• atro_city
      link
      fedilink
      38 days ago

      There are USAians who believe that showering is bad for health and don’t do it. They say “everybody says I smell fine”. I’d have to find the article about it.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        48 days ago

        A shower is just a bidet for the whole body, and some people are weirdly opposed to bidets, so I guess being anti-shower could just be an extension of that

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        28 days ago

        From what I’ve been told, the smell of BO disappears after a while. Instead, they smell like a farm animal. But they have to skip bathing long enough for that change to occur, and it gets undone whenever they bathe.

        As for people saying they smell fine, as obnoxious as we are, very few people are willing to tell someone they smell like shit. Most of us will even directly lie to them to avoid the difficult conversation.

    • Diplomjodler
      link
      fedilink
      English
      59 days ago

      Talk to you again in 60 years. Until then, would you mind keeping your distance?

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    1009 days ago

    I imagine that if they managed to convince him is because he wasn’t feeling too well.

    In other words, maybe what killed him wasn’t having bath but what made him change his mind about the bath.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      549 days ago

      That’s also why some people believe in snake oil. People get desperate to try something after a few days of illness and then suddenly feel better after doing the thing. They would have gotten better without it, but the timing makes it seem like the thing cured them. It’s why we use double blind studies instead of anecdotes like this.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        98 days ago

        Did you know actual snake oil was used in traditional Chinese medicine for arthritis. Aparently it’s quite high in Omega-3. But it got popular and then grifters started selling random concoctions and calling it snake oil and that’s how it became synonymous with quackery.

        Not really related to the point of your comment, I just read about it recently and thought it was interesting.

    • Nebula
      link
      fedilink
      179 days ago

      Almost certainly a correlation ≠ causation situation. Bathing wouldn’t suddenly destroy his probably insanely resistant immune system.

      • Crestwave
        link
        fedilink
        English
        148 days ago

        That is true, but bathing after avoiding it for 60 years is still a significant change in environment that probably isn’t great if you’re 94 years old.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            188 days ago

            That’s too harsh, unless you are a medical expert who is 100% confident this cannot be. I doubt that you are.

            Skin has its own microbial flora and is the largest organ of our body. Imagine you take antibiotics. This can lead to all kinds of side effects, because good bacteria just as bad are killed and your gut needs to repopulate.

            If you did not wash your skin for decades, I’m pretty certain that you will acquire a pretty unique and rich microbiome on your skin that co-exists with you in symbiosis if you are healthy. Now you just wash it away.

  • troed
    link
    fedilink
    659 days ago

    In today’s news: In the fight between correlation vs causation most people will still bet on correlation.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      268 days ago

      You’re right but:

      Despite his extreme uncleanliness his health remained remarkably intact for most of his life. Medical experts in Iran observed that while he tested positive for a parasite infection called trichinosis the condition appeared asymptomatic. One public health professor speculated that his unconventional immune system may have adapted to his environment.

      I’d bet on causation here.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    11
    edit-2
    8 days ago

    Villagers: “Amou, you have infections all over your body. You have a very slim chance of survival if you take a bath.”

    The internet:

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    408 days ago

    That was probably a big stressful change after a lifetime of avoiding bathing. I wouldn’t rule out incidental causation.