Holland has a surprisingly high death rate for cyclists

[sbcoombs]

My comments were never intended to upset anyone and I fully understand that some people have to take drugs for chronic conditions. I was merely suggesting that having an active lifestyle is better for everyone in the long run.

And I can't see why your comments would upset anyone.
While there are some people with chronic illnesses brought on by other factors, I would suggest many are a result of lifestyle and lack of activity.
Some of those cannot keep fit as a consequence whereas others use illness as a convenient excuse to do nothing.



I'm a trendy consumer. Just look at my wobbly bog brush using hovercraft full of eels

[[XAP]Bob]

As someone who is chronically ill - but healthier than most...

I take no offence...

[pete75]

If having an active lifestyle is a prerequisite for a long life how come giant tortoises live for 200 years?

[The utility cyclist]

Was speaking to a chap from netherlands and looking at the death toll stats it would seem a fairly high % of the deaths are involving over 70s and indeed 80s plus also the stats include electrically powered cycles. He reckoned that many of the deaths were from single vehicle incidents.
Given the 27:1 cycling ratio the % of overall deaths are much lower.
However the EU commission for safety have already published this woeful tale of dutch cycling deaths as an attempt to push for cycle helmets!

[Ruadh495]

Interesting. There seem to be two major peaks, for both years. One shows that young men crash cars and the other appears to indicate that old men crash bicycles (the death rate for ladies is distinctly lower in both cases). I wonder if we are seeing deaths from medical causes being reported as cycle accidents because they happen to occur when cycling (and result in a subsequent cycle crash)?

[mjr]

Why should the thought of being unhealthy make people avoid tests etc? The reverse is true. It's usually when people are feeling in poor health or think there is something wrong with them that go to see a doctor.

But they're not unhealthy - they can be healthy and merely have some illness. There is a significant societal pressure against people acknowledging their chronic illnesses, which I feel includes people labelling us unhealthy. In some examples, such as insurance penalties if you are diagnosed, there are even financial pressures against being tested.

Tell me what is your definition of good health?

A good state of wellbeing or general condition of body and mind.

[pete75]

Why should the thought of being unhealthy make people avoid tests etc? The reverse is true. It's usually when people are feeling in poor health or think there is something wrong with them that go to see a doctor.

But they're not unhealthy - they can be healthy and merely have some illness. There is a significant societal pressure against people acknowledging their chronic illnesses, which I feel includes people labelling us unhealthy. In some examples, such as insurance penalties if you are diagnosed, there are even financial pressures against being tested.

Tell me what is your definition of good health?

A good state of wellbeing or general condition of body and mind.

To be suffering from a chronic illness is not a good state of well being or general condition of body. Healthy means having no health problems and certainly doesn't mean having to take daily medication.

[bigjim]

If having an active lifestyle is a prerequisite for a long life how come giant tortoises live for 200 years?

Because they move a lot. You don't have to move fast to be long lived. In fact hard exercise is not that good for you IMO. Natures long livers as in Whales, Elephants etc are slow gliding creatures but relatively busy at their pace. The big or small cats and dogs who run like hell for a while but then spend the rest of the day on the couch, so to speak, do not live so long.

[Vorpal]

To be suffering from a chronic illness is not a good state of well being or general condition of body. Healthy means having no health problems and certainly doesn't mean having to take daily medication.

But there are many people who have a condition, such as Irritable Bowel Sysndrome or Diabetes, who can control their condition through diet or other means and are completely healthy in all other aspects. My uncle, who was diabetic, lived longer than either of his sisters who were not.

I also know people who have no health problems, yet are not likely to live into old age because they are type A personalities who do too much and spend their days in a constant state of stress.

[Postboxer]

It could be argued being in a constant state of stress is a health problem.

[Mistik-ka]

It is a well-known principle in the private health-care field that no one is really healthy — they're just under-diagnosed.

[Vorpal]

It could be argued being in a constant state of stress is a health problem.

Maybe, but I don't think that it's so easy to draw a line and say that people on one side of it are healthy, and people on the other are not.

[Bmblbzzz]

If having an active lifestyle is a prerequisite for a long life how come giant tortoises live for 200 years?

Because they move a lot. You don't have to move fast to be long lived. In fact hard exercise is not that good for you IMO. Natures long livers as in Whales, Elephants etc are slow gliding creatures but relatively busy at their pace. The big or small cats and dogs who run like hell for a while but then spend the rest of the day on the couch, so to speak, do not live so long.

Wasn't it discovered a few years ago that reptile and possibly also fish cells do not age in the way that mammal and bird cells do? What this means is that, barring injury and disease and ensured adequate nutrition and environmental conditions, reptiles such as tortoises will theoretically live forever. Mammals in the same conditions will die eventually even if uninjured, free from disease etc.

[mjr]

To be suffering from a chronic illness is not a good state of well being or general condition of body. Healthy means having no health problems and certainly doesn't mean having to take daily medication.

You're entitled to your opinion and I'm allowed to consider it complete [rude word removed] that causes people with diagnosed chronic illnesses further problems. In the strictest senses, everyone has health problems (whether or not you know it yet) and everyone takes daily medication (vitamins in food, for example).

But there are many people who have a condition, such as Irritable Bowel Sysndrome or Diabetes, who can control their condition through diet or other means and are completely healthy in all other aspects. My uncle, who was diabetic, lived longer than either of his sisters who were not..

Where would we draw the line between diet and medication anyway? All of the so-called medications I take on prescription currently are naturally-occurring but processed and measured into doses, but so are some of the foods that I eat deliberately to control my condition, whereas other treatment foods are unprocessed and measured to deliver at least the required dose because I don't see further processing as useful if a larger-than-necessary dose is mostly harmless.

[pete75]

To be suffering from a chronic illness is not a good state of well being or general condition of body. Healthy means having no health problems and certainly doesn't mean having to take daily medication.

You're entitled to your opinion and I'm allowed to consider it complete <i>[rude word removed]</i> that causes people with diagnosed chronic illnesses further problems.

How does it cause further problems. I have a chronic illness which means I'm unhealthy. To follow your advice and go in to denial about my state of health is what would cause problems.