Cycling UK Forum

Fellow cyclists I am reading an article on habits for good health and longer living.

1- Exercise eg cycling.. check
2-No smoking ,moderate alcohol.. Check
3- Good diet. Check ( I will hide my cream cake).
Last on list. No stress and lots of social relationships. When young we are out every weekend. When old we have few close friends (unless we win the lottery).While lots of people thrive on warm relationships. Some people do not. A lot of people find conversations stressful if not short and to the point. To avoid dementia is BBC 4 or David Attenborough on TV less effective then small talk?

My question is is it to generalist to say lots of relationships are essential for good health and longer living. This as assured by all health documentaries and magazines.
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I ride Brompton and a 100% British Vintage

I would suggest that the omitted fourth item on your list is actually very important in that for most people (IMHO) it supports good mental health; a healthy mind is very supportive of good health in general. During the covid outbreak and lockdowns people’s ability to socialise plummeted and mental health issues apparently rocketed.

Of course different people have different ways of being sound in body and mind, do what you can see works for you and be open minded about change - well that’s what I try to do.

Is it too generalist to say lots of relationships are essential for good health and longer living? I’d have said - and this is just opinion - yes it is, but for the vast bulk of people it definitely loads the dice in their favour.

Edit. If someone does a search then I think that they’ll find plenty of evidence that married men tend to live longer than unmarried men. There’ll be multiple reasons for that but I’d have thought that actions that support mental health were amongst them.

Of the items on the list I conclude that mental health is the most important, without good mental health you’re not really in a position to manage adversity. An item that wasn’t on the good health list is financial status, you need a certain amount of money and security to live sufficiently well.

A friend's 85yo father has a very youthful approach to life and more resembles a healthy 60yo in physical and mental ability. A decade ago he sought advice for how to remain youthful, this is the advice he used:

• Ride a bicycle and walk on alternate days for at least 45 minutes/day, 4 days a week

• Eat sensibly, avoid processed food, grow some of your own food

• Limit alcohol consumption to weekends only, 1 in 5 weekends alcohol free

• Seek healthcare advice from at least two medics

• Sing in a choir

• Learn and use one or more foreign languages

He remarked only a few weeks ago that very good friendships had been made through at least three of these pieces of advice.

Excellent advice, though I might struggle with the alcohol abstinence and I'm hopeless with languages despite many attempts.

Good relationships do; bad ones the opposite.

It’d be a shame if this thread didn’t get a bit more attention. I edited my post above to add comment but a fresh post with it might have been more helpful.

If someone does a search then I think that they’ll find plenty of evidence that married men tend to live longer than unmarried men. There’ll be multiple reasons for that but I’d have thought that actions that support mental health were amongst them. Obviously marriage is a form of relationship and obviously some marriages are ‘better’ - or whatever term suits - than others.

Of the items on the list I conclude that mental health is the most important, without good mental health you’re not really in a position to manage adversity. An item that wasn’t on the good health list is financial status, you need a certain amount of money and financial security to live sufficiently well. Good neighbours help too … I’ve mostly had good but …

"Married people tend to live longer"

The stats eliminate the unhealthy relationships and should be viewed with caution. Divorced and separated people are not included and will fall out from the sample.
My circle includes 20% of people who are very happily married,60% in various stages of in-between,20% who should never have got married in the first place and we can't at all figure why they stay together.

True love is perhaps couples who cycle regularly together. However that said a lot of successful marriages is where couples pursue their own friends and interests as well.

Beware the ides of retirement. Good advice is to buy a high end bike and spend lots of time away. This to avoid a very expensive divorce.
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I ride Brompton and a 100% British Vintage

If I were in a relationship I would never be able to have the fun and things I do

" By all means marry. If you get a good wife you will be happy. If you get a bad one you will be a philosopher" - Socrates
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I ride Brompton and a 100% British Vintage

My wife has let me go touring by myself for 2 months or more at a time on several occasions in the last 15 years. I am not sure if this proves the strength of our relationship or whether she is glad to get rid of me for a while

briansnail wrote: ↑2 Aug 2023, 2:58pm "Married people tend to live longer"

The stats eliminate the unhealthy relationships and should be viewed with caution. Divorced and separated people are not included and will fall out from the sample.
My circle includes 20% of people who are very happily married,60% in various stages of in-between,20% who should never have got married in the first place and we can't at all figure why they stay together.

True love is perhaps couples who cycle regularly together. However that said a lot of successful marriages is where couples pursue their own friends and interests as well.

Beware the ides of retirement. Good advice is to buy a high end bike and spend lots of time away. This to avoid a very expensive divorce.
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I ride Brompton and a 100% British Vintage

My wife and I cycle together, but also have our own friends and interests.
We are both 62 now and reasonably fit and healthy. We eat sensibly, don't smoke and exercise more than a lot of people, but probably drink too much.
Hopefully I can come back in 20 years and tell you how it is going.

Married 50years this November.
She was 17 and I was just turned 21 when we married. We met when she was 15 and me at 19 in January 1972.
First daughter in 1975.

I spent the first 27 years of most of the 50years in the RN. Been everywhere, and been away up to six months at a time.
Blissfully happy, and always have been.

I was just listening to a podcast on this subject. I've no idea whether it's the same research (was an Irish academic). The conclusions seemed pretty conclusive - doing things with other people is good for you.

https://chrt.fm/track/EGBGF3/podcasts.c ... xed-V4.mp3

It's the Zoe health podcast if the link didn't work.

"Hell is other people" Jean Paul Sartre

More seriously, its encouraging married bliss prevails on this forum.
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I ride Brompton and a 100% British Vintage

I think ‘relationships’ is at various points in this thread being taken in a narrow (“significant other”) sense, and the broader sense of interacting with other people. I’d still say the same in respect of either meaning: good is good for you; bad is bad for you.