re: #90 Justanotherhuman

Anyone remember Jim Fixx? He thought he was taking care of himself, too, but he hadn’t.

en.wikipedia.org

On July 20, 1984, Fixx died at age 52 of a fulminant heart attack, after his daily run on Vermont Route 15 in Hardwick. The autopsy revealed that atherosclerosis had blocked one coronary artery 95%, a second 85%, and a third 70%.[3] Still, medical opinion continued to uphold the link between exercise and longevity.[4] In 1986 exercise physiologist Kenneth Cooper published an inventory of the risk factors that might have contributed to Fixx’s death.[5] Granted access to his medical records and autopsy, and after interviewing his friends and family, Cooper concluded that Fixx was genetically predisposed (his father died of a heart attack at age 43 and Fixx himself had a congenitally enlarged heart), and had several lifestyle issues. Fixx was a heavy smoker prior to beginning running at age 36, he had a stressful occupation, he had undergone a second divorce, and his weight before he took up running had ballooned to 220 pounds (100 kg).[6]

You can’t outrun heredity. OTOH, he lived 9 years longer than his Dad.