Are there any health advantages to long-term immobility?

[Sasha]

Please help cheer me up! Long-term immobility causes osteoporosis, sarcopenia (muscle-wasting), worse blood-sugar control, poor cardiovascular fitness etc. etc. etc.

Does it have any health upsides?

 

[Trish]

A flippant response is we won't get overtraining syndrome, or break our backs diving into shallow water or die from heat exhaustion while on holiday like health guru Michael Mosely.

Steven Hawking lived into his 70's despite being completely immobile.

I don't think I'm sicker or more disabled at 75 than I was at 60 and my brain still works most of the time. My otherwise healthy and fit sister has a heart condition that could kill her at any time.

Sorry just random thoughts. Probably not helping.

 

[Utsikt]

Less skin damage from sun exposure?

 

[Yann04]

less chance of destroying your knees elbows or ankles.

(As someone who was a bit reckless sports wise as a teenager and had to pay for it, and now have a screw in my knee which constantly hurts for no reason, I’m happy to know there’s little risk of me getting another injury like that for now)

 

[Kitty]

Does it have any health upsides?

Hell yes!

Our lot all had metal hips and knees by my age, and it cost a lot of pain to earn them. Mine are in fantastic nick.

Also, I have an inch difference in my leg length and my pelvis is twisted, so I was warned numerous times that I'd get a bad back younger than most.

Nope, not even mild backache.

 

[Sasha]

Less skin damage from sun exposure?

This is true - PwME famously look loads younger than we really are, and I sure do. Meanwhile, someone I know has just been dealing with skin cancer, presumably from too much sun.

 

[jnmaciuch]

Not a guarantee but less likely to catch new transmissible infections if you're not frequenting crowded places

Also, at the risk of sounding callous/flippant (this was a morbid joke between me and my disabled friends when I was housebound): less risk of getting hit by a bus.

 

[Kitty]

Less skin damage from sun exposure?

Yup!

Though if you're ginger with see-through skin that has no tanning ability, you're insanely conscientious about covering it up. Only takes third degree burns once to cure you of slackness for life!

 

[MrMagoo]

A flippant response is we won't get overtraining syndrome, or break our backs diving into shallow water or die from heat exhaustion while on holiday like health guru Michael Mosely.

Steven Hawking lived into his 70's despite being completely immobile.

I don't think I'm sicker or more disabled at 75 than I was at 60 and my brain still works most of the time. My otherwise healthy and fit sister has a heart condition that could kill her at any time.

Sorry just random thoughts. Probably not helping.

Unpopular opinion but I found Mr Moseley very smug and annoying in his tv programmes. Whilst I’d never wish any bad fortune on him, I do think he may have thought he should take a long walk home on his holiday “because exercise is good” sadly he never made it. Taking a taxi may well have prevented his death. People on holiday are not acclimated to such heat, and even less so when you’re aging.

 

[jnmaciuch]

A flippant response is we won't get overtraining syndrome, or break our backs diving into shallow water or die from heat exhaustion while on holiday like health guru Michael Mosely.

My friends and I used to joke that ME/CFS was "the body's natural way of protecting against freak accidents, death by falling anvil, parachutes that don't open, and workplace safety issues."

 

[Kitty]

Unpopular opinion but I found Mr Moseley very smug and annoying in his tv programmes.

I commented to the BBC twice that whole series of programmes would pass without any acknowledgement that disability even exists. There weren't even small suggestions about how to make things accessible to people who may be well but don't possess operational legs, etc.

 

[Kitty]

My friends and I used to joke that ME/CFS was "the body's natural way of protecting against freak accidents, death by falling anvil, parachutes that don't open, and workplace safety issues."

You left out sharks, avalanches and passive aggressive managers.

 

[jnmaciuch]

You left out sharks, avalanches and passive aggressive managers.

Giant predatory birds, getting lost in the desert, embarrassing yourself in front of a live studio audience....

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

You left out sharks, avalanches and passive aggressive managers.

And dying of tetanus from a rose thorn scratch in a dirty horse field.

 

[Peter T]

Not totally a health benefit, but after about two years of being retired I stopped having bad dreams about my last line manager. Also not working meant I was able to spend several months in Germany when my best friend died in a car crash with his widow and children who are also my godchildren, and spent a lot of time with my mother in the last year or so of her life, both by chance coinciding with periods when my ME was relatively mild. It would have been so hard if their deaths had been in the last ten years when I was house bound.

My brother that is closest in age to me was a keen cyclist and he has had both knees replaced twice and had a head injury. My knees are fine.

I have managed to avoid Covid completely though most of my friends and family have had it a number of times.

 

[Kitty]

That's a good point, @Peter Trewhitt. I haven't felt under so little stress since I was about six.

After leaving work I had to sort out applying for income related benefits, which is frankly baffling when you've had no previous contact with the system. Then there was the scary question of where I was going to live, especially given that rental landlords aren't required to supply access info, meaning there isn't any, ever.

But once all that was resolved (which took a couple of years), life became less difficult than it's ever been in adulthood. My parents' generation are all gone now, so I don't have to worry about them, and the handful of relatives left don't really need much from me.

The extent of the peace and quiet after a busy working life makes me worry there's a catch somewhere I haven't spotted.

 

[Yann04]

I think the stress thing isn’t universal. I’m probably as stressed as I’ve ever been managing my energy so I have enough to eat and do the tasks that keep me alive.

The stress probably depends on severity and responsibilities.

 

[OrganicChilli]

I think the stress thing isn’t universal. I’m probably as stressed as I’ve ever been managing my energy so I have enough to eat and do the tasks that keep me alive.

I agree. Crashing out of the workforce, using my savings because I probably won't be eligible for disability benefits, losing my independence and facing life-long poverty is more stressful than some random deadlines or difficult managers at work. I think for now the financial impact is the most stressful thing for me, but my baseline is deteriorating so quickly, I might soon have to worry about the same things as @Yann04.

 

[Sparkly Unicorn]

Evolutionary, joint wise, the human body is rubbish upright, it can lead to back and skeletal issues. I'm hypermobile and had alot less pain since being more bedbound due to the lack of stress on the joints, especially lower back.

I also seem to have grown 2cm - most likely as gravity isn't compressing my spine

 

[Kitty]

I think for now the financial impact is the most stressful thing for me

It is appalling, and way beyond anything I'd experienced before. I really feel for you, and hope you can find some solutions.

Had I not been able to apply for adapted social housing, and chanced on a good OT to do my assessment, I'd have been in a horrible situation. I didn't even know anyone with a wheelchair accessible house.

Finding I couldn't continue with even part time work just as I'd reached the age to qualify for this sort of housing was sheer luck. The income-related benefits process was also stressful, but as straightforward as it ever gets—I sent in the form, they wrote back to say I qualified then left me in peace for the 11 years that remained of my working life.

Keep thinking I'm bound to run out of luck and get put through some hideous benefits thing, so I need to appreciate the time when I don't happen to be in their sights. Specially as folk my age are already in sniper's alley when it comes to things like cancer and dementia and heart disease...