Scientists pinpoint neural activity's role in human longevity | Hacker News Reader

Scientists pinpoint neural activity's role in human longevity

sciencebeta.com

61 pointsIndirector15 comments

So we are finally coming around to discovering at the molecular level what has been known since forever: that on average positive, non-stressed out people tend to be healthier and live longer than those depressed or otherwise psychologically afflicted. And honestly when the brain has a critical influence on almost all major organs so I don't see why scientists are excited to find that it might have an effect on the ageing process too. The molecular mechanism may be exciting, but the fact itself is entirely expected.

There's a difference between suspecting something and knowing it.

E.g. a lot of country sayings might offer an interesting starting point to figure out if there's some truth to them and some interesting things to discover there but by no means they are proof of anything.

how does soemthing transition into being known?

is it once a scientific paper about it gets published on a peer reviewed reputable journal?

is that the only way? or do alternatives exist?

Once it gets published and then reproduced by others while discarding cofounding factors.

> is that the only way? or do alternatives exist?

Are there legitimate alternatives to the scientific method?

While I don’t mean to speak negatively of peer reviewed journals, I don’t think “the scientific method” and “getting published in a highly regarded peer reviewed journal” are synonymous.

If there were no journals, I don’t think they would have to be created before anything counted as being done using the scientific method.

Though, I do agree that peer review is very useful.

I don't care about stress. I personally want to stimulate my brain to the maximum as much as I can. I don't know whether this would lower my life span.

Frequent electric shocks seem to be the way to do it then.

AC or DC?

You might want to rethink your assumptions here. Stress generally makes you less productive. And there are plenty of long-lived people of high accomplishment.

What do you mean by "stimulating your brain"?

If you mean being mentally active all the time, in the long run that'll make you less productive, not more.

Why not both? Meditation, mindfulness, equanimity... + curiosity, mental training, math, programming, challenging yourself!

well if by that stimulation you mean also stress, than certainly you are shortening your lifespan, possibly significantly.

"The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long"

Well life span is not the point of the story imho, so don't worry about it. The data will prove that too in time.

there is a difference between chronic stress and stimulating your brain by learning constantly. I very much doubt anyone can prove the latter shortens lifespan

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