Thursday 16 March 2000

For some reason I had assumed that my heart was weak, now that I have grown old. After I reached 40, I sort of put away my jogging suits (not that they had seen all that much use before, with one notable exception) and started to slow down. These last few months I have made stops while walking up the stairs at work. I still refuse to take the elevator if I can avoid it, but I would pause and catch my breath or walk very slowly up the stairs, or uphill if I was out walking. I assumed that if I exerted myself in any way, I would keel over and be dead. Was I not an old man?

Well, perhaps not. According to the doctor, I can safely run up the stairs if I so wish, much to my surprise. I find this hard to credit, but at least I have stopped stopping, as it were.

I guess there goes my excuse for not jogging. Not that I am likely to suddenly run around outdoors in strange clothes again; that would mean so much less time for playing computer games. But I just might move faster on my way home from the bus stop...

And I guess this all means that I would not suddenly die if I had sex, either. (Unless an angel of the Lord smote me, as is known to happen.) So if I ever fall madly in love, be sure to have this site bookmarked. Oh yes, I almost have to marry first too. We can't have all manner of cardinal sins spilling all over the site.

Naturally I have pondered now what could be the reason I don't have a weak heart after all. (If this is indeed true.) I mean, I've never been a sportsman, even from my childhood. With a weight of ca 91 kg, I am moderately overweight (at least by Norwegian standards). Funny enough, this is the first time in years that I have any idea of my weight. I think the last time I remember was years ago, when I visited my parents. But then I measured my weight just before leaving, which could account for me being 95 kg at the time. My mother used to make incredibly good food. She certainly beats me at that. Then again, she had been a professional cook in her younger years, if memory serves.

My ancestors, at least in my mother's family, tended to just live and live and live. I have heard that people in that province rarely have heart diseases and tend to live longer than elsewhere in the country, but I am not convinced that this is hereditary. I suspect it's because they work and keep working for all those decades. Now work is not necessarily good for your health; but farmers have a feeling of control over their own work that you don't get at an assembly line or in the bureaucracy. There seems to be a growing body of evidence that people who are in control of their life and job, live longer and healthier lives. This applies even when you correct for known risk factors like smoking and overweight.

And another, intriguing line of research shows something else. With test animals that live faster lives, researchers have forcibly deferred procreation. The poor fruit flies are not allowed to breed until their middle age. This confers no health benefit on them, but it does on their offspring. After a number of generations, the new breed of fruit flies live much longer. And not only that. They live healthier, youth-like lives while their hasty counterparts curl up and die. So in the long run, your lifespan may be decided by what age your ancestors used to have kids. Now that's a fascinating thought.

It's not like I'm planning anything, though. :)