Exercise to Die
Mar. 23rd, 2008 05:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mishalakThis We The Robots comic (very good comic BTW, you should be reading it) shows a mistake that a lot of people and doctors make. The reason to exercise and eat well is not to extend life. The reason to do it is to give a better choice in the sort of death a person gets. I exercise (not as much as I should) in order to keep myself healthier right now. I want to keep myself healthy for a good long time.
If a person eats the wrong way and does not exercise for years and years anything can happen. More than enough cases will show that some people are healthy and hale not matter what they do to themselves. However, the most likely outcome is a slow steady decline in health. An active person, a person who eats mostly good foods with regular treats, a mentally limber person, is going to have decades of healthy life and is more likely to do pretty well. There are, of course, contrary cases. We cannot absolutely choose what sort of health we have. We can only choose how we deal with it.
And I choose to exercise, eat oatmeal (not only because it is healthy, but also because it is good tasting, much better than cold sugar flakes), salads, walks in the sun, etc. If at some ripe old age I have started to decline without sign of some sort of disease that will take me out before I'm a drooling idiot I may choose at that point to do things that might cause a sudden massive heart attack. Like a lot more bacon, which right now I eat only occasionally. This prescription may also include daily whiskey, cigars, etc. My goal is a good life and a good death and that is why right now I exercise.
Funny strip though.
If a person eats the wrong way and does not exercise for years and years anything can happen. More than enough cases will show that some people are healthy and hale not matter what they do to themselves. However, the most likely outcome is a slow steady decline in health. An active person, a person who eats mostly good foods with regular treats, a mentally limber person, is going to have decades of healthy life and is more likely to do pretty well. There are, of course, contrary cases. We cannot absolutely choose what sort of health we have. We can only choose how we deal with it.
And I choose to exercise, eat oatmeal (not only because it is healthy, but also because it is good tasting, much better than cold sugar flakes), salads, walks in the sun, etc. If at some ripe old age I have started to decline without sign of some sort of disease that will take me out before I'm a drooling idiot I may choose at that point to do things that might cause a sudden massive heart attack. Like a lot more bacon, which right now I eat only occasionally. This prescription may also include daily whiskey, cigars, etc. My goal is a good life and a good death and that is why right now I exercise.
Funny strip though.