EDIT: Right after I posted this, Reddit suggested a very similar post by someone else from 9 months ago, so I apologize for being repetitive.
How much are health outcomes determined by our behaviors and/or environment vs. our genetics? I genuinely don’t know the answer.
Many of us know someone who treated their body like crap but still lived a long life (like my chain smoking, whiskey drinking aunt who lived to 88). On the other hand, I’ve heard just as many stories of health nuts who somehow ended up with terminal illnesses (like a colleague of mine who was in great shape, ate healthy, never smoked, and died of lung cancer at age 44).
Comments
can you link the suggested post from 9 months ago?
Yes
Because it makes you look cool. Which is all that really matters
My guess would be that it comes down to genetics AND epigenetics.
Chronic stress and social isolation are incredibly bad for you, for example.
A person who exercises regularly and eats reasonably healthily (which is much more subjectively quantified than you might think), doesn’t have a social life and struggles with crippling anxiety and self loathing can be in a much worse place health-wise than someone whose diet is worse, exercises less, and has a thriving, very satisfying (to them!! Subjective enjoyment really matters here) social life and doesn’t feel stressed most of the time.
Likewise, experiencing societal discrimination (racism, sexism, ableism, transphobia, etc) can contribute to worse health outcomes epigenetically. In the institutional sense, as in, receiving worse quality medical care, education , having impeded access to resources etc. because of stereotyping (etc… this is such a nuanced topic), but also through things like experiencing daily microaggresions, or the effects of intergenerational trauma.
Things like the quality of your family network and your early childhood experiences (think ACEs and PCEs), sense of belonging (to geographical community, sports team, professional identity, culture), quality of your romantic partnerships or friendships, your self concept, sense of purpose, your physical environment, societal expectations/norms/philosphies, access to tools and support, ability to reliably meet your basic needs, personality, AND your genes are some of the factors at play. I’m sure there are plenty I haven’t thought of or mentioned.
I feel like it’s tricky to tease out one specific reason why one person can “get away with” making choices we associate with poor health outcomes while others can’t, because everyone is unique; in both their personhood and the context they exist within.
It’s just playing odds. Genetics will increase/decrease your odds of getting certain diseases/cancer. Lifestyle choices increase/decrease your odds as well. Averaged out over billions of people it’s pretty clear that someone who smokes, eats poorly, and doesn’t exercise will have much worse health outcomes compared to someone who doesn’t smoke, eats well, and exercises. However there are plenty of outliers like you mentioned. But that doesn’t mean you should be careless about your health because it does severely increase or decrease your odds
I guess so, I have smokers in my family. One you would never guess even though he’s the heavier smoker, the other one got issues from it. Both brothers (not my brothers), one just sees unphased by it and the other you can tell its killing him. At least from the outside and his hospital visit
yes… next question please
I came down with CHS (cannibanoid hyperemesis syndrome, it’s relatively unknown to a lot of doctors because it hasn’t been common until recently) after a few years of daily weed usage while my partner had been doing it every day for even longer than me with no problems. It seems like genetics but I’m no scientist.
Yes genes plays a major role in your health. No matter how you keep a healthy lifestyle, if diseases like cancer or heart problems is in your genes, then you can’t escape it. However, not all diseases are genetics. Some are also lifestyle related.
Their bodies heal better.
The health issues might come slowly, when you’re young you don’t notice it, but after 30 – 35 somewhere I have noticed living like this will creep up on you. It’s extremely common to slowly gain weight for example (Like, over the course of ten years). I know people who believed themselves to be “naturally thin”, when they were just very active as teenagers. As adults sitting still at your office at a job, eating as a teenager, you just wont be able to dodge the laws of thermodynamic.