6 ms·

The important consideration here is that these people are on the cusp of death already, and this is typically just the straw that broke the camel's back. You do

The important consideration here is that these people are on the cusp of death already, and this is typically just the straw that broke the camel's back. You don't get a heart attack from one bad night of sleep, of course, unless there are significant underlying conditions.

sramam 3y ago
On the flip side, isn't it also likely that repeating the same stressful behavior pattern over years (decades?) results in this outcome? However, parsing signal from noise does seem a very difficult proposition.
- marcosdumay 3y ago
  This is where an intervention-based study shines. It's just basically impossible to design an intervention for this one. (But then, this also means that knowing it for sure would be useless.)
- asdfman123 3y ago
  It's actually not very hard to know at all, at least if your question is "what kind of lifestyle will generally lead to the best longterm health outcomes?" Sure, there's minor distinctions to be made and important medical questions, but generally it's pretty clear. Everyone knows it, I don't need to list it: eating clean, getting good sleep, plenty of exercise, etc. And furthermore, though our healthcare system seems only configured to deal with things once they become emergencies, metabolic disorder takes your whole life to take root. The time to start making positive changes is now.
gtop3 3y ago
High blood pressure is often refereed to as the "silent killer". It's not like these individuals present sick/ill in their daily lives. Basically the only symptoms of high blood pressure are sudden traumatic events like Heart Attack and Stroke. If you meet one of these people hours before their heart attack you often wouldn't describe them as 'on the cusp of death'.
- kulahan 3y ago
  Yep! You're correct. I didn't mean to imply that they look sickly or anything, just that their body is literally on the verge of failing, even if it looks perfectly fine.
- sublinear 3y ago
  > If you meet one of these people hours before their heart attack you often wouldn't describe them as 'on the cusp of death'. I disagree. It's not that the symptoms aren't there, but that they have become normalized due to obesity, smoking, etc. being commonplace. Shortness of breath, sleep apnea, feeling weak, upper body tension/pain, etc. are usually present for quite a while in most people before it finally happens. People don't check their blood pressure often enough despite it being so cheap and easy to do.
  - 2devnull 3y ago
    You’re wrong. A young person with borderline hypertension (130/80) can present in perfect health. Blacks for instance have a genetic predisposition to hypertension, obesity and diet don’t have to be involved. Besides genetics, other health conditions like insomnia or other medications can cause hypertension. Some people are just salt sensitive.
    - moneywoes 3y ago
      What makers can I check?
      - gtop3 3y ago
        The #1 marker you should be checking is blood pressure. Cholesterol, Fasting Insulin levels, and (if male) free Testosterone are other good ones. Cholesterol and Insulin should be checked by all adults annually, and BP should be checked at least annually. T isn't checked as routinely, but it's worth knowing where you fit and has an impact on your metabolics and the test isn't a big deal.
Retric 3y ago
While presumably true in the general case, there are many drugs etc that drastically lower peoples risks of dying from a heart attack. So many people must get quite close to a heart attack only to live a long life and die of something else.
p1necone 3y ago
This is a very important thing to consider when interpreting this statistic. "Heart attack rates go up 24% after daylight savings changes" is not the same thing as "There are 24% more heart attacks due to daylight savings". You can't really know the weight of magnitude vs distribution without actually stopping daylight savings.
- clircle 3y ago
  or by conducting some causal inference with a load of identification assumptions

sramam 3y ago

On the flip side, isn't it also likely that repeating the same stressful behavior pattern over years (decades?) results in this outcome? However, parsing signal from noise does seem a very difficult proposition.

marcosdumay 3y ago
This is where an intervention-based study shines. It's just basically impossible to design an intervention for this one. (But then, this also means that knowing it for sure would be useless.)
asdfman123 3y ago
It's actually not very hard to know at all, at least if your question is "what kind of lifestyle will generally lead to the best longterm health outcomes?" Sure, there's minor distinctions to be made and important medical questions, but generally it's pretty clear. Everyone knows it, I don't need to list it: eating clean, getting good sleep, plenty of exercise, etc. And furthermore, though our healthcare system seems only configured to deal with things once they become emergencies, metabolic disorder takes your whole life to take root. The time to start making positive changes is now.

gtop3 3y ago

High blood pressure is often refereed to as the "silent killer". It's not like these individuals present sick/ill in their daily lives. Basically the only symptoms of high blood pressure are sudden traumatic events like Heart Attack and Stroke. If you meet one of these people hours before their heart attack you often wouldn't describe them as 'on the cusp of death'.

kulahan 3y ago
Yep! You're correct. I didn't mean to imply that they look sickly or anything, just that their body is literally on the verge of failing, even if it looks perfectly fine.
sublinear 3y ago
> If you meet one of these people hours before their heart attack you often wouldn't describe them as 'on the cusp of death'. I disagree. It's not that the symptoms aren't there, but that they have become normalized due to obesity, smoking, etc. being commonplace. Shortness of breath, sleep apnea, feeling weak, upper body tension/pain, etc. are usually present for quite a while in most people before it finally happens. People don't check their blood pressure often enough despite it being so cheap and easy to do.
- 2devnull 3y ago
  You’re wrong. A young person with borderline hypertension (130/80) can present in perfect health. Blacks for instance have a genetic predisposition to hypertension, obesity and diet don’t have to be involved. Besides genetics, other health conditions like insomnia or other medications can cause hypertension. Some people are just salt sensitive.
  - moneywoes 3y ago
    What makers can I check?
    - gtop3 3y ago
      The #1 marker you should be checking is blood pressure. Cholesterol, Fasting Insulin levels, and (if male) free Testosterone are other good ones. Cholesterol and Insulin should be checked by all adults annually, and BP should be checked at least annually. T isn't checked as routinely, but it's worth knowing where you fit and has an impact on your metabolics and the test isn't a big deal.

Retric 3y ago

While presumably true in the general case, there are many drugs etc that drastically lower peoples risks of dying from a heart attack. So many people must get quite close to a heart attack only to live a long life and die of something else.

p1necone 3y ago

This is a very important thing to consider when interpreting this statistic. "Heart attack rates go up 24% after daylight savings changes" is not the same thing as "There are 24% more heart attacks due to daylight savings". You can't really know the weight of magnitude vs distribution without actually stopping daylight savings.

clircle 3y ago
or by conducting some causal inference with a load of identification assumptions