Ok, so where do you draw the line between “just living” and purposely doing things to live longer?
Eating right? Why not just live on nachos and candy? If there’s a possibility you might die tomorrow, why even bother to finish your veggies?
Some people enjoy exercise but many do not. Living a healthier, longer life probably figures into many people’s motivations.
How about seatbelts? Helmets? Tetnus shots? Inoculations? Morbidly obese, Type II diabetes sufferers? Should they not make any attempt to modify their diet 'cause they might get hit by a bus tomorrow? How about smokers?
The choices you make are matters of degree, some people pursue a long, healthy life more avidly than others. But, everybody makes concious decisions that affect their lifespans every single day. And it’s totally true that no one knows how long they’ll live, no matter what they do. But, as I’ve pointed out before, many of the things that could affect life expectancy can also make your present years healthier and stronger.
Well, that’s fine. It’s a possible side-effect of living healthily. But don’t live healthily just because you may live longer - instead do it because your day to day life will bring you more pleasure and satisfaction. Or, alternatively, live unhealthily for the same reason.
Length of life is arbitrary and impossible to determine. Ignore it.
Sorry, I didn’t think I was being hostile, I meant to sound bitter and sarcastic, but in a non-hostile way. Tone is hard to convey over the Internet. But your (and Portia’s) viewpoint is as alien to me as my viewpoint is sad to you. You can’t turn a pessimist into an optimist, and vice versa.
I still wish we could auction off our future. I would sell it down to the last two years and use all the money to live in luxury. I would spend the rest of my life being pampered while you all spend that bonus decade locked in a nursing home. Who’s got the better end of the deal now? Actually, I think there was a Twilight Zone episode about this.
See, if life is really that awful, why even wait? Why not off yourself right now? Look, I understand depression and have struggled with it in the past but what kept me going was the faint glimmer of hope that life might not be so awful in the future (I guess I was an optimistic depressive :dubious: ). And, wow, for me, it did get better. Not perfect, but not bad either and I’m not longer hoarding potentially fatal substances. (I’m not totally sure what the point of this paragraph is, I’m sorta of contributing to the hijack I complained about and I shouldn’t post this late in the evening)
I think part of the disconnect here (and I’ve seen it in life extension discussions before) is that our view of old age differs. People who don’t want to live longer often view old age as a time of infirmity and dementia confined to a squalid nursing home. People who want to live longer view the old age as a period that can be productive and healthy. More and more research points out that choices we make now can affect our health as seniors. Exercise can help make older people stronger and independent and a good diet and an active mind can even affect dementia. I have a grandmothers on both sides who each lived independently until age 99 when they both passed away. I don’t view old age as some sort of horrible hell on earth.
I wouldn’t want to live to 110 if it meant that my brain had turned to soup by that time.
So basically, I want to live my life with a positive outlook on life (which can be difficult, but I think is an art worth our learning), an active intellect, and an active capacity for empathy. I’m hoping that this technique will stave off that crabby, doleful, rigid state of mind that some old people tend to develop.
Some good relationships, a few children, a bit of traveling, a bit of intellectual achievement, and some good sex probably wouldn’t hurt either.
Well, there you go. Both my maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather spent their last few years having to be taken care of for every little need (my GM had to spend them in a nursing home), and they were both senile. I expect that senility runs in my genes since many of my great-aunts and uncles were senile as well before they died. Most of them had physical problems as well resulting in limited mobility. So I see old age as a time of gross enfeeblement, not as a time to explore and grow as a person, which is maybe why I resent advances made to prolong life. It’s like science is trying to torture me by making me spend even longer in a senile, semi-vegetative state. And I do plan to off myself before I lose my independence. Sure, there are things you can do to stave off diseases of old age, but if it’s written in the genes it’s going to manifest eventually. Why should I take extraordinary measures to maybe put a small dent in my almost certainly dementia-ridden future if I might wind up senile anyway? Better to burn out young.
Portia a Pollyana?? This is where we would all fall about the place giggling in the real world, were we sitting around having this discussion in person.
I’m very sorry for the loss of your grandparents, continuity eror; I lost my last one last fall to Alzheimer’s and it was horrifying to watch. The last month he was in a state that still occasionally crops up in my nightmares. The others all died of things that diet and exercise can help avoid, and I think that I may be able to avoid Alzheimer’s through nutritional and cerebral exercise means as well. But if I don’t start now, I’ll never know.
Heck even if I stick to my discipline, I may get it anyhow, and then I’ll still never know. :rolleyes:
Well, as a certified, card carrying, 65 year old Senior Citizen I can say that I want to live as long as possible IF I can avoid the nursing home trip. As to measures to prolong life, I’ve given up smoking, drinking, and (illegal) drugs. I walk a lot and bicycle a little bit. That’s it, though. I chow down on grease burgers with bacon as often as Marcie will allow; I regard chocolate as a staple of life, I’m addicted to Coca Cola Classic and firmly believe there is no such thing as too much caffeine or too much sugar. I’ve survived three surgeries for oral cancer; drug addiction, alcohol abuse, two suicide attempts, severe depression, some very serious skin cancers, thirty years of migraines, and an absolutely horrid divorce. I didn’t expect to live as long as I have and now regard every day as a bonus. Life is too intersting to just give up on it.
I think it is generally an excellent idea to live a healthy lifestyle. I’m glad I’ve never smoked, for example.
However I’m not sure if being overweight is balanced by all the lovely chocolate that I’ve eaten.
‘I can resist anything except temptation.’
I think we must consider the effects of old age. Sadly most people start to degenerate after retirement.
It’s no fun being incontinent or senile.
‘Death is Nature’s way of telling you to slow down.’ :eek:
Even if mentally active, will you have interesting things to do when old?
I play chess, which doesn’t need any physical fitness and hopefully keeps my brain active.
‘Millions long for immortality who don’t know what to do on a rainy afternoon.’
