The bill for excess comes due before 50

When the body sends the bill: heart attacks and cancers before 50

The scene repeats itself in far too many neighbourhoods: a neighbour who won't reach 50, a smoker, with early-stage lung cancer; another who collapses from a stroke at 42; a third who, at 47, can barely tie his shoelaces. The cases pile up, and the question is no longer whether excess kills, but when the bill starts to come due.

The body doesn't forget: drugs, alcohol and tobacco

The link between youthful excess and serious health problems has become a commonplace. Testimonies point out that strokes and cancers are no longer the preserve of the elderly: they appear in one's forties and even earlier. Tobacco remains the prime suspect: smoking multiplies the risk of lung cancer by 20 or 30, a figure that keeps coming up starkly. But cocaine abuse and other substances are also mentioned among those now approaching 50. The generation of the rave scene, binge drinking and designer drugs is starting to pay the price.

The issue isn't limited to illegal substances. Alcohol, with the weekend binge as a social ritual, leaves a mark that some compare to that of tobacco. And some point out that today's weed is more toxic than in the past: greenhouse-grown crops with aggressive fertilisers, without the natural filter of the open air. A cocktail that, in predisposed people, sends the risk soaring.

The fine print of modern eating

The other major front is food. Ultra-processed foods, sweeteners and the ubiquity of soy, even in unexpected products, are singled out. Some claim the industrial diet kills more than drugs, though the figures put it in perspective: eating sausages or bacon raises the risk of colorectal cancer by just 0.9% above the baseline, a small figure compared to tobacco's multiplying factor. The problem is that it doesn't come alone: it combines with a sedentary lifestyle, excess weight and stress.

The stress-plus-sedentary-life combo is the one most testimonies cite as the trigger. Screens, remote work and the sofa: three enemies that kill slowly. Some say the solution is to go analogue, write on a typewriter, walk 16,000 steps a day. Others point out that the 16,000 steps are a myth: beyond a certain amount, the body gains nothing and starts to wear out.

Stop living, or live better?

Positions range from 'live it up to the end' to health puritanism. At one extreme, there are those who claim to have regained their fitness after 25 years of sedentary life with two and a half years of gym, cycling and an hour of daily walking. Others, more sceptical, point out that some people also reach their sixties wrecked but alive after decades of excess. Genetics and luck exist. But, as one sharp comment puts it, those who don't look after their body have better odds in the lottery.

One fact is unsettling: an acquaintance with schizophrenic episodes from substance abuse receives a 1,600-euro monthly pension. It doesn't seem like a good deal. Health, once lost, can't be bought with income.