4 ms·

I exercise, am skinny, low cholesterol and eat quite healthily. High blood pressure since 27, genetics. I can tell myself it doesn't matter but when I'm hones

I exercise, am skinny, low cholesterol and eat quite healthily. High blood pressure since 27, genetics. I can tell myself it doesn't matter but when I'm honest - it saddens and maddens me that there are those who live terrible (health wise) lives, are objectively terrible (just bad people) people, and will outlive me by decades.

qumpis 3y ago
Why are you convinced that high blood pressure will lessen your lifespan?
- irjustin 3y ago
  I'll need you to point me to data that doesn't show this because even the most basic searches gives plenty of results.
  - confidantlake 3y ago
    Seems like high blood pressure is correlated with a lot of unhealthy behavior. So I would speculate someone with only high blood pressure but a normal weight and lifestyle is not going to live decades less than normal. Not a doctor so I may be off base.
    - qumpis 3y ago
      Quick google search revealed about 7 years of decrease in lifespan on average with people who have hypertension, but it also doesn't discriminate between fitness levels and other factors (whether it's treated or not, say), as you say. Anyway, I thought OP had some harder evidence about their own claim, but it seems to be a guesstimate.
    - Gareth321 3y ago
      This is the same as all health research. We don't do controlled studies for ethical reasons, so we end up with lots of confounds. There are lots of clever ways to eliminate those confounds, and current research is considered sufficient to find a correlation between high blood pressure and heart disease, heart failure, stroke, kidney damage, vision loss, memory loss, and cognitive decline. There could be confounds not yet considered yet, but after reading a lot of research myself, I believe this is causative. HOWEVER, we should put this in context. Apologies in advanced for switching to cholesterol for this example. For example, from memory, total cholesterol above 7mmol/L increases the risk of heart attack by around 20%. Your average typical annual risk of having a heart attack is 0.23%, so high cholesterol increases this to 0.28%. That's still low in nominal terms. Smoking, on the other hand, can increase risk of hart attack by as much as 700%. This raises one's annual risk to 1.61%. Still low in nominal terms, but much higher than high cholesterol. Now consider the many other factors we control, like diet, pollution, exercise, stress, and alcohol and other drugs. These mediate the nominal risk further still. My current position is to lead a healthy lifestyle while individually combating the clearly bad lifestyle choices like smoking. I don't smoke anymore because it's so obviously hazardous that the benefits are not worth it. I might consider taking statins in the future if the side effects are few.
joseda-hg 3y ago
I expect to drop dead same as the last 5 generations of males in my family did, due to a heart attack at age 75 (Unless something else gets to me first), today we live longer, but they were far more resilient and more active
asdfman123 3y ago
You’re more fortunate than the significant fraction of people who would rather not be living at all.
- irjustin 3y ago
  Oh man, yeah, my privilege for sure. Doesn't stop the feelings though.
robocat 3y ago
> it saddens and maddens me Yeah, unfair, eh wot? Maybe a god could create equality and perfect justice, but anecdotally I haven't seen it happen yet. Is it possible to learn to be chiller and more accepting? Is stress twice the killer for those who were gifted dodgy genes by their ancestors? You are surely already in the top 10% of humanity, so sour grapes that another fellow gets 20% more than your riches in time is hard to swallow ;p Personally, the bastards in my world seem to get their comeuppance because while they present a lucky face, I often find they have shot lives when I know more detail. I'm a mostly-good middle-aged white guy from New Zealand (godzone[1]), so I reckon chances are that I have a similar outlook to you. [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/newzealand/comments/3q4nth/hi_nz_what_is_the_meaning_of_the_term_godzone/ https://old.reddit.com/r/newzealand/comments/3q4nth/hi_nz_wh...
- smcl 3y ago
  Reading the comments there reminds me that Reddit can be a pretty nasty place. Like "Do you have any other questions? Cos if this is your lot then you should stay out of pub quizzes" - needless hostility.
ChoGGi 3y ago
If it makes you feel better my dad is in his mid 70s, does a hike most everyday, and the only meds he's on is for glaucoma. I'll be enjoying my turn with glaucoma, since I also have his high blood pressure.

qumpis 3y ago

Why are you convinced that high blood pressure will lessen your lifespan?

irjustin 3y ago
I'll need you to point me to data that doesn't show this because even the most basic searches gives plenty of results.
- confidantlake 3y ago
  Seems like high blood pressure is correlated with a lot of unhealthy behavior. So I would speculate someone with only high blood pressure but a normal weight and lifestyle is not going to live decades less than normal. Not a doctor so I may be off base.
  - qumpis 3y ago
    Quick google search revealed about 7 years of decrease in lifespan on average with people who have hypertension, but it also doesn't discriminate between fitness levels and other factors (whether it's treated or not, say), as you say. Anyway, I thought OP had some harder evidence about their own claim, but it seems to be a guesstimate.
  - Gareth321 3y ago
    This is the same as all health research. We don't do controlled studies for ethical reasons, so we end up with lots of confounds. There are lots of clever ways to eliminate those confounds, and current research is considered sufficient to find a correlation between high blood pressure and heart disease, heart failure, stroke, kidney damage, vision loss, memory loss, and cognitive decline. There could be confounds not yet considered yet, but after reading a lot of research myself, I believe this is causative. HOWEVER, we should put this in context. Apologies in advanced for switching to cholesterol for this example. For example, from memory, total cholesterol above 7mmol/L increases the risk of heart attack by around 20%. Your average typical annual risk of having a heart attack is 0.23%, so high cholesterol increases this to 0.28%. That's still low in nominal terms. Smoking, on the other hand, can increase risk of hart attack by as much as 700%. This raises one's annual risk to 1.61%. Still low in nominal terms, but much higher than high cholesterol. Now consider the many other factors we control, like diet, pollution, exercise, stress, and alcohol and other drugs. These mediate the nominal risk further still. My current position is to lead a healthy lifestyle while individually combating the clearly bad lifestyle choices like smoking. I don't smoke anymore because it's so obviously hazardous that the benefits are not worth it. I might consider taking statins in the future if the side effects are few.

joseda-hg 3y ago

I expect to drop dead same as the last 5 generations of males in my family did, due to a heart attack at age 75 (Unless something else gets to me first), today we live longer, but they were far more resilient and more active

asdfman123 3y ago

You’re more fortunate than the significant fraction of people who would rather not be living at all.

irjustin 3y ago
Oh man, yeah, my privilege for sure. Doesn't stop the feelings though.

robocat 3y ago

> it saddens and maddens me Yeah, unfair, eh wot? Maybe a god could create equality and perfect justice, but anecdotally I haven't seen it happen yet. Is it possible to learn to be chiller and more accepting? Is stress twice the killer for those who were gifted dodgy genes by their ancestors? You are surely already in the top 10% of humanity, so sour grapes that another fellow gets 20% more than your riches in time is hard to swallow ;p Personally, the bastards in my world seem to get their comeuppance because while they present a lucky face, I often find they have shot lives when I know more detail. I'm a mostly-good middle-aged white guy from New Zealand (godzone[1]), so I reckon chances are that I have a similar outlook to you. [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/newzealand/comments/3q4nth/hi_nz_what_is_the_meaning_of_the_term_godzone/ https://old.reddit.com/r/newzealand/comments/3q4nth/hi_nz_wh...

smcl 3y ago
Reading the comments there reminds me that Reddit can be a pretty nasty place. Like "Do you have any other questions? Cos if this is your lot then you should stay out of pub quizzes" - needless hostility.

ChoGGi 3y ago

If it makes you feel better my dad is in his mid 70s, does a hike most everyday, and the only meds he's on is for glaucoma. I'll be enjoying my turn with glaucoma, since I also have his high blood pressure.