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Comment by someothherguyy | Hacker News Reader

maybe some just don't want to live that long. does everyone need to live as long as possible? you live your youth, and maybe that is enough for some.

if you start to hurt every day, get diagnosed with age-related disease, your cognition starts to deteriorate, etc, you might just decide "hey, i lived enough. i don't want to go through years of feeling like this."

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I think about this increasingly often. I have accomplished much, and have seen much of the world. I have also lived through gruesome deaths in my family and have seen how aging in America, under American healthcare looks.

I retired in 2023, not because I could, but because I couldn't not. I'm almost 50. My parents died in their early 60s. I have some of their health problems, and some of my own. I also destroyed my back in a motorcycle accident many years ago and live with constant pain.

My favorite things to do, which bring my peace and joy, involve me sitting in a chair, which hurts my back. In my youth I rode my bicycle avidly, which now hurts my back. I love gardening, and if I do it too much, it hurts my back.

It became increasingly clear to me that my "purpose" in this country is to work until I die. I know that there are other countries, and other kinds of lives, but they are not where my wife and friends and life are.

I am happy, relatively healthy, and love life. I would like to live forever if I could. I know I could fill every minute of it with things I find interesting, even if it was just reading every single book.

But I've seen what American life looks like in your 60s and older, and it's not fucking pretty for most people.

A hurting back on a bike might be an issue of bike fit. Bicycle touring is a hobby regarded as accessible to even the elderly, and indeed one often comes across people age 50-80 on popular routes. Many of them will complain about a bad back off the bike when doing other things like camping or carrying panniers, but a fitted bike should not strain one's back.

Are you a bot? Seriously? The dude said he roached his back in a moto accident... no coming back from that

Are you me? My old motorbike injuries are a little more distributed but -- like yours -- almost entirely crippling from the perspective of doing anything joyful; we're in the same bucket yearwise; and it sounds like we always visit the doctor with just the one bullet in the chamber.

Mostly just posting to say, hey, there's others out here like you. Hang in there, Almost-Me. If not, see you on the other side.

Have you tried drinking cherry juice? I heard moving to Washington can help due to the air there.

IME cycling a recumbent can ease stress on the back. https://sheldonbrown.com/org/greenspeed-index.html

Sure its a little off putting but if you've the time and money it could be worth trying.

Deadlifts helped my chronic congenital back pain that is probably some combination of DDD and scoliosis and multiple herniations. Yes sometimes it pisses off the disks and I'm pretty useless for a day or two. And yes it has added some other problems. But overall I went from constant sharp pain nearly unable to remain seated, to occasional dull pain I can ignore, and rarely some really bad pain. Overall it's much better of a life.

Same here, really life changing for me with a back injury. I recommend hex bar deadlifts as they put much less pressure on the lower back than conventional ones. And front squats for the same reason.

Have to disagree there as it doesn't make much sense. The point is to strengthen the muscles of the back. Keeping a more vertical back angle directly reduces force on those muscles while keeping the same spinal compression. You want the opposite, to have maximal muscle involvement with minimal compression. Back extensions progressing to normal deadlifts are indicated.

I have done both extensively and heavy, and like you said yourself, with the barbell deadlift you will sometimes trash your back. Yes it does work the back muscles a little harder, but for me the extra risk isn't worth it. Also with the trap bar you can lift more weight so it balances out.

Have you heard of the book Healing Back Pain by Sarno? I haven't personally experienced it, but people seem to swear by it. A pretty non-traditional approach to pain management.

That's why Mishima topped himself at the age of 45: as a physical-conditioning buff and gay man, he came to a firsthand realization that it was all downhill from there. What you posted is very similar in spirit to the opening of his last novel.

For most people, the real physical deterioration doesn't have to kick in until age 65 or so (plus or minus). But you do have to show up every day and hit it hard. In the last triathlon I raced there were men in that age group still finishing with fast times. And they're not genetic freaks either, just consistent.

I don't know, I think if you are a body builder or elite athlete there is plenty of difference even at 45.

We're talking about regular middle-aged men here, not elites.

Well, if you've seen photos of Mishima, he is not really a "regular middle-aged man."

FWIW, you can remain in pretty extraordinary physical shape through your 50s as a matter of biology. You do have to put in the work though.

Much easier said than done. Ending your life is the last decision you'd make.

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