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PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   2156 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for December 27, 2023

The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:

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New Swedish twin study just dropped[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10274991/

Maybe exercising doesn't matter all that much?

Results

We identified four classes of long-term LTPA: sedentary, moderately active, active and highly active. Although biological ageing was accelerated in sedentary and highly active classes, after adjusting for other lifestyle-related factors, the associations mainly attenuated. Physically active classes had a maximum 7% lower risk of total mortality over the sedentary class, but this association was consistent only in the short term and could largely be accounted for by familial factors. LTPA exhibited less favourable associations when prevalent diseases were exclusion criteria rather than covariate.

Conclusion

Being active may reflect a healthy phenotype instead of causally reducing mortality.

I both want this to be true (because it would be a relief, in a way) but also don't (because it means your mortality isn't really modifiable by exercise). Any good analyses/critiques available?

  1. On Jun 5th 2023. So not that new.

The same thing keeps being suggested:

  • Propensity to live an extremely long life (longer than 90, certainly than 100) is almost entirely genetic. If your family mostly checks out at 80 it’s unlikely going full Bryan Johnson is going to get you to 100.
  • Regular checkups can help avoid unexpected but curable conditions that can lead to not reaching your genetic life expectancy (most historic examples of these like appendicitis and pregnancy are no longer major issues in developed countries, and others like diabetes and breast cancer can usually be managed/treated to allow for many additional years of life).
  • Healthy lifestyles do nothing to raise your genetic ‘cap’, although they might improve your quality of life (range of movement, ability to play with the grandkids, to go on walks, to attract the opposite sex etc).
  • Extremely unhealthy lifestyles can lower your life expectancy because of eg. medical complications of morbid obesity.

Regular checkups can help avoid unexpected but curable conditions that can lead to not reaching your genetic life expectancy (most historic examples of these like appendicitis and pregnancy are no longer major issues in developed countries, and others like diabetes and breast cancer can usually be managed/treated to allow for many additional years of life).

colon cancer screening is a big one. lots of middle-aged ppl dying from this now.

What are latest thoughts on when the begin screening and how frequently to repeat? My physician thinks we shouldn't start earlier than 45 and I feel like he'd laugh if I suggested every 5 years.

I have used Cologuard even few years, at my doctor's recommendation.

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