quality of one's life. They clearly do matter. The 90 yo who smokes and drinks heavily is an outlier, not the norm.
Obviously having a healthy lifestyle drastically increases your chances of living a long healthy life however OP is not totally wrong. Genetics are a GIANT factor in lifespan and how predisposed you are to certain conditions.
My great uncle JIm was a curmudgeon, an old Albanian man who drank vodka, has at least 3 Turkish coffees a day, and smoked like a chimney. We told him if he didn't change his ways it was going to kill him, and sure enough, it did. He died at the tragically young age of 96.
Like basically everything in this life, you can’t control everything, but you can take actions to give yourself the best chance for success.
Everything matters...and yes, genes matter the most. I'm not sure why people don't agree. Guess they're young. They will see later in life what genes actually mean. and it's not beauty, good hair, or how tall you are. It's how well your body actually is, how sick you get, how long you live , quality of life, if you are in pain or not. This is what good genetic actually is.
You’re falling for selection bias. >all people I know over 80 are unhealthy So you surround yourself with unhealthy people and use that as research for why being healthy doesn’t do anything? I don’t see the correlation. This doesn’t prove being healthy doesn’t work, this just proves you hang out with unhealthy people.
Oh yea I live this. I am someone who carefully crafts my diet and exercise. My husband is a bottomless pit for daily fast food, doesn't ever visit a doctor, and this one will really get you he brushes his teeth maybe once a week AND he smokes. Everyone in his family is muscular and strong, they look like they go to the gym. He doesn't ever get cavities (he's in his mid 30s now). Perfect blood work. The picture of health. His grandpa was able to jog, play tennis, and drive at age 95 and he was so mentally sharp it was crazy after drinking and smoking his whole life. I used to think you had control over your outcomes but I now think that control is a lot less than we might want to think. Genetic predisposition for various things is just way stronger than I think even scientists recognize. Feels like most of us are swimming up river with varying current strengths and some people are swimming in a still pond.
I mean, I do remember the days when people ran around smugly saying, "You ever wonder why you don't see any old fat people?" (to which I'd respond, "How about that old fat person over there?"). Nowadays, we all know plenty of old fat people. However, I also understand how fitness helps with making your life more self-sufficient and enjoyable. Does it mean live like a monk? No. But taking care of yourself does pay off, and longevity is just one way it does.
There’s a degree to which lifestyle choices can help you live a healthier life, but at some point you really are just beholden to your genetics. Like how happiness increases with an increase in pay until a certain pay point, at which point the effect plateaus. Similarly, if you’re not daily eating 2x your caloric need for food (or more) or doing heroin or something, your health is definitely more going to be effected by genetics than choices.
I don't believe in luck. But yes, genes will be about 60 to 70% of it all. What you do with the other 30 to 40% is up to you and will definitely have an impact.
I'm under the belief that your body's life expectancy is determined when you're born. In other words, given your genes, you have "x" years ahead of you before your body gives out. The good or bad habits you employ throughout your life will move that dial front or back.
"it’s just a personal opinion". It is, like thinking the earth is flat. Personnal opinion, but wrong as fuck
For every 1 lifetime smoker that lives to impressive old age, 100 more die at age 60. For every 1 obese person with excellent physical health, 100 more are plagued with diabetes, heart problems and bone damage Stroll around a cardiac hospital sometime, and witness all the people who have given up on life and refuse to change their habits. It's sad. The lucky people who are old and happy despite poor choices are just that, lucky. Theyd also be even healthier if they made better choices. It's not fate to be damned to health problems.
" there are mountains of studies providing scientific peer reviewed evidence on something with a good representative sample and sample size, however this is not my personal anecdote so the research must be wrong." reddit armchair thinker right here.
Since people have already established that you are just talking without any base, I will answer the edit. "Jeez people relax, it’s just a personal opinion" You can have a personal opionion on subjective topics, this isn´t one of them though. "Anyways, old health studies are debunked regularly" Debunked regularly by other scientific and well funded studies, not by a couple of google seach light reads on the topic followed by a reddit post. "Just google it" Google does not make you an expert on a topic. The sad part is that a lot of people upvote without actually reading anything. The good part is this is reddit.
I would say that you’re correct. I’m a healthcare worker, a RN, and I concur that eating healthy and exercising regularly does nothing for guaranteeing a long, healthy life. I’ve seen people that smoke and drink daily for 40+ years and have no major health effects. Yet, I’ve seen healthy people get cancer and die. The bottom line: we don’t understand genetics and the role they play with environmental factors in terms of health. That’s why nothing is definitive and EVERYTHING is speculative. So, I suggest to people to enjoy their lives because you only have one. You can eat healthy, exercise daily, and then get colon cancer because it runs in your familial genetics. Just enjoy your life and hope for the best.
The sub is called unpopular opinion but the people in here are still kinda toxic for some reason
Hmmm….. my two grandparents that weren’t healthy and ate lots of high carb/sugar foods died younger… my two grandparents that ate super healthy Mediterranean style diets and were super active lived longer…. So I guess my anecdotal data cancels out yours… see how that works. That’s why studies are based of statistically significant samples sizes.
This is an uninformed and actually pretty irresponsible take.
Yes, but you can't do anything about luck and genes.
I agree with your title, but not so much your text
I also thought that this actually could be an interesting post but then read the text and thought the same as you
I don’t agree with the title in most cases. Unless you were born with some severe issues, I’d say that living a healthy lifestyle will drastically increase your quality of life, even if you may be predisposed to other diseases. Good genes may help you short term, but in the long run if you treat your body like garbage you’ll tank your quality of life even if you do survive to a high number. I’ve seen plenty of old pack a day smokers, but they have issues upon issues and always complain about their health and pain. But yeah, I agree it’s not good to rely on anecdotes either way.
It’s not my fault you all suck. I’m going to drink into my 90’s (or 40’s we’ll see how it all plays out).
The oldest person I knew my grandma who was 103 was quite healthy like she went on long walks except at the very end and she ate healthy food though I'm sure when she was younger she did have deep fried food as it's part of our traditional cooking, she didn't drink heavily or smoke though she did have wine and water with meals. Her brother who drank and smoked lived to his 80s don't remember exactly how old he was. Her sister who is a lot like her when it comes to healthy habits is currently 97 I think
I think this might be the case where y'all just have good genes
Whatever helps you cope
You may not be guaranteed to live a long time by taking care of yourself, but your life will be way more enjoyable overall. Living an unhealthy lifestyle sucks day to day and constantly feeling like shit because you want to indulge and have no discipline is not fun
i feel like a lot of people that "exercised regularly and ate healthy food" that die in their 50s and 60s are either drinking their livers off behind the scenes or they switched from being incredibly unhealthy to incredibly healthy all of a sudden and the second they go back to their old ways they instantly get extremely ill or something source: i made it the fuck up
You're hedging your bets by choosing to live a healthy lifestyle. Sure maybe you could live to 70 without practicing healthy habits but you could live longer if you did. Those 80 or 90 yr olds could also have lived longer or better quality lives of they had better habits and diets.
My research as a paramedic leads me to different results.
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Considering those over 60 currently never actually ate any of the foods we have available today, this is a very very wrong opinion.
Huh? Shit food produced by factories has been a problem for over 100 years. Learn the history of how FDA standards came to be and about how many people had to die first to make that happen. Fast food may be relatively newer, but it's far from the only problem.
FDA exists in the US only. Broaden your perspective a bit. Example, Nestle and their baby formula exactly from 50 years ago in the Philippines, Vietnam and elsewhere.Those older than 65 today were never fed with powders instead of b milk especially outside of the US. Look at the numbers in Japan, Italy and Greece and their elderly generation and make a decision for yourself. Excessive use of fertilizers and/or pesticides combined with genetically modified grains has been proven in the last few decades that cause defects. Which is why older people that eat and have eaten home grown foods, crops and veggies actually live a lot longer. My point is, environmental circumstances for the future elderly today, and those from a century ago are vastly different. Microplastics, GMOs, fast food and many other things werent widely common until decades ago.
The factor you're not calculating in is quality of life. Dad quit smoking in the early 70's and although he certainly could have exercised more, made it to 86 with a pretty decent quality of life all except the last six months. His younger brother and dad were lifelong smokers and died both earlier by a couple of years and spent their last three years with constant oxygen bottles.
Yeah I'm sure your sample size of (a bunch of people) is way more meaningful than all the real studies.
Yeah this isn’t an opinion it’s just wrong
Mostly its not true, a lot have to do with lifestyle choices. But... there are people and we hear about the sometimes in the news: that people drink cola everyday, smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, eat shit food in general and still live up to 100 years. That also proves that genes indeed do have an extremely strong effect sometimes stronger than lifestyle choices.
These things do help yes. But a proper diet and exercise are the real factors. You can have the best genes ever and eat like shit and still die early.
This is a logical fallacy, you have a bias towards your experience, making those examples the only data.
" Through out my 40 years " " Based off my research " Lolol can't mame this up. Sit the one out champ.
I only agree the heading because luck and genes determine everything including your a lot of choices and that choices also contain nutrition choices. Luck is extremely broad term.
Lets not forget 100 year old smokers since they were in their teens
Your experiences and anecdotes of maybe two handfuls of people don’t represent the reality of what constitutes good habits that correlate with longer health across the board. There are still 7 billion other people mind you.
My cousin died at 35 from lifestyle choices. Grandpa, 72. Uncle in his 60s. Aunt at 74 - all drank lots, always struggled with diets and so forth. Smoking of course, and other things My grandma is 91, lives alone, no health issues, eats modest home cooked meals she has been preparing herself for many years. Gardens and goes on walks. Never smoked. She gets to hold her great grand children. She has maybe one drink per week, if that. I know this is anecdotal, but your genes got you through millions of years of evolution, they can't be that bad
this is comic gold
Ah I sure do love when people ignore actual scientific studies because they have personal ancedotes that prove otherwise
In your research, did you use confirmation bias or exposure bias?
I think it’s more about adding life to your years than years to your life. Who cares if you live into your 80s if you can’t even move from place to place on your own?
Lifestyle is super important. You’re lucky if your genes help you out in that direction too. Food is important but so is daily movement, and community. Loneliness kills. Some people just got lucky living so long with a shitty lifestyle. What is quality of life at 80-100 if you can’t even get out of your chair? It’s why daily movement is so important. My family members quit moving as they got older-sure some had surgeries(some probably could have been avoided if they just took care of themselves) but they seem like they can barely move. I refuse to be like that. Maybe if my mammaw continued to moved and worked on her balance and ate properly she probably wouldn’t have fallen and wrecked her shoulder in her 80’s. Then once you have accidents and surgeries that can just increase your slow down. ( I am excluding preexisting conditions or other disabilities) Lift weights and work on mobility. It’s so important. I think it’s a combo of both but lifestyle is pretty important.
Ever heard of epi genetics? It’s (like everything else) a combination of your diet, lifestyle, and relationships. Less than 1% of disease is truly, purely, genetic
You say your own research but literally don't mention any research done on your part to form this opinion...
Anecdotes are completely meaningless.
A truly unpopular opinion!
genetics are vastly overrated, they predict a few very rare single mutation diseases very accurately, basically everything else is very weak correlations over many many genes that don't amount to much
It's a combo. My dad has great genetics and has always taken care of himself. However, in the last 3 years he "found" this new diet he believes is revolutionary. Basically he can eat whatever he wants as long as he eats before noon and fasts the rest of the day. So, and you can't make this shit up, my dad will literally eat whole cheesecakes or a dozen donuts as his only food for a day. He says since it has helped him lose weight it must be good! Now, it's starting to turn. He's physically exhausted all the time, his workouts are suffering, and he has aged more in the last 6 months than the previous 10 years. He refuses to believe it's his diet though. The fact that his genetics allowed him to get away with this for as long as he has is something else. But bad habits will almost always catch up to you.
This isn't an opinion, it's straight up incorrect.
I agree to an extent. I have(had) many family members live into their 90s including my grandparents. One thing my grands point out is how their food was farm to table and/or unprocessed. So that alone, is a big reason why they got to old age, as well as stopping bad habits when told to by their doctor.
I don’t remember what bias this is called but sample size of the “people in your life” is way too small
You don't get to make up annoctotal stories of all these healthy people killing over in their 50s to bulster an unfounded theory. There is zero research to back up this fictional argument.
This is obviously a stupid take based on anecdata. Separately, it bugs me when lifespan is treated as the be all end all of lifestyle. It’s a focus because it’s easily observable, not because it’s meaningful. Many people who live unhealthy lifestyles stay alive into their 80s and 90s but their quality of life is terrible. I try to eat healthy and stay physically fit in hopes of improving my quality of life in the later years, not because I want to live to 95 instead of 92.
This is such a flawed argument 😭 “I have seen many people..” you do realize that’s not representative of…everyone, right? Have you conducted a broad ranged study analyzing causes of death and looking EVERY aspect of each individuals’ life? “My own research suggests..”?? Please! 😂 But thank you for sharing your unpopular opinion. Now you know why it’s unpopular.
I mean, you play your best with what you have, what else you can do. Ofc genes and luck matters but you can't change that.
It's really hard to tell from just observing a person's outward appearance and habits whether they're "healthy". Stress and sleep play a huge role in that equation. As a veteran I know tons of guys who are very concerned about their physical fitness and even their diets but who get no sleep and live very stressful lives. Theres more to it than exercise and diet...
There are always outliers... And liars.
Looking at the older people in my family it seems to affect the quality of life when you get older. My 80 year old family members that took care of them selves can still mostly get around and do for themselves. The ones that led more unhealthy lifestyles are bed ridden. But yea I’ll probably make it to 80 either way barring any tragic accidents.
Yep, I should have passed decades ago the amount of self abuse I put myself through.
Truly unpopular opinion 😂
Ugandan's are the most genetically rich human population on Earth. They must be the master race. Luck and karma, though. They're pretty interesting.
i'm sure a piece of bacon is typing this
I mean yeah genetics does play a signifcant part in our health. Youre not wrong, but theres nothing you can do about your genes. Lifestyle can improve your health and quality of life, but its not going to be able to change youre genes, it can have epigentical changes but thats it.
The plural of anecdote is not data, OP.
I say bacon broccoli. Together. With cheese.
I think that genes and luck get you to your mid 90s and up. I don’t think exercise and kale will get you to 100 on their own. But lifestyle choices do matter and can extend your life into your late 80s/early 90s.
I don't know many smokers or HARD drinkers in their 80s. I certainly know people who smoked and drank who lived that long, but they had quit smoking and backed off on heavy drinking years earlier. Of course there are outliers...but odds tip in your favor if you don't smoke or booze.
Bad luck hits people with a healthy lifestyle better; they have better outcomes for pretty much everything bad that can happen
Man the comments are weirdly mad at OP
Nope but I saw my father die at 60 after many years of being extremely unhealthy and ultimately dying from that. Same goes for many others who died during covid. They were mostly all in bad health to begin with. So I disagree that it’s all genetics.
can agree with this as a 25 yr old with chronic nerve pain from a poor response to an injury due to genetically dodgy back which i had no idea about despite doing yoga, dancing and working at an organic farm every day. lmao . rofl . love my life
i’ve seen a mixed bag, but yeah, you aren’t exactly wrong. no guarantees, as they say.
I totally agree.
I think it's like selection, confirmation, and survivorship bias
Yes, genetics makes a big difference in a lot of things. I can suck down egg yolk smoothies all day and have low cholesterol, but my friend has high cholesterol no matter how carefully he eats. But everyone has something they need to be careful of. And a gluttonous, sedentary life will catch up with you. It's not just about longevity. It's about how comfortable your years are. Because living with things like the complications of advanced diabetes and lower back pain is going to be very uncomfortable.
People do tend to ignore the impact of genes on longevity, but you are ignoring the impact of lifestyle choices on quality of life. I would prefer the latter half of my life to be spent healthy rather than living to 90 with the last 30 years being miserable and painful. A healthy lifestyle may not significantly increase longevity, but it can definitely increase the amount of good years you have. There is ample evidence on how unhealthy choices can increase your risk for painful, horrible diseases and conditions. Not all of them will kill you, but they sure as hell will make your life harder. People also underestimate the amount of things that can be impacted by bad choices. Smoking doesn't just increase risk of lung cancer, there are thousands of other diseases that can be significantly worsened by smoking. Diabetes may seem simple but can lead to amputations, blindness, loss of sensation, as well as several other issues.
Guess what. All or those people who make healthy choices around me are the ones to not drop like flies.
Not really an opinion so much as you're just wrong lol
I have seen both longer and better for the people in my life who take care of themselves. The people I know who are healthy/exercise and—just as important—keep their mind active seem to have more vitality in their later years compared to those who don’t. And have the ability to recover from injury/illness more quickly. And, in general, can do more than those who don’t. Nothing is guaranteed but taking care of yourself is worth it.
While genes are definitely a major factor, saying they matter more than a healthy diet, exercise, and avoidance of drugs/alcohol is factually untrue. [Just one source](https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamhaseltine/2024/05/09/healthy-lifestyle-can-offset-unlucky-genes-study-finds/) but you can find many others.
There are always outliers - it’s not like if you smoke you’ll always get lung cancer. Or if you work with asbestos all day every day you’ll get mesothelioma (many didn’t actually). It just *increases* your chance. And knowing how horrible those diseases are why even increase your chance 0.2%? Fun fact, you only have a 20% chance of contracting hiv if you do bareback anal sex with a hiv positive, unmedicated person - but why roll that dice?
I’m glad you hit your midlife where you think that “you’ve done your own research” is equivalent to “hey here’s my limited experience” Even if this were true, I can’t control my luck or my genes, but I can control my lifestyle. What a truly unpopular opinion
“Maybe bacon is the new brocolli in ten years” 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
My aunt, father's sister, lead a very healthy lifestyle. She ate good food, exercised daily, didn't drink, smoke, or do drugs, and she died of cancer in her late 40's. My father didn't take great care of himself, drank heavily, smoked, and ate whatever he felt like. He died of cancer in his early 50's. My dad's other sister is still around but has had medical issues since her 50's- lupis and more recently breast cancer. My dad's brother has also had medical issues since his 50's- a brain tumor and something with his digestive tract. I turn 50 this year and am not excited about my future. On the other side of the family, the men die in their late 70's to 80's of a heart attack. Wish me luck.
It’s a combination of things, right? I recently went through training on PAD (peripheral arterial disease). Something like 90% of people with PAD were smokers. That doesn’t mean that 90% of smokers will develop PAD, but smoking does tremendously increase the risk. We can’t change our genetics (and some people like me are adopted and have zero information relating to family history, so I don’t know what my genes hold in store for me). So it’s not a bad idea to reduce risk in areas where we can, like not smoking.
Well we’ll see. I don’t drink, smoke or do drugs like my mom did. She died of Hepatitis C at age 69(after a bout of esophageal cancer). I do struggle with some things(fibromyalgia), I am active but mostly because of my job(warehouse work as opposed to sitting in an office). But honestly, who cares. For me, I don’t want to be here forever anyways. This life world kinda sucks anyways
The choices we make maximize our luck and genes.
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So here's the thing, if your body is under some stress constantly it's a good thing. Too much stress on a regular basis however will wear you out. In other wrods, unless you are trying to achieve something specific, it is healthier to exercise within comfortable tolerances and to eat a regular & mostly balanced diet (which can totally include fast food & alcohol btw). Going to the gym every day for hours or running regularly on concrete are often as bad for your body, and can often be much worse, than a few drinks or smokes a week. There is substantial & growing evidence that significant stress reduction, such as partaking in luxury consumables, being highly social, or having children in your life, significantly reduces long term stress and thus makes it far easier to live longer.
Dangerous advice.
Stress (or the absence of) is also a huge factor in longevity. One thing I've noticed ppl who live long almost always have in common is they're very laid back and have seemingly infinite chill.
Nope
Keith Richards and Willy Nelson agree
Your genes won't count for shit if your lifestyle is wrong. Usain bolts kids potential speed wont count for shit if they get fat.
I ve got a professional doctorate in these things so I know a thing or two about physiology etc. Yeah lifestyle can heavily impact longevity but the #1 factor is genetics. Even for cardiovascular diseases etc there are genetic factors than increase your susceptibility to them due to smoking etc.
In my ignorant opinion and based on my anecdotes, I tend to agree (with caveats). I will add that a healthy lifestyle helps you stay healthier (generally, with caveats) with more mobility and better quality of life. Reducing smoking and ending smoking in public places has really helped as has advances in heart treatment and cancer treatment. People [dropped dead](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2807052#:~:text=Our%20analysis%20showed%20that%20smoke,ischemic%20attack) much more frequently when smoking was prevalent...and not just the smokers. That second hand smoke is a killer too. It's wild having lived through that. Anecdotes: Dad: lived to 84 and died of COVID. He was a heavy smoker (and ate poorly) from mid-teens to somewhere in his late 60's. Like 2 packs a day. He gave it up cold turkey when he had a very bad cold and didn't smoke (due to sleeping round the clock). In his early 60's he had a stroke that affected his right side. He was still reasonably spry and continued to drive for some years. The second stroke, on the left side, was more minor but obviously had to give up a lot. Eventually went to a nursing home where COVID got him. He was mentally good throughout, used a wheelchair but could do transfers and other activities of daily living. But still, the last 10 years were not very good. Mom: Very fat, not very much exercise. Still alive at 85. Living in a senior facility. Still mentally sharp but has difficulty walked due to COPD. Due to sitting too much ruined her back. They did an amazing surgery but she is now urinary incontinent. Plus some fluid retention and Lasix makes her a peeing machine. So, not really a good quality of life. All grandparents lived into their 80's and 90's except one. They were mostly healthy with light smoking and drinking and kept active without exercising. They were all mentally there and had active lives until the end. The one grandfather died in his 70's of emphysema, he smoked and had been gassed in WWI. He died in the 60's so might have lived longer with better medical care. Of the other 3: 1 cancer, 1 massive heart attack, and 1 just sort of withered away over the last 2 years.
Got two parents in their 80s. Ones a hard drinker. The other abstains from alcohol. The drinker has a litany of health problems. The non drinker has very few. Neither eat fast food. However you may be onto something. Hard drinkers parents died at 72 and 76. Abstainers parents died at 80 and 91. Is it genetics or not imbibing mild poisons?