">144 mmol/l with 21% elevated risk of premature mortality". My last test a 
week ago showed 144! Whew! I guess I have a normal risk for premature mortality. 8^D

The concept of "premature death" is flat out ridiculous. But our inability to 
well-define it raises some interesting questions.

• deprivation (by the dead, by the rest of us) - is the death of Ramanujan at 
32 *more* premature than the death of some rando at 32?
• life expectancy seems like yet another instance of people not understanding 
statistics
• quality of life - is the death of a 20 year old born into and likely to live 
in poverty *as* premature as the death of a 20 year old born with a silver 
spoon?
• natural selection - is it premature for a 35 year old who's bred, say, 10 
children to die?
  · or is it premature for them to die before their children have children? 
I.e. is being a grandparent a necessary element of a breeder's life?
• consequentialism - had Hitler dyed at age 35, would that have been premature?

I know this seems like a tangent upon tangents. But it's not. It's nonsense to 
relate serum Na to premature mortality because premature mortality is nonsense. 
Prevalence of chronic disease seems, to me, a little more well-formed ... but 
not by much. Biological age just seems like pseudoscience to me, the flip side 
of Vampirism. I'd welcome an education, though.

On 1/2/23 13:34, Roger Critchlow wrote:
There was a hacker news item this morning about maintaining hydration and 
chronic illness:

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/article/PIIS2352-3964(22)00586-2/fulltext 
<https://www.thelancet.com/journals/ebiom/article/PIIS2352-3964(22)00586-2/fulltext>

those who exceeded 142 mmol/l of serum sodium in middle age got sicker more 
often later in life.

It's the first measurement on my comprehensive metabolic panels.

It would be really funny if there actually was "One simple trick to staying 
healthy!", but it was only discovered after we had conditioned ourselves into never 
reading any article with such a title.

-- rec --

On Mon, Jan 2, 2023 at 2:04 PM glen <geprope...@gmail.com 
<mailto:geprope...@gmail.com>> wrote:

    I think a mobility checkup would be more useful than blood tests. See if 
you can stand on one foot for 10 seconds. Spin you around and measure eye 
wobble. Measure joint angles in a sit-to-stand test. Etc. Strength and reflex 
tests would also be useful. I *suppose* cognitive testing trends would be 
useful. I'd love to see, eg how my performance varies on something like a 
memory test or some logic puzzles. With the covid loss of smell and taste 
thing, it would even be cool to have a battery of sensory stimuli of some kind. 
If the personality tests had any credibility, they'd be interesting to track 
over time as well. Would you learn anything? IDK. But it would be more 
interesting than the typical test results.

    On 1/2/23 12:01, Marcus Daniels wrote:
     > The last time I went in for a wellness check, the doctor seemed annoyed 
that I was there.   I left, humiliated.
     >
     > But it has been a while, and I am wondering what it would take to 
actually learn something from a checkup.  Is there some standard package of broad 
blood tests and/or MRIs that would be a clue I was becoming gravely ill?  I was 
just shopping for new insurance and was excited to learn all the things I can 
prepare for (Aflac's various products).   What would I even ask for?
     >
     > A few years ago, I had a car accident on the snow in Santa Fe and had to 
have quite a bit of work done on my car.   I have to say billing the insurance for 
that was very satisfying.  I had been paying all these years and had nothing to 
show for it.   It is especially true for my medical coverage.
     >
     > To me going to the doctor is just an opportunity to get COVID-19 in the 
waiting room.  How can I get more from this experience?


--
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