Fate Can Be Cruel

Dr Michael Mosly was a well-known advocate of measures that humans could take to make themselves healthier and fitter.

Dr Mosley  - Last Sighting

He advocated (and often proved) that for example, type 2 diabetes be alleviated and even reversed by a diet and exercise regime ... a cure he carried out on himself.

He was an advocate of cold showers in the morning, to kick start the immune system. I don't know if he ever went through the English public Schools system (private schools, despite the name), who used to advocate the same regime for boys, but for different reasons. He also advocated hot baths before bed time.

He also championed ideas such as introducing friendly bacteria into one's guts (and even used some African natives poo via an enema to give his guts bacteria that Western modern man had lost). He also was a practitioner of various diets that for example excluded carbohydrates for periods of time.

His latest diet was the 5:2 system of semi fasting at least 2 days a week (reducing food intake down to around 500-600 calories a day 2 days a week, whilst not overeating the other 5 days). So you see that he was pretty damn serious about living the healthier and longer life.

He once confessed that he was driven to this after the comparatively early death of his father ... his drive to maintain his own health stemming from not wanting to die 'early' like his father, a banker, who developed diabetes in his 50s ( just as he too went on to do, before curing himself).

'My dad, when he retired, basically sat on the sofa and watched sport and that was incredibly bad for him.' Sadly, in one of his last interviews, Dr Mosly said that 'My father was not around to see his grandchildren grow up - I didn't want to be the same'

But despite the fact that at aged 67, he probably had a body clock of someone 10 years younger, he died suddenly of apparently natural causes according to an initial autopsy (toxicology and histology reports have now been ordered), on the Greek island of Symi.

The sad irony is that he didn't live the super long life his diets and cold showers should have afforded him, because he forgot one thing. That is that 57 year old men die of heart attacks or succumb to heat stroke and exhaustion, just as quickly as 67 year old men .... his walk back from Agio Nikolaos beach to their accommodation in Symi Town in those high temperatures in the afternoon, was probably a little ill advised, even if it had been on the flat ... but should only have taken around 20 minutes.

However he had either got misdirected, or decided to take, an exhausting hill hike 'short cut' on the Greek island, to get back to his apartment in temperatures reaching 40c+ but this trail took him in the wrong direction. This hike would have been dangerous for a man of 33, let alone a 67 year old, and in this case it was apparently fatal. Readers of this blog will know that a couple of years ago, I had an accident due to a combination of heat, dehydration, and hunger during a hot spell in the UK .... I was lucky not to have seriously hurt myself or even killed myself, as I hit my head/neck on a door frame when I blacked out .... I am the same age as Dr. Moseley was.

However I learnt my lesson, and now take great care in hot weather to keep cool, not over exert, and hydrate/eat regularly ... I also avoid places where temperatures regularly exceed 30c.