Long Life

[Ember]

I heard recently that every creature has a certain number of heartbeats allotted to its life. My question is, if I forego all exercise and move as little as possible enabling my heart beats to slow, is it possible to extend my life. I assure you this will never happen, my life is frantic, but in theory could it work

[incitatus]

no. this is pure myth. a better rule of thumb is that a creatures lifespan (mammals) is maturity times 5.5. so if you underwent puberty at 15 (say) you should live to be 82.5 or thereabouts.

[sft42]

Rubbish...if that was the case I would be dead already because during sex the heartbeat rises hugely and when you think about the amount of great sex I have shared with lucky partners then I would be a stiffy (stop sniggering at the back) by now.

If you did no exercise you would have the opposite effect by making yourself obese and unhealthy.....life span can be increased by activity and improving you health, and quitting the smokes.

[darth vader]

not wishing to poo-poo my learned friends, i have heard differently, though can't quote the source (some wildlife programme), which stated that most animals live to around 70 million (70 billion? i remember a factor of 70) heartbeats - the count is perhaps irrelevant but the point is that they do tend to live the same amount of heartbeats, hence small animals with fast heartbeats living only a few years (the hamster in the "animals and nature" question is a good example) whereas slow-beating animals live much longer (the tortoise etc). THIS SAID - the human is the exception to the rule - again i can't remember the facts or numbers but human heartbeats are a) erratic in statistical analysis (i.e. little/no correlation) and b) influenced by too many external factors - health, lifestyle, surroundings, diet etc... so i'm afraid your plan for immortality is impossible

[darth vader]

1 billion. and here's some evidence/2nd opinion http://www.saigon.com/~tuan/STAT8.HTM

[darth vader]

Interestingly this link suggests humans USED to conform to the 1 billion beats rule. So i guess the answer to your original question is yes, in theory.

[Ember]

Thank you all for your points of view, I go with Darth vader, I must have watched that programme because now I remember the 1 billion heart beats per life time. I am going to save some energy by giving you all three stars to save me faffing about. Many thanks.