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Comment by atko | Hacker News Reader

Glad you're okay and thank you for the warning.

Could you provide any information as to what could be the possible cause of your heart attack? Your age, habits etc?

Looking at the picture on his LinkedIn profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/philliprhodes it does look like he may have been overweight. I suspect that is a huge contributing factor in this. I'm sorry if anyone get offended by this, but it does look like mindcrime could have been more proactive in looking after his weight. Now it's completely possible that mindcrime has some other condition which limits, or at least restrict his ability to do exercise, which makes trying to stay healthy a whole lot harder. But I would have thought for a lot of people it is caused by either: heavy smoking, heavy drinking, little exercise and a bad diet. Either way, I wish mindcrime a speedy recovery and hope he can return to good health as soon as possible.

Hate to be that guy, but Phillip you really have to sort this out. Take this as a wake up call. You only live once.

Yes, I could have been more proactive. I made a lot of sacrifices in terms of not working out, overwork, stress, etc., in the quest to get this startup going.

Maybe you can find some casual running groups in and around North Carolina? I attend one and we run every Wednesday and Saturday. Even though I'm 20 years younger than the average runner some of the guys (who were on track to be the position you find yourself in now) have really turned their life around with respect to looking after themselves. I would encourage anyone of any age or fitness to do the same. Having people around you who can encourage you makes it so much harder to give up.

Also, 2 hours a week is nothing in the grand scheme of things. If you have to commute, try commuting by bicycle or if you go by train, get off at an earlier station. I'm not sure what your commute is like in the USA (I suspect most people drive to work), but a lot of people in Europe get trains and buses - which does make that latter idea a bit easier.

Regular exercise makes such a huge difference in ability to handle stressful situations as well as dealing with long term stress. It also improves cognitive function measurably.

I don't know what else you have going on in your life, but you are sacrificing the wrong thing. Forty-five minutes a day is nothing for the benefits you get.

When I was 18 years old and worked at a computer consulting company, my 41 year old boss had a heart attack. He was less overweight than the OP, smoked and got no physical exercise.

After his heart attack he went in for an angioplasty with one of those nicotine patches on his arm. Since having a heart attack, he was trying to stop smoking. His doctor looked him in the eye and said, "Well here we are. Do you want to live or do you want to die?" My boss said he wanted to live. So the doctor ripped the patch off his arm and said, "Just stop with the nicotine then."

OP you have a similar choice before you. I'm now 42 and I see your LinkedIn picture and "a touch overweight" is not what comes to mind. If your BMI is not into the obese category, I'd wager you're close to it.

One of the reasons I created my website http://meetandplay.com/ as after high school I stopped being active, gained 60 pounds programming and playing video games. As an adult you have to be really proactive to find sports to play they don't just fall in your lap anymore. meetup.com is also a good resource for healthy people doing healthy stuff like hiking, biking, climbing which I've used as well. My site is more for pick up games and locations to play. :)

It's hard to say for sure. I am a touch overweight and haven't been very physically active of late. Combine with age (41) and my stress levels, and I expect that explains a lot of it. Genetics may factor in as well.

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