Are athletes healthier than the average people?

[PG29 red0 Jr]

He actually not doing too well right now. And he’s a lot younger than I thought.

I saw him a few years ago and he looked horrible. He's like 55 years old IIRC.

 

[therealdope]

Maybe, but never confirmed.

There are multiple reports of his coke use -- including friends and his doctor (who knew). A lot of coke was laced with speed back then. The reason I mention this is that a lot of the cardiac deaths of athletes in the 60s/70s/80s was a direct result of amphetamines. As a kid I remember the bullshit story "congenital heart condition", later find out the were all fueled by amphetamines.

There was even a movie that was made in 1970 that included amphetamine use called The Games. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065757/ The US athlete collapses due to amphetamine use in Rome --- where not coincidentally the first PED death occured at the 1960 olympics and was the reason that they brought in testing.

 

[Alphaboy]

Crazy to think he was dropping people in the ring at the world level not that long ago and now he's a fat slob.
I'm sure he'd still starch motherfuckers who step up to him not knowing who he is.

The same thing actually happened to Tyson too.

 

[Jack Reacheround]

Crazy to think he was dropping people in the ring at the world level not that long ago and now he's a fat slob.
I'm sure he'd still starch motherfuckers who step up to him not knowing who he is.

I guess he got that Floyd money and decided he didn’t need boxing anymore. The first time I saw him fight was against Victor Ortiz. It was incredible. He got dropped, then got up and dropped Ortiz with the next punch. He had just an amazing amount of grit.

 

[loyalyolayal]

There are a lot of factors. Athletes are hard on their bodies. They are in great shape, but their careers tend to be relatively short, especially in contact sports. That hard use takes a toll. So while they are are strong and fast and (generally) lean, they are taxing their bodies much, much more than even a gym rat.

This actually made Trump's logic of the human battery theory sound sensible.

 

[Deleted member 409801]

I'm not convinced that is the case. You could be correct, but I don't know. That seems really hard to nail down and prove. Combat sports are bad for your health like boxing or UFC where you get kicked in the head but a lot of athletes don't get punched in the face for a living. You telling me your health is better than Usain Bolt? His heart could probably pump the blood of 2 people.

Capacity or performance does not necessarily correlate with longevity. What has a better chance ofgoing 200k miles , a lambo or a Honda civic? Ever heard of Ryan Shay ( sp ?)? He died at 28 on like mile 6 of the Olympic Marathon trials a few years back . The body is a lot more complex than you're insinuating with the assertion that simply training to increase its capacity for work trumps all the other variables.

 

[Deleted member 409801]

I know that in 1971 she was already 60 years old and she lived until 2012. Back when she was 30 or 40 years old people weren't exactly lining up to go to the local gym. She was 30 in 1941. My wife has told me stories about how the family starting thinking she was going to die when she was 70 and she lived 31 more years.

So I dunno, the interesting thing is that she has 2 sisters, both still alive who are in their 90's. I can only assume longevity runs in that family and that its genetic.

Its absolutely mostly genetic. My paternal grandmother is 92 , eats a typical poor country person in the South diet and smokes pall mall unfiltered cigarettes. She still lives alone and drives. Her mom lived to 97 , same diet minus the smoking , and her father until about 90 and He was a binge drinking alcoholic. Outside of boot camp in preparation for ww1 I'm pretty sure he never did any structured exercise , though he no doubt worked physically hard. Same with great and grand mothers.

 

[Phlog]

Cliffs: athletes live longer. So yeah they are healthier, empirically, where is everyone itt getting this whole athletes are broken shit?

Even contact athletes live longer on average.

"The longevity Olympians enjoy is within the reach of everyone, experts say.

Research published on the British Medical Journal (BMJ) website suggests athletes live 2.8 years longer on average than the average lifespan.

The research indicated those who took part in non-contact sports such as cycling, rowing and tennis enjoyed the longest life of all.

But the general population could have a similar "survival advantage" by doing a little more exercise, experts said.

The conclusion by two public health professors came after they reviewed two studies of Olympic athletes published by the BMJ website.

The studies looked at the lifespan and health of 25,000 athletes who competed in Games dating back to 1896.

Those taking part in contact sports such as boxing had the least advantage, while cyclists and rowers enjoyed the best health.

But the researchers also found those who played lower intensity sports such as golf enjoyed a boost."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20710388

 

[Alphaboy]

Its absolutely mostly genetic. My paternal grandmother is 92 , eats a typical poor country person in the South diet and smokes pall mall unfiltered cigarettes. She still lives alone and drives. Her mom lived to 97 , same diet minus the smoking , and her father until about 90 and He was a binge drinking alcoholic. Outside of boot camp in preparation for ww1 I'm pretty sure he never did any structured exercise , though he no doubt worked physically hard. Same with great and grand mothers.

Those are usually the people who always attribute their longevity to the most unhealthy habit they can find.

"The key to a long life," said Agnes, "Is drinking a cocktail of Coca Cola and Whiskey every day followed by a pack of cigarettes!"

 

[Phlog]

Pointing out old people that havn't exercised is really really silly guys. We're talking averages, you probably understand what that means right?

Most super agers have inactive immune systems, it means lower inflammation which leads to a longer life if they happen to avoid the diseases that could have killed em easier than a normal person. They have nothing to do with whether athletes live longer or are healthier

Which they do, and they are. Empirically.


The other problem people are having is they are experiencing a bias towards negative memory formation and media reporting. If it bleeds it leads, ie we hear a lot more about those who are fucked than those who aren't, it'll never be a newsflash that an athlete lives a slightly longer than .average life.

Then we have the bias towards remembering negative experience. This is an evolved behaviour because death is more consequential than anything else to survival, negative shit is worse than positive shit is good.

 

[Deleted member 409801]

Pointing out old people that havn't exercised is really really silly guys. We're talking averages, you probably understand what that means right?

Most super agers have inactive immune systems, it means lower inflammation which leads to a longer life if they happen to avoid the diseases that could have killed em easier than a normal person. They have nothing to do with whether athletes live longer or are healthier

Which they do, and they are. Empirically.


The other problem people are having is they are experiencing a bias towards negative memory formation and media reporting. If it bleeds it leads, ie we hear a lot more about those who are fucked than those who aren't, it'll never be a newsflash that an athlete lives a slightly longer than .average life.

Then we have the bias towards remembering negative experience. This is an evolved behaviour because death is more consequential than anything else to survival, negative shit is worse than positive shit is good.

I assume you're referring to my post.

I'm all about the benefits of exercise man . I've run almost 80 miles and probably spent 5 or 6 hours lifting weights in just the last 2 weeks for example. Not at all saying that it doesn't help maximize your chances for a long and productive life , I think its one of many factors though and probably not the most determinant one.

 

[Michael13]

Lemmy drank at least a bottle of Jack Daniels every single day of his adult life, nevermind all the drug use throughout his career.

Lived until 70 and had an AMAZING life.

Sure you can exercise and limit your calories and your alcohol consumption, but your life is going to be boring as shit and you could still die at 35.

 

[Drain Bamage]

A wise man once said

"Everything in moderation"

 

[ToxicShocker]

Lol... Like him? (fought Floyd Mayweather a few years ago if anyone's wondering)

PIGMAN!

 

[Phlog]

I assume you're referring to my post.

I'm all about the benefits of exercise man . I've run almost 80 miles and probably spent 5 or 6 hours lifting weights in just the last 2 weeks for example. Not at all saying that it doesn't help maximize your chances for a long and productive life , I think its one of many factors though and probably not the most determinant one.

Quite a few posts with similar sentiment, but yours included yes!

Yeah man I agree it's not a massive part of the picture, my point was that it is a positive indicator, that's all. We agree, just saying it with different emphasis.

 

[MusterX]

Lemmy drank at least a bottle of Jack Daniels every single day of his adult life, nevermind all the drug use throughout his career.

Lived until 70 and had an AMAZING life.

Sure you can exercise and limit your calories and your alcohol consumption, but your life is going to be boring as shit and you could still die at 35.

Yea its a difficult premise for me at least. Maybe for most people its not. Would I rather really experience life and die at 68 or lead a very clean and disciplined life and live to 81? Its a tough trade off because I can guarandamntee you I know a guy who is clean as a whistle, in bed at 9p.m., you dig what I'm saying. He wouldn't understand in the slightest what its like to get smashed in a bar until 2a.m. and then go home with a strange woman. How much are these various life shortening activities worth to a person? What good is living to 89 if you lead a boring ass life?

What I'm talking about is value, where do you place the value? For example, when I was a younger man I did a lot of drugs. Frankly I wouldn't change it. I believe the the experiences I had are worth whatever shortening of my life happened. Other people may regret past drug usage tremendously.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

The answer is Yes

 

[therealdope]

Yea its a difficult premise for me at least. Maybe for most people its not. Would I rather really experience life and die at 68 or lead a very clean and disciplined life and live to 81? Its a tough trade off because I can guarandamntee you I know a guy who is clean as a whistle, in bed at 9p.m., you dig what I'm saying. He wouldn't understand in the slightest what its like to get smashed in a bar until 2a.m. and then go home with a strange woman. How much are these various life shortening activities worth to a person? What good is living to 89 if you lead a boring ass life?

What I'm talking about is value, where do you place the value? For example, when I was a younger man I did a lot of drugs. Frankly I wouldn't change it. I believe the the experiences I had are worth whatever shortening of my life happened. Other people may regret past drug usage tremendously.

it depends on how much you value banging skanks and being a slave to substances. There's a flip side to that coin; some people value: an athletic career (at a younger age), being able to climb mountains, being in good shape later in life and still nailing good looking chicks without being limp dick.

Working out, getting rest, and eating clean is about having a higher quality, not a longer life. A big part of working out hard later in life is having energy to do stuff --- including work. Some people actually like working because they get to do interesting work and work with great people.

 

[MusterX]

Pointing out old people that havn't exercised is really really silly guys. We're talking averages, you probably understand what that means right?

Humanity will never completely understand longevity just studying averages. To truly understand it you have to examine the people who live long no matter what the conditions and that means trying to figure out why exercise-boy only had 71 years in the tank while never-exercised boy somehow lived 101 years. I think diet and exercise are important but even on that front there are huge numbers of disagreements on what one should eat and not eat and in what amounts.

 

[therealdope]

Humanity will never completely understand longevity just studying averages. To truly understand it you have to examine the people who live long no matter what the conditions and that means trying to figure out why exercise-boy only had 71 years in the tank while never-exercised boy somehow lived 101 years. I think diet and exercise are important but even on that front there are huge numbers of disagreements on what one should eat and not eat and in what amounts.

you do know that olympic athletes have on average shorter life spans, than the average person -- right?

For a while there wasn't a former Tour De France champion that lived past 57 (though there may have been other factors :/ ).