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ricardobayesyesterday at 2:47 PM1 replyview on HN

Thank you for the resources.

I do wonder what the correlation is: is it only because of excercise, or at least partially also due to the fact those who can set aside time and effort (and often, money) to exercise, have a "better" life than those who don't?

For example, high life expectancy in Madrid, and Switzerland are often attributed to having broad access to great healthcare and stress-free lifestyle(both), despite living a relatively "unhealthy" lifestyle, at least in Madrid. Eating fried food everyday, little exercize among elderly (at least if you don't count walking to the bar). Those 85 year+ Madrileños probably had their last formal exercise when they had to do their military service back in the day.

As in the case of top athletes, in your second article, is their longevity due to heavy exercise, or kind of, "despite it", and at least partially due to their accumulated wealth, health-conscious mindset plus the ability to afford a stress-free life?


Replies

standardlytoday at 7:28 PM

The equation is not simply "exercise" -> "live longer" via some unknown correlation.

Exercise increases cardiovascular health, mental well-being, etc. It should be pretty obvious that someone with less risk of heart failure will live longer on average (considering the #1 cause of death in the US...) I don't think you need to factor for every possible life circumstance to deduce that known-healthy activities improve longevity