The (Only) Three Longevity Interventions that Matter

[SoCal Guy]

Fantastic post by Malcolm Kendrick cutting through the noise and bs.

The third will be the one you're not expecting.

- Do not smoke
- Exercise
- Get more sun

"...avoidance of sun exposure is a risk factor for death of a similar magnitude as smoking. Compared to the highest sun exposure group, life expectancy of avoiders of sun exposure was reduced by 0.6-2.1 years.’’


[url]https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2018/01/12/what-causes-heart-disease-part-44/[/URL]

 

[blackebob]

First lab results with new doctor she commented my vitamin D level was fantastic what do you take? I said, nothing, I work outside.

 

[FeelingLost]

I moved from the cloudy South East to Colorado for more sun 35 years ago. Never regretted it.
Some are just born sensivitive to the sun and cancer I'm not one of those. I keep a suntan year round.

 

[dnfuss]

Fantastic post by Malcolm Kendrick cutting through the noise and bs.

The third will be the one you're not expecting.

- Do not smoke
- Exercise
- Get more sun

"...avoidance of sun exposure is a risk factor for death of a similar magnitude as smoking. Compared to the highest sun exposure group, life expectancy of avoiders of sun exposure was reduced by 0.6-2.1 years.’’


https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2018/01/12/what-causes-heart-disease-part-44/

Terrific job by Dr. Kendrick, who never fails to impress me. A thorough debunking of the supposed benefits of sun avoidance. Big takeaway is that while sun exposure may be positively correlated with various benign skin lesions (especially for those with pale complexions), it is inversely associated with deaths from malignant melanoma (in addition to Type II diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Psoriasis, Macular Degeneration, Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and cancers of the colon, breast, prostate and bladder).

I've always thought the advice to completely avoid the sun ludicrous, analogous to objections to a diet containing significant amounts of animal protein. It is simply a ridiculous notion that the sunlight that our ancestors were exposed to and thrived on for literally millions of years is all of a sudden a danger to be avoided at all costs. Use common sense, try to avoid sunburns, but don't throw out the baby with the bathwater.

 

[Jinzang]

I'd be a little cautious with this conclusion. Reverse causation may be at work here. That is, being sick causes people to spend more time indoors rather than being indoors causes sickness.

 

[dnfuss]

I'd be a little cautious with this conclusion. Reverse causation may be at work here. That is, being sick causes people to spend more time indoors rather than being indoors causes sickness.

Putting aside other diseases for the moment, the argument from dermatologists for the past few decades has been that sun exposure leads to increased skin lesions which then will become malignant skin melanomas. If that theory were correct, then those who spend more time exposed to sunlight would have a higher incidence of malignant melanomas than those who spend little time in the sun. The study cited shows exactly the reverse, a dose-response inverse relationship between sun exposure and malignant melanoma (i.e., the more sun exposure the less malignant melanoma).

While correlation does not necessarily prove causation, lack of correlation does prove lack of causation.