Comment by TheOtherHobbes | Hacker News Reader

Comment by TheOtherHobbes | Hacker News Reader

This is... just plain wrong.

Example: sleep. Insomnia has a history which predates Shakespeare.

https://muse.jhu.edu/article/266971

In fact sleep patterns used to be different. It was normal to wake up for an hour or two in the middle of the night. But people went to sleep much earlier - typically around 7-8pm, woke up for an hour or two about four hours later, and went back to sleep again.

In spite of this insomnia was a known problem.

https://www.medievalists.net/2016/01/how-did-people-sleep-in...

So clearly going back to this pattern won't necessarily make everyone sleep better. And so "modernity" is not the issue, and the problem does not have a simple solution.

Likewise weight loss. Telling overweight people to eat less is like telling an alcoholic to drink less, or a depressed person to cheer up. It's pointless, silly, and naive and it won't work.

The real issue with weight loss is a combination of motivation and psychological reprogramming, with some addictive elements, plus education about nutrition. Also peer pressure. And access to healthy vs unhealthy foods.

There may also be underlying medical issues related to metabolism. (And - ironically - sleep patterns also make a difference.)

Again, it's not a simple problem.

This is not to say that tech non-solutions are better. But the idea that you can reduce issues that millions struggle with daily to a simple motivational sentence isn't any more realistic.

Or helpful.

> So clearly going back to this pattern won't necessarily make everyone sleep better. And so "modernity" is not the issue, and the problem does not have a simple solution.

Yes, you can have a sleep pathology, and overweight can be the symptom of a pathology too - not to mention that you might have no weight problem at all, it might be that your genetic heritage makes you an outlier ; just as there are "naturally" skinny people or people that only need 5 hours of sleep.

But the thing TFA questions is the exploitation of mere difficulties experienced by healthy people. Basically it says, stop buying snake oil.

> Telling overweight people to eat less is like telling an alcoholic to drink less, or a depressed person to cheer up. It's pointless, silly, and naive and it won't work.

Those are used as, indeed, simple examples - which include topics that are not related to health and well-being.

The real message, though, is that you should analyze the problem you have before falling for snake oil. If you can't figure out by yourself what are the root causes of your problem, it resists a priori reasoning and you are probably in the left part of the "law of decomplication" curve - a person with a specific problem (i.e. a pathology). In this case, sure, the right move is to go see a specialist.

You're confusing simple with easy. The article is talking about complexity.

From first hand experience I can tell you weight loss is simple. It's just not easy. It's a process in which you learn how you can eat less and/or healthier in a manner that works for you starting from your access to food, habits, schedule, what food makes you feel good or not, etc. It's a lot of work, but the process is simple, you try things and see what works for you.

I've seen research that suggests that the simple solution to weight loss is "have a gene that prevents it or live in a low-pollution location for ten years".

No one's confused. Saying something is simple and very hard at the same time helps people make exactly 0 progress.

It just comes off as pedantic/dumb well-actually-ism.

Yeah, fat people know about calories in/calories out. That in itself doesn't make them slimmer.

Actually it helps a lot in steering them away from complex bullshit that generates decision paralysis. I you read books about the latest diet fad or take a course, or buy weight loss products, you are actually consuming a lot of energy and willpower that you could use in simple lifestyle changes like "first step drop all junk food and sugar".

Most people don't have metabolic issues, yet steadily gaining weight.

South Korea vs. North Korea clearly shows the effect of food availability. Same genetics.

No one said the solution was easy, only that the solution was simple. But very hard.

But which one is easier to live with?

(1) "this is in my control, but it is too hard, and I am too weak to do it", or (2) "this is NOT in my control, and I'm failing due to the circumstances, in spite of doing the most possible"

Reply on news.ycombinator.com