[huijzer]

I have actually become less convinced after learning Buffett his eating habits. He and Munger couldn’t have eaten much worse than they did and exercised less. Still they are both alive in their 90s. What are the chances of that? Also, I’ve had a spare time job driving elderly people around. The fittest pensioner I ever met was in his 90s and he, upon asking, claimed that he never in his life did much exercise.

So what do these three people have in common? I think it’s a lack of chronic stress. Buffett and Munger are living pretty relaxed lives and the pensioner I met was also surprisingly happy. He told me at a random point during the drive that he was very happy. He told me: "I just met a new girlfriend a few months ago. I’m 94. Amazing huh?" and said this with the most cinsere happiness I’ve seen.

Contrast this to books like Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulchers by Sapolski. The book goes into all the ways in which a body under chronic stress starts to break down. Simply put, if you stress a lot then the body is in survival mode and cancels recovery processes.

So that’s why I think that stress levels have more influence on health than food or exercise. As long as stress is reasonably short-lived, the body will just recover from most things. I’m happy to hear counterarguments to this theory of mine

[nly]

Buffet and Munger are minted. That goes a long way to leading a stress free life

[huijzer]

According to themselves, they are wealthy because they are patient and not they other way around. In Buffett’s own words: "The stock market is a device to transfer money from the 'impatient' to the 'patient'." Being patient requires keeping your emotions under control, including stress. Also, keeping a calm mindset is a common topic under value investors such as Monish Pabrai and Guy Spier.