If You Are in Your Mid-50s or Older, What Health Advice Would You Have for Someone in Their 20s or 30s?

[Debater Slayer]

Mind your mental health. Practice at maintaining a sense of gratitude, peace, conviviality toward others, and forgiveness toward life. Pay attention to what you're thinking and how you're feeling, and know that you can control these. Because you can. That way however long you live, and whatever circumstances are involved, you can make the best of it.

What are the techniques you use to achieve this? For example, do you use meditation, mindfulness, etc., or do you have another approach?

 

[PureX]

Trust me, you do not want a privatized, for-profit healthcare system. It's a predatory racket. Many an American have been driven either into debt or into the grave because of it.

Buy or die, baby! That's capitalism!

 

[Debater Slayer]

I guess the main one is pretty obvious, do not smoke. I am in my late 60's now and pretty fit, except for my chest. I smoked from childhood until I was 38. On top of that I worked in a couple of very dusty environments.
Most parts are still working very well but my lungs are a mess. I have had a permanent cough for many years.
LOOK AFTER YOUR LUNGS.

If you don't mind my asking, for how long did you work in the dusty environments? Are you talking about a dusty climate (e.g., in a desert region) or a dusty work environment, like a construction site or the like?

 

[Debater Slayer]

Stay away from carbonated drinks. The phosphorus will destroy your bones. At 55 I was told I had the bones of King Tut - after a simple fall that broke 7 ribs and collapsed a lung. Since I hated coffee and tea, all my caffeine came from sodas.

That sounds horrible. I hope you have since made a full recovery.

For how long did you consume carbonated drinks, and how often?

 

[Secret Chief]

Trust me, you do not want a privatized, for-profit healthcare system. It's a predatory racket. Many an American have been driven either into debt or into the grave because of it.

I don't, but then I didn't want to leave the EU either. Hopefully there'll be a Labour government by the end of the year to begin the long and arduous task of reviving the patient known as Britain.

 

[Altfish]

Drink more real ale

 

[Vinayaka]

If you are in your mid-50s or older, what advice would you have for someone in their 20s or 30s so that they could increase their chances of maintaining reasonably good health in the long term, setting aside individual factors such as hereditary susceptibility to certain health issues, accidents, medication-induced illnesses, etc.?

By "reasonably good health," I mean being able to function completely autonomously, not having severe chronic health issues such as severe diabetes, severe heart disease, etc., (excluding cases of any of these that are hereditary) and having enough physical strength to engage in physical activities like workouts, long walks, or perhaps even running.

Obviously, I know that any posts in this thread are not supposed to replace professional advice or doctor's visits. I'm just interested to know what has helped other people to maintain or regain good health over the long term.

Thanks in advance!

Eat well. Exercise regularly. Sleep well. Give yourself some free time to just relax. Never say, "I'm getting old."

 

[rocala]

If you don't mind my asking, for how long did you work in the dusty environments? Are you talking about a dusty climate (e.g., in a desert region) or a dusty work environment, like a construction site or the like?

When I was eighteen I spent six months working in a flour mill. I developed bronchitis and was told by my doctor that I had to leave. He said that the dust was very harmful to some people.
About five years later I took a job in a tea blending warehouse. The department that I was in did not seem very dusty but after a few months I recognized the old symptoms coming back plus sinus problems. So I resigned.

 

[PureX]

What are the techniques you use to achieve this? For example, do you use meditation, mindfulness, etc., or do you have another approach?

Both. Mindfulness means (to me) keeping track of how I'm feeling and what I'm thinking, so I can correct myself as needed. If I'm getting too pessimistic or cynical I need to practice some gratitude. Focus on what's good in life, and appreciate it. If I find myself being annoyed by other people, I know that I need to take some time to look for the good in them, and appreciate it, and appreciate them for it. Humans are amazing and wonderful if we just take the time to notice them, for them. Or if I am feeling anxious of worried about something then I need to practice being at peace with life whatever it might bring. Be calm, breathe, taste the life-giving air coming and going from my body, feel the Earth's gravity holding me to itself, like a loving mother. And note that these are very good things. Pleasing things. Comforting things. Just to wake up and be given another day of life as a human beng is an amazing gift if we take a moment to consider it. And then within that day will come all sorts of amazing experiences ... again, if we take a moment to notice them. And to enjoy them.

Ani DiFranco has a song that says, "If you're not getting happier as you get older, then you're ****ing up!"

 

[Revoltingest]

If you are in your mid-50s or older, what advice would you have for someone in their 20s or 30s....

Be diligent in dental care.
Be careful about sun exposure.

 

[Revoltingest]

Take vitamin supplements.

Be careful about that.
Check with your physician first.
For men at least, multi-vitamins elevate the risk of cancer.
So says my oncologist.

 

[ChristineM]

Be careful about that.
Check with your physician first.
For men at least, multi-vitamins elevate the risk of cancer.
So says my oncologist.

Far less risk in fact than the risk of bacon increases the risk of cancer. There is not enough data yet, as far as i know its based on just one doctors report.

You may find this interesting, there is more data.
https://ascopubs.org/doi/full/10.14694/EdBook_AM.2014.34.e478

It was Pauls oncologist who recommended he continue to take daily vitamin supplements...

 

[PureX]

Be diligent in dental care.
Be careful about sun exposure.

Yes, dental care. Take care of them now and they take care of you later, as the dentists say.

 

[Mock Turtle]

If you are in your mid-50s or older, what advice would you have for someone in their 20s or 30s so that they could increase their chances of maintaining reasonably good health in the long term, setting aside individual factors such as hereditary susceptibility to certain health issues, accidents, medication-induced illnesses, etc.?

By "reasonably good health," I mean being able to function completely autonomously, not having severe chronic health issues such as severe diabetes, severe heart disease, etc., (excluding cases of any of these that are hereditary) and having enough physical strength to engage in physical activities like workouts, long walks, or perhaps even running.

Obviously, I know that any posts in this thread are not supposed to replace professional advice or doctor's visits. I'm just interested to know what has helped other people to maintain or regain good health over the long term.

Thanks in advance!

Mostly from my experiences but also from what I have observed over more than seven decades - so general advice. Don't smoke or vape, don't do recreational drugs, don't go in for boxing, rugby, or anything else where one's head is likely to be suffering trauma. Don't drink alcohol to excess or become dependent upon such. Don't take risks purely for the thrill, especially when danger is definitely involved. Do, some form of aerobic exercise that one enjoys (walking, running, cycling, or similar), eat well enough to maintain a healthy weight, and lastly, keep one's mind active without becoming entangled in what is offered by modern technology. Plus of course, having enough friends to make all this worthwhile and enjoyable - even one particular one if one is lucky.

 

[Revoltingest]

Far less risk in fact than the risk of bacon increases the risk of cancer.

Citing bacon's risks won't make multi-vitamins safe for all.

There is not enough data yet, as far as i know its based on just one doctors report.

You know more than oncologists
about their patient's therapy, eh.

You may find this interesting, there is more data.
https://ascopubs.org/doi/full/10.14694/EdBook_AM.2014.34.e478

It was Pauls oncologist who recommended he continue to take daily vitamin supplements...

As I said, one must check with one's doctor.
There are variations in individual circumstances,
eg, sex, age, type of cancer.

And from your own link...
Expert guidelines from the American Cancer Society, the World Cancer Research Fund, and the American Institute for Cancer Research advise patients with cancer against the use of supplements and advocate obtaining nutrients from foods wherever possible.

 

[Revoltingest]

Yes, dental care. Take care of them now and they take care of you later, as the dentists say.

Aye, letting one's teeth deteriorate isn't
as reversible as the effects of lack of exercise.

 

[Secret Chief]

Drink more real ale

Why is increasing alcohol consumption a healthy thing to do?

 

[ChristineM]

Citing bacon's risks won't make multi-vitamins safe for all.

As a risk comparison it works exceedingly well i think

You know more than oncologists
about their patient's therapy, eh.

Im sure you missed out the relevant part of my post...

It was Pauls oncologist who recommended he continue to take daily vitamin supplements...​

As I said, one must check with one's doctor.
There are variations in individual circumstances,
eg, sex, age, type of cancer.

Yes.

And from your own link...
Expert guidelines from the American Cancer Society, the World Cancer Research Fund, and the American Institute for Cancer Research advise patients with cancer against the use of supplements and advocate obtaining nutrients from foods wherever possible.

Good that you read it. Particularly

A recent meta-analysis of 21 randomized trials in the general population based on 91,074 people and 8,794 deaths found no overall beneficial or detrimental effects of multivitamin supplements on either all-cause mortality (relative risk [RR] 0.98 [0.94 to 1.02]), cancer mortality (RR 0.96 [0.88 to 1.04]), or vascular mortality (RR 1.01 [0.93 to 1.09]). 7 However, two large-scale, randomized controlled trials have reported reduced cancer incidence among men taking a daily multivitamin versus a placebo.​

 

[Altfish]

Why is increasing alcohol consumption a healthy thing to do?

Ah, you need to read into that line, what I didn't say was drink less lager and other gassy beers.

 

[Secret Chief]

Ah, you need to read into that line, what I didn't say was drink less lager and other gassy beers.

Lager doesn't mean it's gassy, But what does gassy have to do with good health?