OT: Longevity

[Phoenix-D]

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.

[Taera]

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 it makes sense in its essence, but mind opposes to such a simple solution to all humanity's problems.

[David E. Gervais]

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.

Cheers!

[Slynky]

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."

[Fyron]

What is wrong with peanut-butter?

[Slynky]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
What is wrong with peanut-butter?

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.

[Atrocities]

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.