# Whatever happened to 1980s "life extension" authors Dirk Pierson and Sandy Shaw? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 22, 2003, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-1980s-life-extension-authors-dirk-pierson-and-sandy-shaw/214630 "2003-11-22T05:32:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-1980s-life-extension-authors-dirk-pierson-and-sandy-shaw/214630/41 "2024-12-15T17:26:07Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Jack Lalane is so aspirational not because he had such a long lifespan, but because he had such a long healthspan, and had to endure virtually no time with serious disability or pain. The way I heard it expressed in a pithy meme was _choose your hard_ It’s _hard_ to exercise and eat healthy every day. It’s _hard_ to live a life crippled by poor health and chronic illness. Choose your hard. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-1980s-life-extension-authors-dirk-pierson-and-sandy-shaw/214630/42 "2024-12-15T18:36:54Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Running to mitigate health risk and as a “way of life” [doesn’t always turn out to be foolproof](https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/24/science/the-doctor-s-world-james-fixx-the-enigma-of-heart-disease.html). Fixx’s downfall wasn’t running, it was a combination of hubris and ignorance. In one of his last interviews, he bragged about eating a crappy diet (loads of eggs, bacon, etc.) convinced that as long as he ran a lot, he’d be fine. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-1980s-life-extension-authors-dirk-pierson-and-sandy-shaw/214630/43 "2024-12-15T19:49:29Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > About urine consumption: I haven’t seen much in the way of its promotion for “life extension” (though [this article](https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/former-bodybuilder-gave-food-urine-heres-thats-not-healthy-182109359.html) comes close). Is it possible that the urine-drinkers [are onto something](https://school.wakehealth.edu/research/institutes-and-centers/wake-forest-institute-for-regenerative-medicine/awards-honors-and-media-coverage/2022/human-urine-derived-stem-cells-have-robust-regenerative-potential)?\* > > \*not really. 🤢 If urine isn’t a miracle substance why does my doctor insist on being given a container of it at almost every possible opportunity? Checkmate! ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-1980s-life-extension-authors-dirk-pierson-and-sandy-shaw/214630/44 "2024-12-15T21:17:17Z")
Reminds me of the throwaway line in _Spynal Tap_ - “Your last drummer choked on vomit, didn’t he?” “Yes, but it wasn’t his…” ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-1980s-life-extension-authors-dirk-pierson-and-sandy-shaw/214630/45 "2024-12-15T22:04:10Z")
“You can’t really dust for vomit.” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-1980s-life-extension-authors-dirk-pierson-and-sandy-shaw/214630/46 "2024-12-15T22:18:37Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > We could be heading for a planet controlled by “posh zombies”. > > [New life-extending pills will create 'posh zombies,' says CEO](https://nypost.com/2024/11/25/health/new-life-extending-pills-will-create-posh-zombies-says-ceo/) > > Imagine a world where future generations must perpetually deal with Elon Musk. 😱 Imagine a world where two hundred year old billionaires had to face the consequences of the things they had done back in the early twenty-first century. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-1980s-life-extension-authors-dirk-pierson-and-sandy-shaw/214630/47 "2024-12-15T23:05:37Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > It’s _hard_ to exercise and eat healthy every day. > > It’s _hard_ to live a life crippled by poor health and chronic illness. Yeah, but exercise is hard for now me, and poor health is only hard for future me. Of course, now that I’ve aged into future me, I realize past me was a jerk. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2024, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-1980s-life-extension-authors-dirk-pierson-and-sandy-shaw/214630/48 "2024-12-15T23:21:36Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > > [@Jackmannii](#): > > > > About urine consumption: I haven’t seen much in the way of its promotion for “life extension” (though [this article](https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/former-bodybuilder-gave-food-urine-heres-thats-not-healthy-182109359.html) comes close). Is it possible that the urine-drinkers [are onto something](https://school.wakehealth.edu/research/institutes-and-centers/wake-forest-institute-for-regenerative-medicine/awards-honors-and-media-coverage/2022/human-urine-derived-stem-cells-have-robust-regenerative-potential)?\* > > > > \*not really. 🤢 > > If urine isn’t a miracle substance why does my doctor insist on being given a container of it at almost every possible opportunity? Checkmate! Another joke: Doctor: “Mr. Smythe, does your urine burn?” Mr. Smythe: “I’m not sure, Doc…to be honest, I’ve never really tried to light it.” ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-1980s-life-extension-authors-dirk-pierson-and-sandy-shaw/214630/49 "2024-12-16T03:09:22Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > Yeah, but exercise is hard for now me, and poor health is only hard for future me. > > Of course, now that I’ve aged into future me, I realize past me was a jerk. The “marshmallow test” may have had its issues and be oversold, but the basic idea of overvaluing immediate rewards compared to future gains, is pretty fundamental: “temporal discounting”, “future discounting”, Aesop’s fable of the ant and the cricket, whatever. > **[Disrupting future discounting: a commentary on an underutilised psychological...](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10346014/)** > > Non-communicable diseases (NCD) such as CVD and type 2 diabetes mellitus are major contributors to the burden of disease. NCD are largely driven by modifiable lifestyle factors including poor diet and insufficient physical activity, and ... The commentary suggests a therapeutic intervention of imagining the future rewards more, and claims it has evidence. Personally I don’t get why so many see habitual moderate exercise and consuming tasty decent real foods as something so hard to do. And the benefits are not only decades later but in current well being, psychologically as well as physically. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-1980s-life-extension-authors-dirk-pierson-and-sandy-shaw/214630/50 "2024-12-16T03:40:27Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > the basic idea of overvaluing immediate rewards compared to future gains, is pretty fundamental I’m fine at delayed gratification it when it comes to money. Exercise, not so much, though. > [@DSeid](#): > > I don’t get why so many see habitual moderate exercise and consuming tasty decent real foods as something so hard to do I’m fine on the food thing, but you’re another doctor, just like my GP, who doesn’t get why a bit of exercise is so unpleasant. You’re a person who likes it, which is great for you, but I can’t think of many things more unpleasant than spending the next 40 minutes doing some cardio or whatever. Biking, skiing, those are fun activities that happen to be exercise, and I’ll happily do. I don’t quite understand it either. I think of it as a reverse addiction. When I actually do regular exercise I feel better, but I’ll still drop the exercise at the slightest excuse. Regular exercise also helps me get better enjoyment out of the physical activities I like, but somehow that still isn’t enough to make it a habit. Not to derail this too much, because I do think eating well and regular exercise are completely on topic for a life extension thread, but they’re definitely not _quick_ or _easy_. So a related question: Any updates on the severe calorie restriction diet as a way to extend lifespan? We used to have a researcher where I worked that studied it in C. elegans, and for many years he followed the practice, too. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-1980s-life-extension-authors-dirk-pierson-and-sandy-shaw/214630/51 "2024-12-16T04:40:22Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > Biking, skiing, those are fun activities that happen to be exercise, and I’ll happily do. So bike a few times a week, at least when the weather allows. Even once a week has a huge payoff. Or do something else fun that happens to be exercise … pickleball doesn’t appeal to me but lots of people enjoy it. Low barrier to entry. Hike with a pack on on weekends. [Week end warriors are fine.](https://abcnews.go.com/amp/GMA/Wellness/weekend-warriors-similar-benefits-exercise-week-study-finds/story?id=114183602) > [@echoreply](#): > > Any updates on the severe calorie restriction diet as a way to extend lifespan? Still unproven for humans. There’s some recent evidence [on DNA methylation as a proxy](https://www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/calorie-restriction-slows-pace-aging-healthy-adults) for aging, but I’m not sure I buy the marker as all they crack it up to be. Best recent I can find is this mouse study, and it demonstrates that even in genetically diverse mice it is … complicated. [https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08026-3](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08026-3) The part that jumped out to be was how the mice that lived longer didn’t necessarily live healthier. Again I am pretty convinced that the biggest factor on lifespan is a genetic deal of the cards (and avoiding stupid deaths like by guns and smoking or car crashes). I am more interested in having a longer time being fully functional and able to enjoy things. Living hungry all the time? Not my jam. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-1980s-life-extension-authors-dirk-pierson-and-sandy-shaw/214630/52 "2024-12-16T13:31:58Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Another joke: > > Doctor: “Mr. Smythe, does your urine burn?” > > Mr. Smythe: “I’m not sure, Doc…to be honest, I’ve never really tried to light it.” Or… “Do you smoke after sex?” “I don’t know, I’ve never looked.” ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2024, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-1980s-life-extension-authors-dirk-pierson-and-sandy-shaw/214630/53 "2024-12-16T13:49:52Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > Any word on refunds for customers who bought the supplements? 😀 I’m guessing they’re not getting refunds. Or any younger. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-1980s-life-extension-authors-dirk-pierson-and-sandy-shaw/214630.md?page=2)