this post was submitted on 14 Aug 2023
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How do Japanese live this long?

  • If it's being close to nature, then many countries have beautiful isolated area from modern life.
  • If it's about diet, then what's so special? African countries have simple and natural diet too, why doesn't that work?
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[–] [email protected] 58 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If you want a chaotic answer to this, Yes Theory has made 2 episodes specifically on a region in Japan and Italy where people get really old.

Spoiler: their conclusion was happiness and a little bit of carelessness, but the video included a lot of different aspects.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago

Stress is the ultimate killer, and I agree with the statement that people who are happy and able to be a little careless will live long lives

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

Japan has a pretty high suicide rate and they dedicate most of their life to work as far as I know. Doesn't sound too happy to me.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago

Japanese corporate culture is actually a relatively modern development, so a lot of older people in Japan have never experienced it.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

Google blue zones. What you're saying isn't true universally

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

It's possible there's a regional or generational gap there. If you're pushing 110 you probably haven't worked in 40 years. You could even argue that the ones literally working themselves to death are the very ones paying for the older generation's happy carefree lifestyle.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I wonder more the average life expectancy or even the percentiles. What the max age does 90 percent of the population reach.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

That's a more recent phenomenon. These folk were retiring just as that culture was taking off.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 year ago (1 children)

first of all, you gotta be a lady

then they say fish helps a lot apparently

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Probably doesn’t help that all fish are now chock full of PFAS

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Hey now, we only know that pfas cause nerological disorders in children and that they don’t go away and are difficult/expensive to filter at scale, maybe they make you live forever, too.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

sketchy, badly maintaned birth records do a thing

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago

Also the whole missing centenarians thing they have going. 100+ year old people that haven't been seen or heard from in years or even decades still marked as alive when most are long dead.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago

One theory I saw recently which no one has yet discussed is their higher average step count. Walking is good for you.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago

If it’s about diet, then what’s so special? African countries have simple and natural diet too, why doesn’t that work?

Quality of life in Japan vs an African country isn't comparable. It's a combination of a healthier diet and higher standard of living. Also, it isn't unlikely that some of those people's ages aren't accurate.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

They don't eat McDonald's for every meal and argue for every conversation.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Hentai and Tentacle porn is the fountain of youth.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I'm well on my way to becoming immortal.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

Historically, a lot of walking and eating home-cooked meals that were high in veggies and fermented foods and probably eating lots of seafood and seaweed with other proteins being less frequent.

Milk wasn't even a part of school lunches until after the war, so people still kicking from the pre-war times mostly grew up without it.

I suspect, though, that life expediencies here are going to drop. Lots of fried food and such these days and I see more and more obese people.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Good genetics and a lot of luck.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yep everyone will trot out their favorite health gimmick to answer this. Or highlight their favorite narrow aspect of Japanese culture or lifestyle. But genetics is the overwhelming factor, much though that serves no one’s narrative.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

114 yr old from Houston said clean eating, minimize stress and have companionship.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Well, I'm fucked.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I had some relatives that lied about their birth date making them seem older so that they could join the arm forces (strange, if things like that were possible now it would be younger to escape them). Maybe some of these people at 14 suddenly became 18 year Olds to fight in WW2 or the Russian-Japan war before that.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

So the 112 year old is instead a youthful 108?

We have folks in the US that also lied about their age. They're almost all dead now. So... Yeah.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

the composite last names of both the italians is typical of ancient, rich and maybe noble families, so at least for them it might be money.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I wonder what it is about being female. Maybe testosterone makes you stronger, but at the cost of living shorter. ☹️

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Estrogen provides a great defense against heart disease, which is a huge killer. Now, this diminishes significantly after menopause, so it only explains things to a point.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Testosterone does increase risk of heart failure so that is certainly part of it.

Women are also more risk-averse. Risky living = high chance of dying https://m.economictimes.com/magazines/panache/men-have-a-shorter-life-expectancy-than-women-thanks-to-their-genes-says-harvard-study/articleshow/99119402.cms

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Significantly lower female suicide rate probably also helps. Especially when plenty of those suicides occur quite young. Low numbers drag down an average quite quickly.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

My guess is that it's more social than biological. Women have a tendency to form closer, more emotionally available, and more plentiful relationships with others -- I believe partially due to hormones/brain development and partially due to culture. They've done studies that show that having strong social relationships is important to lower stress and loneliness, which can lead to a longer life. I'm not sure if that's all of it but it definitely couldn't hurt to work on those things :)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

[This comment has been deleted by an automated system]

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

My theory that I just made up without any research or noteworthy knowledge on the topic is that women have a slower metabolism (which is related to hormones as their muscle mass and density is lower).
The slower your metabolism and your caloric intake the less cells are replicating. When cells are being replaced there's always some degradation of genetic information involved. If you don't require much energy and thus keep your metabolism low your body is under less pressure. It's basically like a car with high mileage that has only seen constant slow long distance rides.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

There's a bunch of books theorizing on this topic.

Theres even a site about these "Blue Zones".

Unfortunately we don't have enough data. Maybe around the 2300, we can have a real answer. But nothing in our lifetimes.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Simple answer? Their balanced siet. They eat a lot of fish and greens with not too much fat.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They're probably mostly dead and someone is still collecting their checks.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

"I'm not dead yet!" "He says he's not dead" "Well, he's mostly dead."

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

probably just genetics

maybe something in their culture could also play a part?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Number 1 and Number 12 for sure have a feud.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Radiation has given the Japanese superpowers. Take that, America!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Literally the plot of Godzilla.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Haha first thing i saw!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Generally to grow old: be content! You don't need heaps of money, don't fill a hole in yourself, that's unfillable, live reasonable (!) healthy, do things in reasonable doses, learn your whole life and in particular: don't try to get old. It's not the length of the way, it's what you experience during your journey.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago

Menopause. It shuts down a lot of the growth hormone crap involved in oncogenesis.

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