10 ms·
The opposite effect has often been observed too. People with a mission will often managed to survive much longer than expected but then suddenly die as soon as
by lelag 5y ago
The opposite effect has often been observed too. People with a mission will often managed to survive much longer than expected but then suddenly die as soon as they perceive to have accomplished that mission.
An example that comes to my mind is that of Marcel Proust, who was sickly and suffered declining health for years. In the last three years of his life, we worked relentlessly on La Recherche, his life work. He managed to finish the last volume and died shortly after.
I'm sure there are many others.
- bjt2n3904 5y agoI actually was concerned about byuu/near after the release of the Bahamut Lagoon translation for that very reason.
- LinuxBender 5y agoWould the legend of the ancient Greek messenger count? They raced from the site of Marathon to Athens a distance of 26.2 miles to deliver the message of a pending invasion then collapsed and died.
- Cthulhu_ 5y agoYou don't even need to die for that; I think a lot of people have experienced a situation at least once in their life where after a period of intense work or stress, or not long after their vacation starts, they got sick. I'm not talking about being overworked so much, but flu-like symptoms. It's like your mind finally allows your body (and mind?) to relax, and it finally processes a lot of things it's been saving up. This isn't a very scientific comment, very anecdotal, but I believe it's not uncommon.
- borplk 5y agoYou can also think of that as an evolutionary advantage. Your biology delays the illness until you are more ready to handle it.
- mikepurvis 5y agoHeart attacks in the first year after retirement are a thing too: "Among 5,422 individuals in the study, those who had retired were 40% more likely to have had a heart attack or stroke than those who were still working. The increase was more pronounced during the first year after retirement, and leveled off after that." https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/is-retirement-good-for-health-or-bad-for-it-201212105625 https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/is-retirement-good-for-h...
- reasonabl_human 5y agoThis is an incredible statistic, and quite counter intuitive…. Goes to show that stress can come from any kind of change, even if that change seems to remove a major amount of expected work Perhaps weaning off of work would be better than cold turkey retiring?
- bachmeier 5y agoThe stress can be particularly bad for those that had no choice but to retire (due to health, job loss, or other reasons). Moving from working for money, and potentially being able to increase your income if needed, to a fixed income is tough for most people. Particularly if it was a sudden retirement and they realize the full implications of that after they retire.
- robotresearcher 5y agoPerhaps people retire because they are starting to get too sick to work.
- jl6 5y agoStress is very much not the same thing as work. My experience is that the most stressful times for me are the times when I'm suffering uncertainty over what I should do, or have a seemingly irreconcilable conflict of priorities, or when someone is in a bad situation and I can't do anything. The least stressful times are when I'm in the zone working hard ("work" being anything that needs focus, so might include play!).
- tonyedgecombe 5y ago
- tqkxzugoaupvwqr 5y agoUnder stress the body increases cortisol production to keep the energy level up and remain alert. When the stress subsides, the cortisol production is reduced to normal and the suppressed ills break out.
- purpleflame1257 5y agoI would regularly catch a "flu" during spring break (immediately post-midterms) despite just hanging out at my apartment. This explains why.
- macNchz 5y agoFor people prone to migraines it is also common that attacks will coincide with time off: weekends or the beginning of vacations. https://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/news/20010309/vacations-weekends-make-you-sick https://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/news/2001030...
- nirav72 5y ago> not long after their vacation starts, they got sick This was discussed just couple of weeks ago in this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29644949 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29644949
- PragmaticPulp 5y agoThere are numerous such stories, but I tend to think it’s more selection bias than anything. Accomplished people are almost always accomplishing things, even into late life. By definition, the last thing they accomplish is their final accomplishment. Even if deaths were randomly distributed, you’d expect to find a lot of these people dying shortly after finishing their last accomplishment.
- lelag 5y agoIt does not need to about doing something incredible. Older couples are known to live longer than surviving spouse whose life-long partner has passed away. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0250564 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal... I don't find it too hard to believe that someone with a reason to live will actually live longer than someone without one...
- jl6 5y agoAgreed, but I also wonder whether the couple situation increases survival because they've got someone to watch their back, e.g. if one has a fall, the other is there to call for help.
- joconde 5y agoOr they do it themselves by getting depressed and not taking care of themselves. Physical exercise and healthy meals take motivation.
- gadders 5y agoI think this also happens to boxers who sadly die in the ring. They keep going beyond normal limits, driven by their will to win.
- kevinmchugh 5y agoBoxers who die in the ring or shortly after usually either: didn't have enough time to rehydrate after cutting weight, were fighting too soon after taking a lot of damage, or were in a too-long fight. In almost all cases they've been failed by their corner, and often the commission.
- gadders 5y agoThat explains why they die, but not how they kept going when they were dying. I always remember the Nigel Benn/Gerard McClellan fight when he was touching his head after being stopped, and then collapsed in the corner.
- dailyrorschach 5y agoI’m always struck by US Grant in this regard. Suffering of debilitating cancer of throat, but convinced by Mark Twain and others his memoirs would bring financial benefit to his family after a failed business post presidency. He completed them and died a few days later, his final mission for his family.
- journey_16162 5y agoI have seen the opposite effect in my grandmother. She is definitely not on a mission. She just wants to live as long as she could, despite outliving pretty much everyone her age group and also her children. She's never been saying "when I'm gone..." or stuff like that, like it was not a possibility. But she often liked to say to other people something along "don't do this or you will die" - i.e. "don't work too hard because you will die". People much younger than her. Never said something like that in context of herself. The only exception is recently, after my father's death she asked my mother: "will you take care of my funeral?" but then she shortly added "if you live long enough that is" or something like that. My mom is 58 and grandma is 93. I think it's a bit like ego thing and positive feedback loop. She takes pride in her longevity.
- BoiledCabbage 5y ago> I think it's a bit like ego thing and positive feedback loop. She takes pride in her longevity. Sounds like she has a mission.
- Swizec 5y agoHopefully I’m like your grandma. My phrasing (since beating a severe teen depression) has always been “If I ever die …” At 34, if I get rich enough in the next 30 years, it may in fact become optional. That would be cool
- salmonfamine 5y agoI hope everyone on this planet dies. No one should live forever.
- laborat 5y agoWhy not?
- hackingthelema 5y agoThat's a pretty grim statement. You want everyone to die? Would you mind unpacking this a bit? I'd like this material existence I am currently experiencing to have no end (i.e., I hope I never die), so this comes as a shock. I can understand not wanting yourself to live forever, but wanting everyone to die?
- slx26 5y agoDavid Bowie with his last album might qualify.
- kingcharles 5y agoI can understand. It almost killed me trying to read the whole damned book.
- phkahler 5y agoCharles M. Schulz died on the Saturday night before his last Peanuts strip ran in the Sunday papers. https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2020/02/12/first-and-last-peanuts/ https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2020/02/12/first-a... He had Cancer, but I think he picked the timing.
- colanderman 5y agoThe classic (and likely apocryphal) story is that of Pheidippides, whence came the term "marathon": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pheidippides#Story https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pheidippides#Story
- mnw21cam 5y agoThere's also the example of people who die on their 100th birthday - their mission was to make it to that age.
- perfecthjrjth 5y agoAdd Karlheinz Deschner to the list. He published the final (10th) volume of "Kriminalgeschichte des Christentums(Christianity's Criminal History)" in late 2013. 6 months later, he passed away.
- agumonkey 5y agoThere's a similar factor with relationships. Some people hold on until they can see sibling/SO one last time. Then they expire.
- thr0waway2 5y agoThe Bogdanoff twins recently died within a week of each other
- agumonkey 5y agosomehow unrelated since they were in a coma (unless you want to see esoteric twin bond at work)
- rpmisms 5y agoIn the Soviet Gulags, a lot of people would die immediately after their release. Solzhenitsyn described this phenomenon, saying they had no struggle left in life after the hell they had just gone through.
- _8j50 5y agoBetty white passing on 31st