To find what’s happened to Michael Mosley quite anxiety provoking

[Glasto73lover]

It’s that idea of never really knowing what’s going to happen- the idea that we walk such a fine line in life. If you think too much about it, you probably wouldn’t leave the house.!

A close family member died suddenly and tragically a decade ago - literally dropped dead at home age 48 - something went pop in their head. So you genuinely don’t know when your time is up.

It’s that idea of a chain of consequence that can go so horribly wrong too- people always say ‘oh but you could get hit by a bus’ - stuff like this actually makes me really anxious. So many what ifs.

For Michael Moseley - a chain of probably inconsequential decisions may have led to his death- not having a phone on him, choosing to undertake a walk that in the U.K. is nothing but in that heat, was devastating and probably caused his death.

It makes me anxious that I won’t know if I am making those decisions - am I making sense? I think as I have got older, I have become more anxious and risk averse (thanks menopause) and as a result, you could end up not leaving the house. How do you choose a sensible approach? Not too much risk but some!

But I also want to live my life too!! I guess I find incidents like this quite difficult!

I guess always having a phone, not undertaking walks in intense heat in an unfamiliar place etc are the common sense points that will come out of this tragedy.

Aibu to find it anxiety provoking tho?!

There is a huge difference between 30 and 40 degrees. If the ambient temperature is above body temperature it is much more difficult to function. I have lived in hotter countries and most people will stay in the shade if they can if it is close to 40 degrees.

Exactly, we do have control. We have control every day. Like we cross the road at a sensible time rather than when a car is coming, we don't go swimming in rough sea, stick metal knife in toaster etc.

We can make choices to be healthy to avoid disease as much as we can

There is no god or fate deciding, who has our names written on a list! Some things are out of our control but many things are within it and we are constantly doing little risk assessments.

“Grant me the serenity to accept what I cannot change, the courage to change what I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

I think the majority rather than the minority don't have much control. Yes, the risk of some diseases will increase with lifestyle, particularly type 2 diabetes but in the majority it has quite small impact on risk and is more down either to genetics, random mutations or external factors which can't really be controlled such as virus.

I agree with this.

And the reason I speak out is there is a nasty underbelly ( evident on these forums) of blame that accompany these control mindsets. Going to the gym or eating certain foods, above all not being obese- God forbid: those NHS crippling gluttons - will win the day.

Ergo, if you don’t win the day, you brought it on yourself.

And I just don’t think it’s that simple. The oldest people I have known have been little old ladies who never perspired, let alone set foot in a gym, and ate scones every day for afternoon tea. With jam.

A lot of the early demises have been people who did everything they could to stave it off ( including a couple of sad cases of that heart failure during sport: I forget the acronym) .

People just need to have a little more humility about the human condition. And a little more appreciation of each and all of us while we are here.

@headstone That is interesting. But I don't believe it is known by many people, or has been communicated effectively.

I'm almost 50. I run and swim long distances and to do this I do have to push myself. Not to the extent that I feel is risky but none has ever mentioned any risk or vigorous exercise to me.

I'm often surrounded by people well past their 40s who are also pushing themselves physically.

There is a general feeling that what we are doing is good for our physical and mental health. We are encouraged to participate regardless of our age.

If this is risky then I'm really disappointed not to have known about it.

His tragic death has made a number of us examine how we approach life limiting risk.

I don't drink or smoke, wear bike helmets and reflective gear and drive sensibly in the hope that I'll be less likely to die early. I have advised my daughters they must now share their locations with their phones as they are forever going off on random hikes into the countryside.

Normalising the challenging of 'Are you sure dear we wouldn't want you to come a cropper would we?' is a change I'd like to see in my family.

Poor poor MM I can't stop thinking of his final hours and how desperate and ill he must have felt. And poor poor Clare and how devasted she must be by this tragedy and loss. It's very very sad and thought provoking.

Merchant.

It was indeed possible to send a radio message, but generally not done unless something quite serious happened. I have a copy of the telegram they sent when I was born, for example.

We really take connectivity and travel itself for granted, even over land long distance calls then were quite poor quality, and very expensive. People who moved away to a different country quite often might never return again, or perhaps only a few times in their life.

And it was normal for children and teenagers to walk to school and be out and about without any way to contact them.

I suppose I understand that younger people feel anxious about being out of touch though I think it's very mentally unhealthy. But I am always surprised when older people do and talk as if the idea of being out of touch is unthinkable and dangerous. Did they just stay in the house until cell phones were widely available?

@Onedaystronger Sometimes it's hard to know what is best isn't it as theres so much advice. You hear of fit footballers dying on the pitch. And yes all we hear is exercise is beneficial so we get past 40 and many take it more seriously but how much exercise is too much? How vigorous should you be? It needs to be more well known

I am so disappointed at the number of posters judging MM. It baffles me that people are comfortable being so critical of him.

The prior bloke lost his life FFS.

Every single person makes decisions every single day. We make what feels like the best decision given the set of circumstances before us. Sometimes we get it wrong. It is impossible not to get it wrong sometimes. The impact of getting it wrong can be negligible or huge. Blaming, criticising, judging is vile.

Remember that next time you make a mistake.

I think research is showing that while moderate exercise is good for the heart, vigorous exercise can damage it, particularly as you get older.

Didn't mm cure his type 2 diabetes by fasting?

That is very true that the risks aren’t mentioned.

Exactly.

@Disturbia81 I agree wholeheartedly. If I didn't push myself into discomfort I wouldn't be fit enough to run for a bus never mind run at events.

I have had issues with BP in the past, now controlled with meds. My GP is aware that I exercise quite hard and has been encouraging.

I would stop if I felt very unwell but other than that I hadn't considered that I might be risking my health.....

I think you'll find most people on this thread are incredibly sad about this and are frustrated by how it happened and trying to make sense of it. I've only seen one person be nasty about him.

Surely the desire to keep fit and healthy and within a healthy weight range is an example of having humility when it comes to the human condition

@Disturbia81, I agree that many people are just really sad that this has happened and feel for his family and friends.

But I have seen a surprising amount of posters being very harsh, critical and judgemental about MM's decisions. It has taken me aback and made me really thoughtful about how many people are comfortable criticising someone who was only human.

I don’t know if science backs it up, but my instinct is that hard cardio exercise is probably more risky the older you get, whereas strength and flexibility work are particularly beneficial the older we get.

I don’t know if that’s the case but it’s what I tell myself as someone approaching 50 who is a cardio-dodger and loves weights and yoga!

He lowered his blood sugar levels with lifestyle rather than drugs but that doesn't mean he was "cured" of type 2 diabetes - the pancreas still wouldn't have been responding as well to blood sugar as it would be in someone without type 2 diabetes. Lifestyle advice is always recommended before starting drug treatment in people with type 2 diabetes and while does initially keep blood sugar levels down the disease usually progresses so that drugs are needed too to keep the sugar levels down.

I’m not sure I do see it that way.

I’m within healthy weight but if im honest it’s probably more vanity and comfort that would prompt me to maintain it. I wouldn’t describe that as humility.

True, and yes maybe some things are better left unsaid and just kept in our heads, maybe with it being an anonymous forum we feel we can speak our minds too honestly. I just know my thoughts of "why didn't he do this/why didn't he appreciate the risks etc" are purely driven by sadness and frustration at his pointless death, really loved the chap ☹️ I guess we just need to accept it as a tragedy and stop questioning it

I've heard weights/yoga/pilates etc are best as you age, which is good as I really hate cardio.

At the end of the day, what happened to MM and all the discussions following it must result in more awareness of the importance of planning, risk evaluation, etc. I'd like to think that ultimately it will lead to fewer people suffering the same kind of problems that MM faced.

I know that the likes of RNLI, mountain rescue, cave rescue, etc., are always telling people to take precautions, plan better, be better equipped, etc., but they never get the same kind of universal coverage that the MM situation has had.

Can only be a good think in the long run.

But as others said right at the start of this thread, perhaps we need to get back to having the public information films that used to be common on TV, i.e. where a bloke talks to his wife "Petunia" and starts waving back to a couple of people in difficulties in a rubber dinghy in the sea! Maybe make them compulsory on youtube, tiktok, facebook and other social media platforms.

That’s what I’ve heard. And it makes intrinsic sense too. The human body was designed by nature to wind down in later years, hence menopause etc.

Our hunting days, reproductive days etc to be put behind us. Wisdom however becomes our contribution!

To me it’s acceptance of this cycle of life that constitutes true humility about the human condition.