Was not thinking about you, I meant the usual suggestions that get peddled, like:
Being too overweight
exercise
not smoking
not drinking to a standstill
enough sleep when you can get it
and watching what you eat and drink.
etc, etc!
You can be as fit as a fiddle and the proud consumer of a healthy diet, non-smoker, moderate drinker, etc, but constant stress can undermine it all. Boom - heart attack.
There’s a big health benefit to just, as the movie track goes; “Let it go, let it go…”
Of course there are cancers such as leukemia which are generally caused by mutations after birth and do not have an inherited component so there’s that too.
What would you call that? Bad luck?
But, people can do something about the other factors with little intrusion into their time and lifestyle and many benefits for the time they are alive.
It’s personal choice more than anything and I’d rather think about the things I can do which require little effort and no cost rather than the things totally out of my control.
The BBC What’s Up Docs podcast was discussing hips and hip replacement.
One quite interesting fact was when the Hip specialist was asked whether any patients managed to avoid needing hip replacement after doing the obligatory pre-operation muscle strengthening exercises, one would have thought that perhaps one or two percent would have been the answer but it was a staggering 60% !
Like many things, look after your hips (and other joints) and you may be able to stay active and avoid painful and debilitating operations.
Yoga, pilates and general strength and stretching exercises are free, don’t take up much time and can give you a more active life.
(No pills involved - sorry Medea, again you actually have to do something).
Something as small as jumping off the bottom step onto the ground 15-20 times a few times a week can be enough to guard against bone density loss in the hips. It increases the force of your body weight by 2 or 3 times which stresses the bones just enough.
Indeed, the only change is cause of death. Along time, it progressively changes from accident to whatever illness. Blood pressure, diabetes and respiratory conditions top the list.
enjoying every single day.