OT: Longevity
 

Hello all, long time no see. I wanted to bring this to your attention:

My mom brought to my attention an odd article today. The article was published in a Russian magazine, and while this raises some doubts in me, im starting to wonder.

It was talking about how humans achieve longevity. The research was that all of those who lived for longer than normal (120 years? longer?) had had so many differences - smoked or not, drank or not, etc.
One thing united most of them - they lived in small settlements. And whats so special about those?

These people dont bathe as often. And dont use soap to wash themselves.

According to the article, the oily coating that the body coats itself with serves as the natural protection for the body. When in place, it stops bacteria from entering the human body whatsoever.

It also says that a few test subjects, who previously had serious health problems, hadn't bathed for 9 months - and their conditions improve drastically.

Where does washing with soaps come from? From Europe, and quite recently. People had always bathed - but they used water, steam, and many many oils and other ingridients that would make them smell better. Romans, Egyptians, Arabs, Chinese, you name it.

The article is very pursuasive. I am extremly skeptical as this hadn't been posted anywhere, at least not to my knowledge. Abd i dont realy believe in miraculous regeneration of human body. But the oil part makes perfect sense. After all, the coating does have a purpose and even our cells are coated with oil, which stops other materials.

Any thoughts? I'll try to get exact translation of names in the article.

[ May 29, 2004, 17:01: Message edited by: Taera ]

Re: OT: Longevity
 

Just another proof that statistics can be used to prove (almost) anything you want. The contemporaries of these old people (born before 1900) didn't wash much either. Of course they are long dead by now so they can be easily omitted http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

As mentioned; the Romans did use steam and oils, but for most of the Roman era a man of 40 would be considered old.

Re: OT: Longevity
 

I can say right now that this is false. Why? Well, everyone knows that sweat stinks. It stinks not because of itself (though it does have some smell), but because of the bacteria that eat it. The skin itself is your primary defense against bacteria.

The oily feeling you get when not washing, BTW, comes from having a -lot- of oil on your skin. You always have some.

If that's not enough proof check the life expectancy before and after soap was introduced. There is a very big difference. That's not to say being excessive with it helps either; you do always have bacteria, mites, etc living on you. Killing them all off is a bad thing because it clears room for ones your immune system can't handle to come in.

The biggest difference with these people is probably that they live in small communties. Assuming everything else is equal a small community means less chance to get a disease from a random stranger on the street.

Re: OT: Longevity
 

yea, thats true. i am not sure, and frankly dont know much about skin and science of hygiene. it does make some sense... and it wasn't about not washing at all - my pardon at a bad interpretation - but it was that excessive, (once a day or more) washing doesnt let skin oil serve its role. According to the article, it takes 10-20 hours for the cover to refresh.
And yes... it is mostly about soap. Washing with water isn't bad, they say.

I dont know whom to believe http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif it makes sense in its essence, but mind opposes to such a simple solution to all humanity's problems.

Re: OT: Longevity
 

Small communties are great for longevity, that's a fact. Why? Simple, that ugly thing called Stress. Yup, you got it, people living in small towns/communities have a much less stressful life and therefore their BP is lower which in turn allows the average lifespan to be extended. Why? Becuase the human body under ideal conditions has a limited lifespan (approx 150 years) Stress is one of the large 'taxes' placed on the human body. Sure there are other things, but stress is a biggie.

Just my 2 cents, and I live happily in a small town. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: OT: Longevity
 

Unless I missed it in the Posts below, I suspect less polution would be a possibility in smaller (less urbanized) communities.

Reminds me of a fact I heard once on the news that went a bit like this: "To put things in perspective, smoking one cigarette a day isn't as bad as eating a peanut-butter sandwich a day and neither of those are as bad as breathing city air for a day."

Re: OT: Longevity
 

What is wrong with peanut-butter?

Re: OT: Longevity
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Oh, not really sure...just repeating a closing sentence to a news report I heard some time back that discussed things that were bad for you (and just how bad).

I don't eat peanut butter because it's loaded with fat (I checked the jar in our pantry and a serving delivers 190 calories...140 of which are fat calories). Besides that, it has sodium and saturated fats comppose 18% of the product. Perhaps that is what the meant.

Re: OT: Longevity
 

According to studies everything is bad for us. So to hell with it, I say studies are bad for us so we should ignor them.

Re: OT: Longevity
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">It killed Elvis http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: OT: Longevity
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">It killed Elvis http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Peanut Butter and Banana's killed Elvis. Don't mix peanut butter with banana's, kids.

Re: OT: Longevity
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">It killed Elvis http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">No what killed Elvis was them fried peanut butter and bannha sandwitches with extra morphine and viccodan additives. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

And who said Elvis is dead?

Re: OT: Longevity
 

Studies have proven that playing SEIV for long durations is good for your health.

Re: OT: Longevity
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">And, I seem to recall an old saying, "An SEIV turn a day keeps the doctor away." (or was that an apple http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif ?)

Re: OT: Longevity
 

The apple is a bastardized derivation of the saying.

[ May 30, 2004, 02:06: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: OT: Longevity
 

I think that is listed in the 300 ways to tell if your addicted to seiv.

http://www.astmod.com/seiv300list.htm
http://www.astmod.com/erase.htm

[ May 30, 2004, 02:04: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

Re: OT: Longevity
 

I haven't died since I started playing, it must work!

Re: OT: Longevity
 

I searched that "300 Ways To Tell If Your Addicted To SE IV" list for "doctor" and got no results...

Which one were you referring to?

Re: OT: Longevity
 

I might have been wrong. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif We should add it to the new Evil Ruler list though.

Any good way of wording it that sounds evil?

[ May 30, 2004, 02:38: Message edited by: Atrocities ]

Re: OT: Longevity
 

### People keep misquoting "A PBW turn a day keeps the doctor away" to you.

Re: OT: Longevity
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...010;p=1#000158

Probably this one, that you posted to a week ago SJ. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: OT: Longevity
 

A glassing a day keeps the doctor away.

[ May 30, 2004, 02:43: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: OT: Longevity
 

I think fyron is onto something.

Re: OT: Longevity
 

Alright, where did you two get the sig banners?

[ May 30, 2004, 03:31: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

Re: OT: Longevity
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Do you have a paint program on your machine?

[ May 30, 2004, 03:51: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

Re: OT: Longevity
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Do you have a paint program on your machine? </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Speaking of paint programs,.. Gandalf, I made a polished and framed Version of your avatar. If you would like me to send it to you, just let me know.
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Sure. Id like that.
Did you make me younger and prettier? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
You should check out the thread in Dominions 2 where the started talking about creating a MOD which adds pretenders to the game based on forum people. There was a humourous description of an "Old Geezer" pretender which they carefully did not say was any particular person. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

Hmmmmm where do I put my avatar so it shows up as a leader image choice in SEIV? Of course I might have to modify him slightly to fit one of the alien races. A morph blending of my avatar and the original race image? (I can see where this could quickly go as bad as that "why you never post your image on internet" site)

Re: OT: Longevity
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Do you have a paint program on your machine? </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Speaking of paint programs,.. Gandalf, I made a polished and framed Version of your avatar. If you would like me to send it to you, just let me know.

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

P.S. Does this post qualify me as a thread highjacker? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

Re: OT: Longevity
 

an old geezer pretender huh?, well now, sounds like someone around here is starting to appreciate the older generation... I;m sure that the character will be dashing, suave, sexy, very intelligent, crochety, and have all the women chasing after him....

Re: OT: Longevity
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">We should conquer a quarter of the world to make our Version stick, like the English did for Aluminium.

Re: OT: Longevity
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Yeah, city air is disgusting. I live in a first-floor flat right above a main road in the inner city. I probably get over a thousand vehicles pass within a few metres of my flat every day. You woulnd't believe the crud that accumulates on our windows, windowsills & curtains.

Still, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else- except maybe in a bigger, dirtier ciy=-) Also, one of these days we are all going to switch to zero-emission (or at least zero-LOCAL-emission) LPG/electric/hydro/fission powered cars and a great many health problems will virtually disappear overnight.

And the big problem with the peanut butter is the saturated fat content- clogs up yer arteries very quickly. I'm not allowed to eat peanut butter any more=-(

Re: OT: Longevity
 

On any scale, any extreme is bad. Every action is somewhere on the scale from something else. Everything that is good for you is also bad for you. Too much AND too little of darkness, sunlight, food, water, oxygen, even vitamin C, can kill you. Man did not just develop the ability to thrive with variety. He developed requiring it.

Re: OT: Longevity
 

One thing that I picked up in neuro-psych class was that if you severely restrict carb intake (as in Atkins is a bread munching fool) for the first (human equivalent) six years of life you will double the life span of the animal. This seems to be pretty uniersal among mammals (experiments have been done with rats, dogs, etc.).

Why haven't you seen this with people yet? Two reasons. One, you have to essentially starve your kids till their seventh birthday (just to be safe). Few parents are willing to see their kids be hungry. What about poor countries where people are always hungry? That leads to the second reason. If the strict diet is broken, even once or twice, the efect is ruined. Even in the poorest of countries there are there are the occasional moments of plenty, and children tend to get as much as the parents can scrounge together.

Intersting, don't you think?