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Comment by naming_the_user | Hacker News Reader

Sometimes I read this stuff and think I live in the most ridiculous bubble.

It's bizarre to me that people don't look after their health.

I wake up and I'm like, right, there are three tracks - financial (go to work, develop career, run business, do admin, whatever), physical (exercise, keep relatively fit, don't eat 4000 cal a day unless bulking), social (don't just sit at home all day and become a gremlin). There are others but that's the main.

I don't spend equal amounts of time on them but they're all there.

It seems to me that apparently other people don't think of it this way. They just sort of wake up and do whatever on autopilot and go to sleep and whatever happens to them happens. What's that all about?

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My initial reaction is that yes, you do seem to be living in a very strange bubble. And, I say this out of curiousity rather than malice, I wonder whether you struggle with empathy?

There are any number of reasons why people can't consciously prioritise those things. Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs comes to mind.

No malice taken, I do struggle with empathy, yes. To me a lot of people seem to just make unforced errors.

There's like, someone who stands on a landmine and can't go to work, or someone who has a chronic condition that makes them feel nauseous all the time, etc.

That doesn't explain 40% of a country being obese whilst the other 60% isn't, though.

What was your upbringing like? What part of the world, what'd your parents do for work?

I grew up in the UK. We have approx 30% obesity rates so less than the US but still pretty crazy.

Single parent who worked (and still does work) low paid manual labour style jobs. Same with the estranged parent who was around for a while.

I dunno. People talk about being a surroundings thing. But then the way it has worked for me and my siblings is that for the most part we've looked at the ways in which our own parents failed and tried to improve on that.

For what it's worth we ate a lot of "crap" food growing up but just portion controlled it reasonably I guess?

> What's that all about?

People learn what to care about and how to care about those things from others, with the most impact coming when they're young.

Many of today's parents already missed the boat on learning self-care, and don't even have the insights to share with their own children, who become even more detached from it.

They don't know how to cook food that isn't either prepackaged or some ornate gourmet meal that takes lots of work, they don't know how to eat for their health in a way that's satisfying, they don't know how much to eat, they don't know what it means to be active throughout the day, they don't know how to rest without constant stimulation so that they're emotionally and physically refreshed, etc etc

We can point them towards some study or a bit of blogspam that asserts some narrow claim about what's optimal, but that's not the way that most people learn self-care and never has been. So they mostly keep doing what was actually taught to them, which tends to bias strongly towards sedentariness, overstimulation, and indulgence these days.

and of course, school plays a large part. most of the school experience involves sitting very still, and the cafeteria menu is selected more for cost than anything.

A large part of workplace experiences also involves sitting still and being sedentary these days too

Combined with frequent treats brought in by coworkers (a colleague of mine likes to bring in breakfast bagels from McD for my small team...hard to resist lmao)

I do wonder how much influence your parents have on you living a more sedintary lifestyle in life. My father was sedintary his whole life (later in life he broke his hips numerous times) while my mom was a Jane Fonda zealot and much older now is still active. Both my sister and I have followed in my mom's footsteps tho myself much more due to my lifestyle and who/type I want to attract for partners. I use chatGPT to count my daily calories, exercise daily and gym visits two or three times a week.

You don't say so, but I'm guessing you're on the younger side. Mere speculation on my part, for the sake of argument. Most people who die of weight-related issues are quite a bit older, so put that in your mental model, along with this: Many things which seem simple and obvious at one point in life become hard and frustrating later on—and vice versa.

I don't think you're really acting intentionally: it's more likely that you agree with your autopilot. My reason for saying that is that there are a lot of medications with behavorial side effects (weight gain, increased risk taking) that would change those parameters for just about anyone. If you were constantly hungry, you would eat, it's as simple as that.

I have what feels like a continuously self correcting mechanism running in my brain. Like yeah, I might have a week or two or something of lounging, just punching the clock, but then every now and then I'll assess my goals and how they are going.

The question I suppose is whether having a goal driven mindset is down to free will or not. If a large number of people are doomed to not have that I think that's really sad.

Fat people and people with ADHD that affects their career reassess their goals too: often several times a day, and they usually feel awful about it. The difference is that the same switch that puts you into the week or two of lounging "mode" is flipped back an hour after they reassess, not a few months.

Sure.

If 40% of the world are walking around basically without executive function then that seems like a major disaster that we need to do something about not just give people GLP-1's and call it a day.

Like what, genetic engineering? People have been drinking themselves to death for thousands and thousands of years.

>> It's bizarre to me that people don't look after their health.

The obesity crisis obviously has multiple causative factors. There are plenty of natural experiments suggesting that some of these factors are beyond human behavior and more systematic or environmental (e.g., hormones in food, etc) There are probably also societal drivers like overpopulation which leads to sprawl, longer commutes, more sedentary time, greater reliance on cars.

I am not saying people should not hold themselves responsible, but we should not be quick to pin it all on individuals and should look at outsider factors also.

I agree. I think you do live in the most ridiculous bubble.

Heh. This comment sparked some angry commenters but in fact I agree.

Was a single parent with full time job and took evening college classes.

I watched what I ate and went out for a 30 min run whever I could. I also bicycled and did bodyweight excercises in front of the tv in what was my livingroom/bedroom when the kids were put to bed.

This is 30 years ago and I am middle aged now and my stupid menopausal hormones make me gain weight if I so much as look at a croissant. I frequent the gym several times a week anyway. That menobelly covers my once flat stomach but I am still as strong as I was 30 years ago. Even stronger in fact. I rarely see people my age, especially women, at the gym. Thats a shame. You should join. Resistance training is crucial for women my age.

Be angry or offended all you want people. Not taking care of yourself will be yours and yours only to pay.

It starts with the kitchen, we need to watch what we eat. Eat nutritious foods. And we need to move those muscles and get the heartrate up a few times a week.

And this is health we are talking about. Thin and fat free != healthy

Your body could not care less about political correctness, if you ignore it, it will lead to devastating lifestyle disease and untimely death.

I am shamelessly going to plug Caroline Girvans videos on youtube or her app.

> Be angry or offended all you want people. Not taking care of yourself will be yours and yours only to pay.

That's not what people are reacting to. People are reacting to OP's staggering inability to comprehend the vast range of human experiences.

You definitely live in a bubble but it isn't the kind you think it is

Addiction, depression, it's a cycle. Something happens that causes depression, eating gives some feel good chemicals and being a sloth is to avoid potential disappointment.

Many people are on autopilot. They have not been taught to be intentional about the day to day fundamentals of their lives. For the most part, I think that used to be achieved through social contact which has substantially diminished in the past few decades.

Schools don't teach this stuff and many people just don't know. In a school you automatically get the physical and social aspects (PE classes and forced collaborative projects, with a timetable you had no say in) but after graduation a lot of people didn't know they needed to expend effort to keep doing it. The first year I was working I didn't know I needed to actively exercise, or actively seek out social activities beyond just immediate colleagues.

Fortunately I fixed that early in my career. I'm sure plenty of others still haven't.

I don't think it's that complicated. When one side of that triangle ends up consuming too much of your time and attention, the other two suffer.

I've developed a drug habit over the past year. I'm not overweight at all but, I assume people's mental health leads them to neglect and abuse the body for quick dopamine hits. Baconator with a large coke would immediately improve my mood but then make me feel miserable after.

I would say the problem is people are stuck spending most of their time and especially energy on #1 just to make ends meet. Obesity, like drug addiction is a disease of despair, and we have a lot of that in our country. Also, the longer you live, the more beat up you get. Taking care of elderly parents, dealing with shitty bosses, shitty partners, etc. It definitely takes a toll over long periods of time.

I've recently made #2 my top priority due to an eye-opening, but fortunately reversible doctor's visit recently. When the priorities are lopsided as mine were, it takes twice the attention for #2 to get balanced than to maintain the balance. I'm making decent progress though. It will take at least a year to remedy.

In addition to what others have said, daily demands on time and headspace can be overwhelming. My wife spends over an hour every day managing a chronic health condition. Raising kids well takes a lot of time every day. Some have loved ones with high needs that require care. Many spend 2+ hours commuting daily. Many work multiple jobs. Some spend a lot of time traveling away from home. Serious injuries can disrupt exercise routines and cause vicious cycles. Poor finances makes everything harder. Stress and depression can result from and exacerbate all of this.

Appreciate your health and time and focus and good habits while you can, and may you keep them as long as possible.

It must be a bubble, but it doesn't seem like it to me.

What you write basically describes my outlook on my life as well. I view and act on things very similarly to how you described it. It seems to work very well for me.

I don’t get why people get addicted to drugs. I just decide not to take drugs, and I have no problems! What’s so hard about that?

We live in a bubble, the average american spends 2hrs a week with friends

Trauma / anxiety is a possible ingredient; people eat to fill a void. Same as anything that is self-destructive. People try to make themselves feel better and eating does that.

Word. My mother had a pretty bad childhood. Had to take of herself since she was 16. Poverty, kids and a husband with mental issues led her to smoking. When her life was finally completely on the rails she could start to work on her addiction.

I'm convinced that every person with an addiction has a sob story. There are no happy people sleeping under the bridge.

> They just sort of wake up and do whatever on autopilot and go to sleep and whatever happens to them happens. What's that all about?

I absolutely agree, and commend your focus on understanding over condemnation. Despite all the justifiably condescending responses to your post, you have the right attitude towards truth.

My simple answer is that humans do not possess truly persistent (much less consistent!) consciousness, and that the concepts of "vice" and "virtue" are nothing more than imperfect social tools. Of course we can't abandon them altogether, but the questions "Where does gluttony end and eating disorders begin?" and "Where does laziness end and ADHD begin?" are in the midst of reshaping some very fundamental assumptions in our society, IMHO. The related question "Where does self-pity/envy end and Major Depressive Disorder begin?" has seen huge changes over the past 1-2 decades (in some nations), and I believe the former two will follow a similar trajectory.

In other words/TLDR: it's objectively challenging to balance competing priorities, where I mean "objectively" in an empirical, population-observation, sociological sense. Very few people have, like, an intellectual argument for not working out/eating right.

As a somewhat tangential point, I'd say your three tracks aren't the only reasonable way one could organize their life (again, assuming you have the capability to even get to that point). For example, I spend a lot of time worrying about politics, society, and my impact therein; otherwise, many people spend most of their time worrying about providing for/guiding/safeguarding their family, and a lot of young people (my past self included!) spend most of their day thinking about the social track in a much more anxious, peer-esteem-related way than you seem to.

None of these are necessarily better or worse than others, but I think it reminds of an important truth: philosophy is not solved. If you feel confident that it has, I encourage you to think back on previous times in your life where you felt the same, only for your whole outlook to change in the intervening years ;)

I think you’re probably mildly autistic since most people think very, very differently than what you’re describing.

It's an emotional issue, not intellectual.

Bro, have you tasted food before?

>It's bizarre to me that people don't look after their health.

I'm 39 years old. Once my obligations in life are done, I'm putting a bullet through my brain. Probably just another 10 years or so this point.

It's of benefit to look after my own health but at the same time, why? By the time my poor life choices start catching up to me, it will be time to go anyways. If my health deteriorates before then, then I'll just shoot myself in the head sooner rather then later.

To me I'd rather enjoy what little time I have left indulging into a little hedonism then trying to plan for a future that doesn't exist.

You need to see a professional, frankly. That is not a healthy outlook.

Have considered the possibility that you might enjoy the moment right now more if you take care of your body by exercising and eating well?

The future holds an unknowable amount of discovery and joy, for both you and your children to find together; however bleak it may seem, I hope it's not out of line to say that there's one internet stranger rooting for you to see the light behind the trees. Personally, my life goal is to visit the moon. Why? Because fuck it, that's why. A slightly-more-sustainable, useful, and poetic goal than Everest, I suppose.

If you're gonna die anyway, why not make a mark on the world, do your weird personal thing that only you could do? You might not have a statue like Ozymandias, but in my humble, naive, and young (27) opinion, chances are likely that you'll be glad you did.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46565/ozymandias

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