Does anyone actually know of anyone who had an unhealthy lifestyle but lived to a ripe old age?

No.

My great aunt smoked between 40-60 cigarettes a day and lived to 94.

She lived with my grandma who waited on her hand and foot so didn’t move much and chain smoked🤷‍♀️Nobody else on my dad’s side of the family lived to such an age.

My maternal grandma lived to 101.Her vice was salt and sugar.Her meals basically had a crust of salt and anything sweet had a crust of sugar🤮

Yes, my dad. He’s 95, he smoked from the age of 10 behind the bike sheds at school, and then smoked heavily until he was over 80. He gave up when he fell and hurt his back. He was unable to walk for a few weeks, and my mum refused point blank to go to the shop to buy him cigarettes. He is on no medication, and refuses to go to the doctor (last time he went he had shingles which was affecting his eye, he was only a few hours away from losing his sight).

Yes, my uncle, both smoked and drank heavily, and lived to be very old. He was a Colonel in the Indian Army, so smoking was a way of life. He drank every spirit known to man, and owned a family brewery in South Wales. I always thought it sad that many of his workers went to serve in WW2 and lost their lives. He was somehow indestructible in all ways!

My mum smoked most of her life, always had butter with her bread, liked a drink, gave up smoking for a while, and then started up again when dad died, she lived until she was 87. She had no serious illnesses.

My father!
He survived heart attacks, pulmonary embolisms, had COPD, but drank and smoked. He was an enigma, according to his clinicians.
He died at eighty two, still had his original colour of hair and looked so much younger than his years.

Susan56

My great aunt smoked between 40-60 cigarettes a day and lived to 94.

She lived with my grandma who waited on her hand and foot so didn’t move much and chain smoked🤷‍♀️Nobody else on my dad’s side of the family lived to such an age.

My maternal grandma lived to 101.Her vice was salt and sugar.Her meals basically had a crust of salt and anything sweet had a crust of sugar🤮

Your maternal grandma sounds like my mum regarding salt.
She is in her nineties now and although she claims to have cut down on the salt over the years, I don't see any sign of that in reality.
Maybe if you eat as much salt as they do, it acts as a preservative 😁

Well the actress June Brown, a heavy smoker allegedly, lived to a ripe old age, mid 90s, not that I knew her. I think there are those who have bucked the trend as to being life long smokers and not dying of a cancer related death. Although I'm of the opinion smoking will get you sooner or later, and cigarettes cost a fortune now, so for those who have habit and aren't flush with funds, I'm thinking they do it at the cost of a decent diet maybe?

My Mum smoked all her adult life and lived to 97. She said she started smoking to keep her weight down and she was really slim. She also had lots of butter, cream and salt on everything, but never sugar.

However she did grow up in a time before processed food and walked everywhere which I think helped.

She remained healthy into her 90s and could still touch her toes! However it was her lungs that gave up first

I know of two both different vices.

The first my MiL who lived until 87. She smoked 40+ a day for 60 years and broke the filters off. She covered every meal in salt not from a salt cellar but from refill box. Had 3/4 large teaspoons of sugar in a cup of tea and never stopped eating cake and biscuits. Never put an ounce of weight on and didn't die of cancer but her heart stopped. She had a genetic heart condition and had stopped taking her new meds 6 months before as she said they made her ill.

The second a relative in his 70s who has drunk between 100-150 alcohol units a week for 50 years. Never ill, never had covid, says alcohol kills his germs. When his wife mentioned it to Doctor she said his body is so use to alcohol now it has learned to process it. Dr. told her it's no different to some smokers who are never affected by tobacco.

An uncle who ignored a croaky voice and sore throat for years - he smoked like the proverbial chimney - and finally had surgery for throat cancer. Terrible lifestyle altogether, but he bounced back, carried on smoking, and died of an unrelated illness, well into his eighties.

I have never smoked but I have asthma due to passive smoking throughout my childhood and beyond because both parents were heavy smokers, then my boyfriend (later husband), then my boss whose office curtains were yellow with cigarette smoke.

Sometimes those around them are the ones who suffer.

I have a friend in her late 80s who has smoked like a trooper since a teenager, no exercise and lives on takeaways and ping meals and is still fine

Most of the ladies on the Welsh side of my family have lived well into their nineties .
Being mainly farmer's wives -they've all worked incredibly hard .
They've also certainly enjoyed smoking drinking and diets full of animal fat and sugar .
I recall one Aunt telling me that a vegetarian diet was a crazed London fad devised by people who didn't do a proper days work .
They all ate the fat off a lamb chop and had full fat milk in their tea . A meal was not complete without a pudding . Elevenses not a break without a doughnut or Danish pastry .
They liked whiskey , brandy or rum and cigarettes .
As they grew older and less active -they grew stouter .
Dieting was ridiculous nonsense .
And I certainly recall how balanced and happy they were .

I read an article about June Brown. She was a heavy smoker and drank red wine daily. There is a lady opposite us who is 93 and lives alone. One day her bin fell over and my DH went to pick it up. He said it was full of wine and gin bottles. Her daughter regularly visits and brings her mum alcohol. Good on her I say. My mum never smoked or drank and was dead at 58. My mother-in-law was the same and died at 52.

I could point you to plenty of health nuts who had a short life,too. I think it is really the luck of the draw but obviously smoking and drinking heavily won’t help.

Yes

A member of DIL's family and his wife (100+ and 97 respectively), my DH's grandmother(96), her DIL (99). Only the last-mentioned was not a smoker but ate a high-fat diet.

I have also known people who consciously led very healthy lifestyles but died suddenly at a young age.

Genes play a large part too.

Your maternal grandma sounds like my mum regarding salt

Oh yes, salt too. And lots of sugar in tea.

Indeed nanna. A colleague was always at the gym. She was slim, active, no smoking or drinking. At works Christmas parties we used to have sandwiches, sausage rolls, crisps, buffet food etc, wine. She would bring her own food - a salad, a bag of grapes and water. She died of cancer at 53. The luck of the draw as you say. We are here once, we should do what we enjoy as long as we're not harming anyone else.

nanna8

I could point you to plenty of health nuts who had a short life,too. I think it is really the luck of the draw but obviously smoking and drinking heavily won’t help.

A smoker I knew reckoned he caught no colds because the cigarette smoke killed any germs in his throat!

Oh and just to add, I rarely put salt on my food (apart from in cooking) as we are told it is bad for us. Last month I had thorough blood tests and everything was fine except that my sodium levels were a bit low!

Kate1949

Oh and just to add, I rarely put salt on my food (apart from in cooking) as we are told it is bad for us. Last month I had thorough blood tests and everything was fine except that my sodium levels were a bit low!

I've heard of two people recently (one family) who have been hospitalised because their sodium levels were far too low.

Certain medications can reduce blood sodium levels.

I doubt many of our parents/grandparents are a plant based, keto, skinny blah di blah diet.

I knew someone who died at 93, having been fit as a flea beforehand, and while she wasn't a drunk, or anything like that, she did just eat what she enjoyed, and had the odd drink.

Oh really Allira? The doctor didn't flag it up. I just noticed it when reading my results on my NHS app. It was very marginal.