Are Many Studies Confusing to You as Well?

When I was in my early 20’s and partying a lot as an Air Force pilot, I found a study to justify my lifestyle. I’m sure I won’t be able to find it now. I read about it in the Stars and Stripes newspaper at my Air Force base in Okinawa, Japan.

The study said that people who ate a bad diet lived an average of six months less than those who eat a clean, ‘healthy’ diet.

Six months from the perspective of a 22 year old is nothing. Pizzas, sodas, alcohol and tons of processed food were A-ok in my book. A study I read in a newspaper justified it!

Fast forward to 2020. Covid really messed me up about studies. Whatever side you were on had a study justifying your position on masks, vaccines, lockdowns or whatever controversial measure was out there.

Not only that. The other sides studies were debunked for one reason or another. Social media owners loved it. The arguments flew back and forth all day long as to whose study was better.

The Stanford scientist John Ioannidis published a paper way back in 2005 saying that most published research findings are false.

The reason I bring all this up is that I recently saw people on the social media platform X saying that if you don’t sleep for a certain number of hours each night, then doing exercise can actually shorten your life span:

Yet we have others refuting this with other studies:

Both sides agree that a combination of good sleep and lots of exercise is very beneficial.

So many of these studies make life complicated.

“Wow I only slept six hours and 45 minutes today. I better not exercise because I might die early if I do.”

It just seems weird.

Look at people who are 100 years old and still working out. Do you think they spend all their time reading studies and trying to change their lifestyle to comply?

The studies can drive you nuts if you allow them. They have a purpose. And that purpose is not to dictate your life so that you can’t spend some time enjoying it.

We all know the basics. Try to sleep well, eat well, exercise and lower stress. If you mess up on these from time to time, don’t beat yourself up like crazy.

And be kind to your neighbor, family or friend. Don’t try to beat them up for their lifestyle with your favorable study.

Maybe someone should do a study on the effect of stressing out about studies?