Why Do We Die? Lessons for a Healthy Life

Executive Summary

Repair takes more resources than replacement. It is more so in Nature, where life is abundant. So, we die once our health is sufficiently broken.

Health damages accumulate over decades — it is called ageing. That gives us time to act; at any stage, we can decide to live healthier and slow the breakdown.

By definition, medicines are repairs. So, relying on them to protect health is a poor strategy.

Here is a more detailed explanation.

Why do we die? This morbid question may have spiritual, philosophical, evolutionary or medical answers. But I will stick to an actionable one:

It is easier to replace than repair.

A new car rarely has problems. As it ages, it requires regular service and replacement of a few parts.

Eventually, the time, effort and money needed to fix the vehicle become prohibitive, and you trade it for a new one. Nature follows the same logic.

Defects, Diseases and Death

Our bodies digest food and extract fuels like glucose and fatty acids. Trillions of body cells burn them, generating energy to perform myriad functions.

In those zillion processes, errors occur randomly, producing dangerous proteins or rogue cells. Luckily, most problems are rectified or eliminated by the body’s defence mechanisms.

However, a few defects remain, accumulating over time. Eventually, they become overwhelming and a body tissue or an organ malfunctions. Diseases develop, causing us to lose functionality and eventually, viability. The message is obvious:

Prevent cracks in your health, especially as you age.

Are Medicines Helpful?

Modern medicine controls many disorders. But do they repair the ruptures in your health’s fabric?

Antibiotics may eliminate your infection quickly, but your gut stays damaged for up to a year. Some autoimmune conditions are suspected to originate after a course of antibiotics.

Visualise nails hammered into a wooden panel. Even if you remove them with a nail puller, the holes remain.

People have used the diabetes medication, metformin, for six decades without any major problems. However, it hinders the intestinal absorption of vitamin B₁₂, deficiency of which can cause nerve damage, a complication of diabetes. Vegetarians are particularly vulnerable because vitamin B₁₂ is not found in plant-based foods.

Medicines remind me of the game of Whack-a-Mole: You solve a problem at one place, only to see another appear somewhere else. There is no free lunch.

Medicines are not the solution for a healthy life; prevention is.

Preventive Health

Remember the adage – the straw that broke the camel’s back? Errors accumulate; the first one is as consequential as the last, though the last one gets the blame. Simplistically, our present well-being is the net sum of all the pluses and minuses over our lifetime:

Current Health = (Perfect Health) – (Natural Damage) – (Self-Inflicted Abuses) + (Preventive Measures)

• Perfect health is what you start with, or your peak health in youth.
• With age, the natural damage adds up.
• Self-inflicted abuses are lifestyle-related – poor dietary habits, stress, lack of sleep and activity.
• Preventive measures are strategies to slow down natural damage.

You have control only over the last two.

On this website: Anti-Ageing: What Should You Aim For?

Summary

• Nature discards the sufficiently broken.
• Health damages accumulate over a lifetime.
• Medicines fix diseases, but new problems may surface elsewhere.
• Repairing a crack is harder than preventing it.

To Read More

• The Conversation: Preventative medicine: the argument for and against
• BBC: Why do we die?
• Los Angeles Times: When, and why, must we die?
• Medical News Today: Do antibiotics harm healthy gut bacteria?
• The University of Chicago News: Why we die—and how we can live longer, with Nobel laureate Venki Ramakrishnan
• Around the Globe: Are Antidiabetic Drugs Safe in the Long Term? Clinical and Research Perspectives from India

First Published On: 25th May 2025
Image Credit: Designed by Freepik
Last Updated on: 16th June 2025