I’m older than you. When I was younger I thought you had more control over your health. Now I realize the amount of control you really have is minimal. It seems like a crapshoot. I see older people who did nothing to take care of themselves doing just fine, and plenty of fit people whose health is surprisingly bad.

I see some people over 65 who can do what they once did, but they are the exceptions.

I see how diet and excise impact heart disease. That’s obvious, particularly in the extremes. Other than that… it seems like the genetic lottery determines the majority of outcomes.

Of course you could be perfectly healthy and then get a bad disease, or get run over by a bus. But life is about probability.

And living healthy increases your probability of living a longer, healthier life. And as this study shows, it increases it by a significant factor.

Of course, the wonderful thing about life is that you can make your own choices. And if you don't want to eat healthy and work out, and are fine with the consequences, that's totally ok.

That crosses into personal attack. I assume you didn't mean it that way, but we ban accounts that do this on HN. Please make your points without resorting to it.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

> "If you're mentally and physically fit, you can do as much with 65 as you do with 20 today."

Can you, though? You're definitely long past your peak physically and in terms of testosterone. I don't know if intellectual decline is a factor at that age.

You can definitely still do a lot, but I don't think you can come close to your abilities at age 20.

Yeah, I mean it'll be harder to become a professional athlete or something, but you can surely do 99% of what people normally do in their lives.

There are definitely 65-year-olds who are fitter than some of the 20-year-olds you see :-)

I will be 65 in a few months. I did my first ever dead hang strict pullup about a year ago. Lately I can do six. This time next year, probably twelve. It is fun slowing or reversing sarcopenia, which is mainly a societal result, not a genetic curse.