Thread

1. dyauspitr · 1790966547 · focus · HN ↗

   So chronic stress is one of the main contributors to aging. I hope I make it to my 40s.

   Do we currently have the ability to do targeted methylation or de methylation at sites in cells?

   1. everdrive · 1790972335 · focus · HN ↗

      I just don't understand. Wouldn't we have evolved in an environment with constant stress? Constant fear of disease, starvation, predation, attacks by neighboring tribes? Why would our body's natural response to our environment be to immediately grenade itself.

      1. LarsDu88 · 1790978478 · focus · HN ↗

         The idea that pre-agricultural societies are subjected to constant stress reflects modern biases somewhat. I remember years ago I saw a talk from Spencer Wells where he described how pre-agricultural life might have been like in Anatolia. Fields and fields of wild wheat stretching across the horizon. Long periods of seasonal abundance. Occasional periods of hunger and privation where families would often have to rely on the help of friends and acquantainces, with the understanding that one day the debt would be repaid if similar ill circumstances befell your neighbors.

         You can see some of how life might have been like in modern Papua New Guinea. War is nothing like modern warfare with artillery and guns. Its two groups of people firing arrows at each other from stand off distances while shouting at each other with minimal casualties. If you look at casualty rates from some of the early Greek warfare during the hoplite era, it's also surprisingly low.

         Also note that in this post, and from research, caloric restriction counteracts some of these inflammatory effects. In many ways modern life can be stressful in its own ways, especially as we remove ourselves more and more from the active lifestyles that necessitated survival in previous eras.

         1. justinclift · 1791005078 · focus · HN ↗

            > If you look at casualty rates from some of the early Greek warfare during the hoplite era, it's also surprisingly low.

            Didn't Genghis Khan wipe out entire cities? Like, every person inside, kind of thing. Women/children/etc included.

            1. LarsDu88 · 1791007348 · focus · HN ↗

               Genghis Khan did not live in a hunter gatherer society. His time was only 800 years ago... a time when gunpowder and intracontinental trade existed.

               Could arguably say the same of aLexander the Great and the classical era when casualries and army sizes balooned

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.