Thank you! I couldn't agree more. And my biggest concern is the media's acceptance and promotion of these kinds of studies without careful consideration. (But of course that is where the money is...for everyone but the patient.) And thank you fellow commenters, about including nutritional studies in this category. One of my favorite lunch restaurants just changed their menu completely to avoid "seed oils." Now my fries float in beef tallow!
No surprise here. It is logistically impossible to conduct a study on "lifestyle" factors that has even a shred of scientific validity. They will always be observational, unfalsifiable, and popular. Just take a look at lists of best-selling nonfiction books over the past forty years or so.
When it comes to these observational studies, though, the first thing that enters my mind is… “Does the chicken come first or the egg come first.” healthy people that are doing well are very active. Those that have some kinds of problems, physically, tend to be less active. I would venture to say that people with physical problems tend to not live as long as those that are doing well physically
All these studies on exercise make me think of that scene in "The Life of Brian," where "The People's Front Engage in Frantic Discourse." They have an urgent meeting to take immediate action, which turns out to be to urge each other to immediate action. In addition to your great point that it's already clear that exercise is beneficial, it also seems like all the energy around talking about exercise and parsing exercise types, durations, and intensities, doesn't do much to address the fact that a lot of people struggle to get any exercise at all.
Great review! There are all these studies on exercise - morning or afternoon, this exercise or that one. My advice to others that the best exercise is the one you can stick with, no matter when you do it or what type you do. And also to get up a move frequently throughout the day - unfortunately my trips are most commonly from my office to the kitchen :) . Common sense should prevail. Maybe they can use the money to fund studies related to women's health instead, which has been neglected for far too long.
I see in the footnotes for the study by Han, et al, that it was funded by the NIH and the American Cancer Society. Regarding the NIH-funded portion, this is another example of wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars. We need to put Dr. Rand Paul in charge of the NIH.
Thank you! I couldn't agree more. And my biggest concern is the media's acceptance and promotion of these kinds of studies without careful consideration. (But of course that is where the money is...for everyone but the patient.) And thank you fellow commenters, about including nutritional studies in this category. One of my favorite lunch restaurants just changed their menu completely to avoid "seed oils." Now my fries float in beef tallow!
No surprise here. It is logistically impossible to conduct a study on "lifestyle" factors that has even a shred of scientific validity. They will always be observational, unfalsifiable, and popular. Just take a look at lists of best-selling nonfiction books over the past forty years or so.
Great review.
When it comes to these observational studies, though, the first thing that enters my mind is… “Does the chicken come first or the egg come first.” healthy people that are doing well are very active. Those that have some kinds of problems, physically, tend to be less active. I would venture to say that people with physical problems tend to not live as long as those that are doing well physically
All these studies on exercise make me think of that scene in "The Life of Brian," where "The People's Front Engage in Frantic Discourse." They have an urgent meeting to take immediate action, which turns out to be to urge each other to immediate action. In addition to your great point that it's already clear that exercise is beneficial, it also seems like all the energy around talking about exercise and parsing exercise types, durations, and intensities, doesn't do much to address the fact that a lot of people struggle to get any exercise at all.
Great review! There are all these studies on exercise - morning or afternoon, this exercise or that one. My advice to others that the best exercise is the one you can stick with, no matter when you do it or what type you do. And also to get up a move frequently throughout the day - unfortunately my trips are most commonly from my office to the kitchen :) . Common sense should prevail. Maybe they can use the money to fund studies related to women's health instead, which has been neglected for far too long.
I see in the footnotes for the study by Han, et al, that it was funded by the NIH and the American Cancer Society. Regarding the NIH-funded portion, this is another example of wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars. We need to put Dr. Rand Paul in charge of the NIH.
Good observations. For the most part, diet studies can be assessed the same way.
Absolutely agree!
Well-said, and 100% agree. Only "disagreement" comes from my very much WANTING studies like this (and the ones on coffee) to be true, which I fully acknowledge! https://open.substack.com/pub/paulsaxmd/p/two-things-that-prolong-life-and?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Thanks Dr John. You are one of the best and most sensible critical appraisers (whose work) I know - and with the virtue of brevity too!