6 ms·

I have read quite a few longevity research paper on HN alone. Is there anything we can put to use other than common sense (no smoke, alcohol, etc)?

probablynish 4y ago
Other than no smoke, alcohol, the basics to aim for would be: good quality 8 hours sleep every day, a few hours exercise a week (mix of strength and cardio), healthy-ish diet (minimize sugar and processed foods), look after your mental health. For more detail, Peter Attia's new book 'Outlive' is a good introduction to some of the more involved steps you can take (wear a CGM to fine tune your diet for metabolic health, do more exercise and target it more specifically). Attia does have some recommendations on protein (eat a lot, eat meat) that conflict with other longevity researchers' suggestions ( https://www.valterlongo.com/daily-longevity-diet-for-adults/ https://www.valterlongo.com/daily-longevity-diet-for-adults/ ) so take that with a pinch of (metaphorical) salt.
- lottin 4y ago
  I don't know why sugar intake needs to be minimized. Sugar is simply a carbo-hydrate, I don't think it's special in this regard. But maybe I'm missing something.
  - gdy 4y ago
    High glycemic index
  - xenonite 4y ago
    Some argue that all carbohydrates can be problematic. If you like, you may read literature on low-carb high-fat keto diets.
    - nradov 4y ago
      All carbohydrates are problematic for people who are insulin resistant. Those with normal endocrine systems can tolerate limited quantities of carbohydrates with no negative effects, provided that overall energy balance is maintained.
  - whiddershins 4y ago
    Sugar is not precisely a carbohydrate. Sucrose is a disaccaride.
    - meepmorp 4y ago
      Sugar - here - covers more than just sucrose, especially when one of the more commonly used (and controversial) sweeteners is fructose, a monosaccharide. Also, normal people (entirely correctly) call table sugar a carbohydrate. Why nerd snipe?
      - whiddershins 4y ago
        It’s not a nerd snipe. Some people or possibly all people digest monosaccharides and disaccharides differently. Also, that might be a distinction without a difference in most cases, but sucrose and fructose also may not produce identical glycemic response to simple carbohydrates. The point is this is a very complex topic, and some of it is at the edge of what humans know about nutrition.
    - lottin 4y ago
      It's precisely a carbohydrate. https://startingstrength.com/article/sugar https://startingstrength.com/article/sugar
  - pengaru 4y ago
    Sugar as in sucrose is not strictly glucose, it's half fructose, which is basically poison/alcohol as far as your liver is concerned.
- kccoder 4y ago
  I’ve always wondered about the 8 hours of sleep thing. I rarely get more than 5.5 hours a night, but I’m not tired. I’m a healthy weight, eat reasonably, and work out 10-15 times a week (cycling, running, lifting, and playing the drums (which is surprisingly good low-level cardio (avg hr 125ish (resting hr normally in the 40s))). No, I’m not a lisp programmer. Do you think I should be aiming for more sleep?
  - Kuinox 4y ago
    It's very difficult to know if you are tired or not. When you feel tired, it means you are very tired right now. People who are sleep deprived and rate themselves as not tired shows poorer intellectual performance in tests.
  - rubicon33 4y ago
    Wild guess - you're also young.
  - nradov 4y ago
    Some people have "short sleep" genes and just need less than average. If you can wake up without needing an alarm clock then you're probably getting sufficient sleep.
    - euroderf 4y ago
      I'd say that that is a positive goal - to wake up before any alarm goes off. Of course this is subject to perturbation by complicating factors like hungry cats.
- jacquesm 4y ago
  The math on getting more sleep may not check out though. You may live longer but you may not be awake longer. If you can get by at 5 hours per night instead of 8 then that works out to 21 hours or about 1 full day for every week. That's 1/7th long life span equivalent right there, and that 1/7th would come at the end of your life, not right now when you're fit, curious and healthy. Lots of my family members are in their late 80's now and I really wouldn't want to exchange say a decade of their life with a decade of mine if that means I will only live to 75 instead of 85 or 90. The number of people in their 80's that I know that I would want to exchange with is vanishingly small, most of them are going from one health issue to another, whereas most people in their 70's that I know, even the ones that lived relatively unhealthy are still going quite strong.
  - yadingus 4y ago
    It's a bit shortsighted to only look at numbers. Quality of sleep affects how tired you feel, how well you can think, etc. Plus I fucking love sleeping, if you consider sleep as a necessary battery charging then you're missing out.
    - jacquesm 4y ago
      Or maybe 'each to their own'. I've had insomnia for a while so I know how bad it is to go on too little sleep but I also really don't need 8 hours and staying in bed when I'm awake and have stuff to do is something that I find pretty hard to do.
    - mellosouls 4y ago
      Ah, but do you love sleeping itself, or the context to safe and secure sleep, the luxury of a warm bed and the knowledge you can get the sleep you need, getting up when you like and feel refreshed? I get that that is what you are saying is a part of the quality of sleep experience, but those qualities are not really about duration, you either have those privileges or you don't. If you are lucky enough to have a biological clock requiring less hours per night to enjoy them fully, that's ok. I would agree though that to forgo those qualities intentionally over an extended timeframe is a curious choice.
- TylerLives 4y ago
  Minimizing sugar might be bad for your health - https://raypeat.com/articles/articles/glycemia.shtml https://raypeat.com/articles/articles/glycemia.shtml
justrealist 4y ago
Almost certainly get on Metformin, and preponderance of evidence is that NMN helps too. Most everything else is guesswork.
- AnimalMuppet 4y ago
  Can you explain how metformin is supposed to help? And NMN (maybe start by defining it, as I've never heard of it)?
  - jbotz 4y ago
    NMN (Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) is believed to raise levels of NAD+, which in turn is a vital component of mitchondrial energy production (and levels tend to fall with age). I'm actually taking plain Nicotinamide (one form of Vitamin B3) in larger amounts (3g/day) and the benefits I feel from it are similar to those ascribed to NMN (the recommended dose of which is about 1g/day).
- CommanderData 4y ago
  Metformin has a pretty bad side effects with low term use, induced Vitamin B deficiency being the notable.
- Teknoman117 4y ago
  The major problems with Metformin are that it frequently makes people nauseous, it causes sperm damage in men (effects go away when you cease taking it + about 3 months), and in rare cases can cause lactic acidosis if you consume alcohol. Admittedly, I got put on it because my blood work wasn't going in the right direction, but it has noticably increased my ability to lose weight. Not exactly scientific, but in my first 5 months of trying to lose, I was down 30 pounds, in the next 5 months after starting it, I lost about 50 and was less strict about my diet. I was even doing less cardio because I had primary shifted to lifting weights. Now I'm down a full 100 pounds, admittedly with another ~100 to lose, but I really can't describe how much better I feel. Combine that with moving to have a regular social life, I feel like my life is headed in the right direction for the first time since college.
halfjoking 4y ago
Get good at fasting. Caloric restriction is the only thing proven to increase longevity, other than basic things like healthy eating and exercise.
- markus_zhang 4y ago
  Yeah I did read about those and tried a couple of times without much success, totally my fault though. It's a bit tough for me at the moment as I WFH and $wifie is horrified by the idea of fasting, but well if I don't get fired over next two weeks I'll start going into the office.
  - nikhilsimha 4y ago
    It does get easier with repetition (mentally and socially). I do a water fast on thursdays (~36 hrs). I find that to be much easier than intermittent fasting mentally somehow.
    - SirMaster 4y ago
      How do I get over getting a headache if I don't eat for awhile? Will they just stop happening after awhile?
- nradov 4y ago
  Bullshit. Caloric restriction beyond the point of a normal energy balance has never been proven to increase longevity in humans, or any higher primate in the wild. The experiments showing longevity benefits from extreme caloric restriction have been conducted with small animals living in safe lab environments where they are protected from injuries and infectious diseases. Out in the real world, sarcopenia is a real killer. Elderly people need adequate (but not excessive) caloric intake in order to maintain muscle strength and prevent falls. Temporary fasting for a few days likely has some benefits, at least for younger people with good lean muscle mass. But that's different from what people usually refer to as caloric restriction.
etiam 4y ago
This one looked interesting and is probably quite actionable. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18252469 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18252469
pohl 4y ago
I think caloric restriction is the big one.

probablynish 4y ago

Other than no smoke, alcohol, the basics to aim for would be: good quality 8 hours sleep every day, a few hours exercise a week (mix of strength and cardio), healthy-ish diet (minimize sugar and processed foods), look after your mental health. For more detail, Peter Attia's new book 'Outlive' is a good introduction to some of the more involved steps you can take (wear a CGM to fine tune your diet for metabolic health, do more exercise and target it more specifically). Attia does have some recommendations on protein (eat a lot, eat meat) that conflict with other longevity researchers' suggestions ( https://www.valterlongo.com/daily-longevity-diet-for-adults/ https://www.valterlongo.com/daily-longevity-diet-for-adults/ ) so take that with a pinch of (metaphorical) salt.

lottin 4y ago
I don't know why sugar intake needs to be minimized. Sugar is simply a carbo-hydrate, I don't think it's special in this regard. But maybe I'm missing something.
- gdy 4y ago
  High glycemic index
- xenonite 4y ago
  Some argue that all carbohydrates can be problematic. If you like, you may read literature on low-carb high-fat keto diets.
  - nradov 4y ago
    All carbohydrates are problematic for people who are insulin resistant. Those with normal endocrine systems can tolerate limited quantities of carbohydrates with no negative effects, provided that overall energy balance is maintained.
- whiddershins 4y ago
  Sugar is not precisely a carbohydrate. Sucrose is a disaccaride.
  - meepmorp 4y ago
    Sugar - here - covers more than just sucrose, especially when one of the more commonly used (and controversial) sweeteners is fructose, a monosaccharide. Also, normal people (entirely correctly) call table sugar a carbohydrate. Why nerd snipe?
    - whiddershins 4y ago
      It’s not a nerd snipe. Some people or possibly all people digest monosaccharides and disaccharides differently. Also, that might be a distinction without a difference in most cases, but sucrose and fructose also may not produce identical glycemic response to simple carbohydrates. The point is this is a very complex topic, and some of it is at the edge of what humans know about nutrition.
  - lottin 4y ago
    It's precisely a carbohydrate. https://startingstrength.com/article/sugar https://startingstrength.com/article/sugar
- pengaru 4y ago
  Sugar as in sucrose is not strictly glucose, it's half fructose, which is basically poison/alcohol as far as your liver is concerned.
kccoder 4y ago
I’ve always wondered about the 8 hours of sleep thing. I rarely get more than 5.5 hours a night, but I’m not tired. I’m a healthy weight, eat reasonably, and work out 10-15 times a week (cycling, running, lifting, and playing the drums (which is surprisingly good low-level cardio (avg hr 125ish (resting hr normally in the 40s))). No, I’m not a lisp programmer. Do you think I should be aiming for more sleep?
- Kuinox 4y ago
  It's very difficult to know if you are tired or not. When you feel tired, it means you are very tired right now. People who are sleep deprived and rate themselves as not tired shows poorer intellectual performance in tests.
- rubicon33 4y ago
  Wild guess - you're also young.
- nradov 4y ago
  Some people have "short sleep" genes and just need less than average. If you can wake up without needing an alarm clock then you're probably getting sufficient sleep.
  - euroderf 4y ago
    I'd say that that is a positive goal - to wake up before any alarm goes off. Of course this is subject to perturbation by complicating factors like hungry cats.
jacquesm 4y ago
The math on getting more sleep may not check out though. You may live longer but you may not be awake longer. If you can get by at 5 hours per night instead of 8 then that works out to 21 hours or about 1 full day for every week. That's 1/7th long life span equivalent right there, and that 1/7th would come at the end of your life, not right now when you're fit, curious and healthy. Lots of my family members are in their late 80's now and I really wouldn't want to exchange say a decade of their life with a decade of mine if that means I will only live to 75 instead of 85 or 90. The number of people in their 80's that I know that I would want to exchange with is vanishingly small, most of them are going from one health issue to another, whereas most people in their 70's that I know, even the ones that lived relatively unhealthy are still going quite strong.
- yadingus 4y ago
  It's a bit shortsighted to only look at numbers. Quality of sleep affects how tired you feel, how well you can think, etc. Plus I fucking love sleeping, if you consider sleep as a necessary battery charging then you're missing out.
  - jacquesm 4y ago
    Or maybe 'each to their own'. I've had insomnia for a while so I know how bad it is to go on too little sleep but I also really don't need 8 hours and staying in bed when I'm awake and have stuff to do is something that I find pretty hard to do.
  - mellosouls 4y ago
    Ah, but do you love sleeping itself, or the context to safe and secure sleep, the luxury of a warm bed and the knowledge you can get the sleep you need, getting up when you like and feel refreshed? I get that that is what you are saying is a part of the quality of sleep experience, but those qualities are not really about duration, you either have those privileges or you don't. If you are lucky enough to have a biological clock requiring less hours per night to enjoy them fully, that's ok. I would agree though that to forgo those qualities intentionally over an extended timeframe is a curious choice.
TylerLives 4y ago
Minimizing sugar might be bad for your health - https://raypeat.com/articles/articles/glycemia.shtml https://raypeat.com/articles/articles/glycemia.shtml

justrealist 4y ago

Almost certainly get on Metformin, and preponderance of evidence is that NMN helps too. Most everything else is guesswork.

AnimalMuppet 4y ago
Can you explain how metformin is supposed to help? And NMN (maybe start by defining it, as I've never heard of it)?
- jbotz 4y ago
  NMN (Nicotinamide Mononucleotide) is believed to raise levels of NAD+, which in turn is a vital component of mitchondrial energy production (and levels tend to fall with age). I'm actually taking plain Nicotinamide (one form of Vitamin B3) in larger amounts (3g/day) and the benefits I feel from it are similar to those ascribed to NMN (the recommended dose of which is about 1g/day).
CommanderData 4y ago
Metformin has a pretty bad side effects with low term use, induced Vitamin B deficiency being the notable.
Teknoman117 4y ago
The major problems with Metformin are that it frequently makes people nauseous, it causes sperm damage in men (effects go away when you cease taking it + about 3 months), and in rare cases can cause lactic acidosis if you consume alcohol. Admittedly, I got put on it because my blood work wasn't going in the right direction, but it has noticably increased my ability to lose weight. Not exactly scientific, but in my first 5 months of trying to lose, I was down 30 pounds, in the next 5 months after starting it, I lost about 50 and was less strict about my diet. I was even doing less cardio because I had primary shifted to lifting weights. Now I'm down a full 100 pounds, admittedly with another ~100 to lose, but I really can't describe how much better I feel. Combine that with moving to have a regular social life, I feel like my life is headed in the right direction for the first time since college.

halfjoking 4y ago

Get good at fasting. Caloric restriction is the only thing proven to increase longevity, other than basic things like healthy eating and exercise.

markus_zhang 4y ago
Yeah I did read about those and tried a couple of times without much success, totally my fault though. It's a bit tough for me at the moment as I WFH and $wifie is horrified by the idea of fasting, but well if I don't get fired over next two weeks I'll start going into the office.
- nikhilsimha 4y ago
  It does get easier with repetition (mentally and socially). I do a water fast on thursdays (~36 hrs). I find that to be much easier than intermittent fasting mentally somehow.
  - SirMaster 4y ago
    How do I get over getting a headache if I don't eat for awhile? Will they just stop happening after awhile?
nradov 4y ago
Bullshit. Caloric restriction beyond the point of a normal energy balance has never been proven to increase longevity in humans, or any higher primate in the wild. The experiments showing longevity benefits from extreme caloric restriction have been conducted with small animals living in safe lab environments where they are protected from injuries and infectious diseases. Out in the real world, sarcopenia is a real killer. Elderly people need adequate (but not excessive) caloric intake in order to maintain muscle strength and prevent falls. Temporary fasting for a few days likely has some benefits, at least for younger people with good lean muscle mass. But that's different from what people usually refer to as caloric restriction.

etiam 4y ago

This one looked interesting and is probably quite actionable. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18252469 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18252469

pohl 4y ago

I think caloric restriction is the big one.