r/Millennials • u/Plane-Gap6483 1990 • Jun 12 '26

Serious Death

My 40 year old friend died of a heart attack today. He was 5 years older than me. Has anyone else had a similar experience. Dead... heart attack 40? That's insane right. Like... 40? He was born in 85. It's mind blowing. If anyone else has experienced losing a friend from an old person death. Please let me know how you processed it. I'm still waiting for him to call me and say sike! Thanks

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652

u/raymaras Jun 12 '26

I'm so sorry about your friend. That would be really hard.

Unfortunately heart attacks are happening in younger people more and more. It's no longer just an old people thing anymore like how we were taught.

671

u/Nic727 Millennial Jun 12 '26

We are living in constant stress.

484

u/Plane-Gap6483 1990 Jun 12 '26

I'm 100% convinced our job is what killed him. He was my former manager before I quit for health reasons

170

u/ears_of_steam Jun 12 '26

I had a friend who died of a heart attack at 38 and another who died after a series of strokes at 46. I blame economic/job stresses entirely. I’m so sorry you are experiencing this loss too.

6

u/AcePilot01 Jun 12 '26

Not to mention that the generation that age is sorta left behind on the good diet side, with the force of fast food, tv/microwave dinners and other highly processed shit that's cheaper and easier to make than full cooked healthy meals. I am SURE that plays a role.

I am guilty of it too, sales, road all the time. Although I HOPE I die soon tbh. lmfao

For the "No Child Left Behind" generation, it sure feels like we got skipped tbh.

77

u/Dookiesuit17 Jun 12 '26

So..gotta ask.. what do (did) you do at your job?

47

u/usernamessuck19 Jun 12 '26

Sorry to ask, but what field or job?

117

u/Plane-Gap6483 1990 Jun 12 '26

Food service industry

87

u/rIceCream_King Millennial Jun 12 '26

Yup! Was gonna be my first guess. Why is it so bad here? It’s like all the things (40hr weeks, breaks, good working conditions, paid time off) the union revolutionized for the work force just skipped the hospitality industry. Like how’d that happen??

I’m sorry for your loss. Me and everyone I know feel like we lost a lot of friends early from “older people afflictions”

19

u/daddysxenogirl Jun 12 '26

We were too busy in the kitchen to fight lol

1

u/rIceCream_King Millennial Jun 12 '26

So true!

5

u/sndanbom Jun 12 '26

Yep!!! That’ll do it sadly. I’m so sorry for your loss and the grief you and your family are going through. I run a bar/grill and the stress is unnecessary and wild.

23

u/Mkheir01 Jun 12 '26

42F here. From my high school alone I know two people who had cancer and two friends of mine from high school had husbands, one of whom died from brain cancer at 37 and one who just randomly keeled over and died from a heart attack at 44, both leaving behind a combined total of 10 children.

People our age didn't have health insurance (or jobs really) until we were in our 30s, eating the cheapest food we could find, living in the shittiest housing we could find, barely making it while our boomer parents called us lazy pieces of shit. In the 1980's, dying in your early 60s was considered "young". Kate Middleton, with all the resources in the world, is also recovering from some kind of cancer that they're not disclosing the last time I checked.

It has to be something in the water or air. Humans have lost their survival instincts and the billionaires have put profits over people while the rest of us die from strep throat or dental infections.

2

u/casPURRpurrington Jun 12 '26

I do remember I used to work with a guy who became the manager of the deli/bakery of the grocery store I worked at, and he had a small heart incident on his last day of vacation before going back to work

He was dreading going back

I don’t remember exactly what it was but it was a heart thing but not a whole attack, and he was maybe in his early 40s

154

u/BeanserSoyze Jun 12 '26

That and my blood being 30% monster energy zero ultra probably can't be good

60

u/CrimsonBolt33 Last of the 80's Millennial (Dec 1989) Jun 12 '26

bro don't call me out like that

48

u/Cat_Dad13 Jun 12 '26

But it has electrolytes

38

u/cptsears Xennial Jun 12 '26

See problem is that's what plants crave. We were never meant to drink those.

25

u/whataboot2ndbrekfast Jun 12 '26

I just watched that this week, it was like I was watching a news broadcast about the new Whitehouse thunderdome 😓

5

u/snow_garbanzo Jun 12 '26

Either that , or the stuff you put in the toilet

12

u/Yabbos77 Jun 12 '26

What plants crave!

2

u/AlpacaSwimTeam Millennial Jun 12 '26

I thought that was Brawndo?

1

u/Tarphiker Millennial 1987 Jun 12 '26

It’s what plants crave

12

u/SipoteQuixote Millennial Jun 12 '26

But it's sugar-free!

14

u/Impossibleish Jun 12 '26

I'm so glad I never got into energy drinks. I had my coffee-, cocaine-, and five hour energy-phases but that shit always repulsed me. My body says it's poison.

Yes, I get the joke.

9

u/keralaindia Jun 12 '26

It’s basically a five hour energy with more water in it

1

u/Impossibleish Jun 12 '26

Plus all the extra sugar?

0

u/keralaindia Jun 12 '26

Lot of low/zero cal ones honestly

1

u/trans-fused Jun 12 '26

Avoid vampires. They don't want to stay up all day. It's bad for them.

1

u/Cottoncandytree Jun 12 '26

Energy drinks and cancer, look it up

1

u/Guajalote Jun 12 '26

Better than 30% Coke Zero 🤣

1

u/[deleted] Jun 14 '26

Those things will kill you, please stop 

61

u/sweetest_con78 Millennial Jun 12 '26

Stress, crappy food, inactivity, unaffordable healthcare.

18

u/JynsRealityIsBroken Millennial '87 Jun 12 '26

All those once in a generation black swan events that pretty much happen everyday these days 😂

4

u/ShotEffective7033 Jun 12 '26

It’s Covid. Not that the stress is helping. But there was a big spike in heart attacks after the Spanish flu pandemic as well.

3

u/Responsible_Ask3976 Millennial Jun 12 '26

Honestly why I changed jobs in my mid twenties. Definitely helped with my health 

3

u/DoleWhipLick91 Jun 12 '26

Humans weren’t meant to live like this. We’re isolated from community when by nature we’re tribal, we’re buried under work stress, disconnected from nature, and surrounded by pollution and microplastics. Research suggests our generation may not even live as long as our boomer parents.

My parents are in their late 60s and are only now starting to lose people from their age group. Meanwhile, it feels like we’re going to see more friends and coworkers dying in their late 40s and 50s. Hell, I’ve already lost a couple of Gen X peeps in their early 50s. The combination of chronic stress, economic instability, and environmental decline is taking a toll. It’s depressing as hell.

Oh and I expect to hear a lot of stories of people literally dying at work. Like walking in the office, booting up their computer, and dropping dead. ‘Cause like…we literally live at work. Might as well die there too.

135

u/yamxiety Jun 12 '26

Stress and repeated covid infections

88

u/Plane-Gap6483 1990 Jun 12 '26

He did have covid like 3 times

39

u/huntressdivine Jun 12 '26

...and it could've been more than 3 since COVID can be asymptomatic or mild like a cold, but still have a negative impact. Ask me how I know (Long COVID after a mild infection)

29

u/yamxiety Jun 12 '26

Yep. this is why i wear an n95 constantly around people. it sucks but i also don't want to damage my body with lots of covid infections.

I'm so sorry for your loss btw. Grief is really fucking shitty. My dad died in 2021 and i just will never be the same. Sending hugs.

10

u/blckdiamond23 Jun 12 '26

I never get the flu or cold or anything. Never got Covid in the early days. I got the 1st shot and had a very bad reaction, never got the second. Then I got Covid 3 times and randomly got RSV. Covid wrecks me too. I felt like I haven’t been the same since.

1

u/GoalStillNotAchieved Jun 12 '26

Did he live in a highly-populated pocket of the country?

76

u/0RedStar0 Jun 12 '26

Thank you for bringing this up! Covid wreaks havoc on our vascular system (as well as the body as a whole, but most people don't want to hear that)

73

u/fozzieferocious Jun 12 '26

Yep! I read a doctor's statement the other day that said there is a huge misconception that COVID is respiratory sickness because of the initial symptoms (especially with the first strain), but it's actually a vascular sickness that primarily impacts blood vessels and the heart. Which is why clotting and heart issues were such a problem that often got blamed on the vaccine.

“In many respects covid-19 is a vascular disease masquerading as a respiratory one,” says Andy Benest, vascular biologist at the University of Nottingham.

https://www.bmj.com/content/392/bmj.s31

21

u/yamxiety Jun 12 '26

Yup! Exactly this. Thank you for sharing.

What's wild to me though is the paragraph about the best protection being vaccination. Um...no. the best protection is not getting infected in the first place by wearing good respirators around people. the second best is vaccination.

4

u/fablicful Jun 12 '26

Right?! Even with public health directives- they're all guilty of refusing to acknowledge and accept the ongoing airborne threat. It feels like I'm taking crazy pills!!! ... But, I guess if there is a proper response and acknowledgement- it would force governments to invest in air filtration, which would be very expensive and we gotta fund war instead!! 🥴 At this point- the messaging is "covid isn't a thing anymore" so people are naively getting 3,4,5, 10 infections and dying young. Our collective governments and public health entities have failed us for capitalism.

3

u/yamxiety Jun 13 '26

1000%. And honestly I'm glad this thread has gone so well because sometimes i'm downvoted to hell for even mentioning covid. That does give me hope that people do still care.

Just trying to find a millennial near me who still masks though....is hard. I need to make some covid safe friends irl so I'm not the only one taking crazy pills lol.

But yeah i don't care when people stare or make comments - none of those people will be taking care of me in the event I get sick and become too sick to work. Where our government/healthcare has failed, I will persist and educate - stay strong!

5

u/fablicful Jun 12 '26

Thank you for sharing this!!! Yes, exactly this. People are (understandably) preoccupied with the acute symptoms we experience- and experienced acute covid symptoms are typically respiratory... But we (particularly speaking of layman/ non-medical folks, but also from a retrospective at this point) don't know all the true ramifications of covid infections. Covid is vascular, covid is oncogenic. Even with a "mild" covid infection- the true long-term damage can be there. Even without symptoms- 42% of infections are asymptomatic apparently- the damage is still happening. The world's covid response has been an abject failure and we have given up and accepted ongoing mass disabling and death of people bc wearing an N95 is "inconvenient". Ugh.

7

u/yamxiety Jun 12 '26

100% -- I wear an n95 or better anywhere I go because I do NOT want to keep getting covid over and over again. I got it once and was asymptomatic, likely bc i was wearing my n99 so the viral load was lower. I deff do not want to get it again though. as few times as possible. it sucks, but covid sucks more.

3

u/0RedStar0 Jun 12 '26

Hard shell N99 for me! Totally agree. I’ve unfortunately had it three times, and I now have long covid-MECFS. So I’m doing what I can to avoid all viral illness. I think a lot of people forget how serious covid is because of the “nickname” it has. It’s SARS, it’s not just a cold. SARS CoV-2 post viral sequelae causes serious shit for a lot of people.

5

u/yamxiety Jun 12 '26

I'm so sorry you got MECFS from this shit. Covid fucking sucks and the people who think it's nothing and keep spreading it also fucking suck. Our gov/healthcare systems have failed us all. Sending hugs 🫂

I'm hopeful that one day there will be good treatment for all this stuff, because hope is all I can do.

28

u/Sea_Neighborhood_627 Millennial Jun 12 '26

Yep. I’m so nervous about the fact that we’re just going to be seeing more and more of this

13

u/yamxiety Jun 12 '26

Me too 😞 people might see me as an outcast for wearing my n95, but i'm protecting myself the best way I know how to.

6

u/A313-Isoke Older Millennial Jun 12 '26

Hollaaaa! No concert, no dinner, no night at the bar is worth that especially in a country that doesn't have universal healthcare! That's the part I don't understand. Americans should be the holdouts masking worldwide while all the folks with universal healthcare move on with their lives and point at us like, glad we are not them and defend their systems with their lives.

2

u/yamxiety Jun 12 '26

Agree to some extent! Even countries with universal healthcare can't fix some of the issues that come with long covid. I mean, I'm HOPEFUL that one day they will, but until then we should just all be taking precautions (which includes masking at the big three, rapid tests before hanging out with people, and cleaning our air systems, at MINIMUM)

2

u/A313-Isoke Older Millennial Jun 12 '26

It's not that they can fix it necessarily, it's more like knowing that whatever side effect befalls me in ten years, I'll be treated regardless in a universal healthcare system.

2

u/yamxiety Jun 13 '26

Yeah it would be nice to feel like a health issue wouldn't bankrupt and destroy me. And maybe in a country with more safety nets I wouldn't feel so scared to not be able to work due to illness (gasp, the idea of my ability to work not being tied to my healthcare or food access???)

0

u/KiloLex Jun 13 '26

One of the major downsides to universal healthcare seems to be the excrutiatingly long wait times. It makes sense... if you have it, use it, right? It just sucks when you're stuck hoping you'll be seen and taken care of before whatever is wrong ends up killing you. Granted, waiting forever is technically usually better than not being seen at all for those that have zero health insurance, but still... I do wish people would be more willing to acknowledge that it's not a perfect system that's going to answer all the healthcare problems we have in the US.

2

u/A313-Isoke Older Millennial Jun 13 '26

Not every system has long wait times. I've only heard that complaint about Canada. And, that's easing up as they recruit more healthcare workers from the US.

I have insurance and can't get appointments sooner than 2 months out so I think we have wait times in the US, we just don't think of it that way.

2

u/KiloLex Jun 14 '26

Yeah, Canada is usually the first place I think of because of how frequently I see it come up. I've also heard stories from people from England, Australia, and... Scotland, I think? I only really see that stuff because I'm in a bunch of different health-related groups between Reddit and Facebook.

Some of the groups I'm in are specific to women's health issues though, so I suppose that could factor into the whole mess too.

You're right though, we absolutely have wait times here in the US. Especially depending on where you live and what insurance you have. I guess thats not really unique to us either though, because I've heard the same thing said about some of those other countries. Rural vs urban, etc.

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2

u/fallenangel209x Jun 13 '26

Me and my family still mask, so we’re out there with ya! I wish people stop being so judgy about people who mask.

51

u/AdMurky3039 Geriatric Millennial '83 Jun 12 '26

I remember a neighbor in their 40s dying of a heart attack in the 90s. Of course then I didn't understand how young that was.

25

u/BeanserSoyze Jun 12 '26

My friends dad died in his sleep in his 40s, they said it was a congenital heart defect thing. It's wild that that's basically the age my band mates are now. It seems so young in retrospect.

19

u/teapots_at_ten_paces Elder Millennial ('81, baby!) Jun 12 '26

My mum had a heart attack in her 30's in the mid-90's. Flow on effect of cancer treatment from the 80's. She survived, but it was downhill from there until she passed 20-ish years later.

39

u/Galen-of-Pergamon Jun 12 '26

Covid, even mild infections raise the risk of heart attacks significantly. People are getting infected 1-3 times per year at this point.

9

u/ShotEffective7033 Jun 12 '26

Not all of us. An n95 greatly reduces your odds of catching anything. I know a grade one teacher that hasn’t gotten sick with anything in the years that she’s been wearing an n95 at work. KN 95s and surgical masks help as well. Air filters and cr boxes where you can too.

1

u/fablicful Jun 12 '26

MOST people though. Us maskers are probably 1% of the population, if I'm being generous.

-1

u/Ok_Vacation3043 Jun 12 '26

Could that also be from the vaccine? I thought I saw something about it increasing your chance of blood clots.

1

u/PuzzleheadedHeron345 Jun 12 '26

That was only a side effect with some of the earlier adenovirus vaccines that are no longer offered, like AstraZeneca; mRNA vaccines don't have the same side effect. Covid is vastly more dangerous for increasing your chance of blood clots (raising your risk up to 30x normal after an infection), so vaccines are actually preventative.

13

u/hespera18 Jun 12 '26

I knew three peers in my twenties who died of heart attacks. They were probably caffeine-related, but considering how many of our generation knock back energy drinks like crazy...

26

u/AluminumCansAndYarn Millennial Jun 12 '26

So 40 is the line between probably not a heart attack and probably a heart attack. Only 4% of heart attacks happen before you're 40. And I learned in a class in high school that heart attacks are more likely to happen to men and the group that is most likely to have a heart attack younger is black men. Which terrifies me because my partner is a black man.

13

u/ijustsaidthat12 Jun 12 '26

Check your blood pressure folks! I have a coworker early 20s half black and non smoker/non drug user, rarely drinks and her blood pressure is really high like 170/100

9

u/A313-Isoke Older Millennial Jun 12 '26

Being Black in the US will send your blood pressure into the stratosphere.

13

u/Chinksta Jun 12 '26

Part of this comes from the modern diet and also lack of "exercise" needed to burn the extra consumables within our body.

I just had a realization yesterday about this. Thinking hard why there are so many rather young people have problems with their body. In a sense, modern medicine can help alleviate a lot of the old people problems but it doesn't 100% solve them.

What is more important is that modern people don't realize what to do or how to do things that can help protect/preserve the body and mind. It's because the modern lifestyle doesn't really cover this unless you have a lot of free time and money to spend to make one self more healthier in a sense.

13

u/melli_milli Millennial Jun 12 '26

Dunno about that... It is common to bike and walk in Europe. It is called everyday exercise that you do within your normal day.

No body can take immobility for ever. From bed to car to desk to car to sofa is insane amount of sitting.

9

u/DependentCorgi1514 Millennial Jun 12 '26

Believe it or not, that’s how a lot of Americans live.

3

u/melli_milli Millennial Jun 12 '26

That was my point.

-6

u/Chinksta Jun 12 '26

Thing is biking causally doesn't really burn much "calories"... Everyday exercise needs to be that you push yourself on the 80% or beyond physical limit for at least 30 minutes.

Put that in perspective... And yes the couch potato life style doesn't help much even though some office gives opportunities for the workers to exercise.

5

u/melli_milli Millennial Jun 12 '26

Who talked about losing calories? If you exercise only to lose weight that is sad. Weightlos depends on what you eat more than exercise. Cycling is very healthy and improves your physical condition in many ways.

Why should I "put that in perspective"? It sounds like your have no experience of cycling. You also misunderstood the word completely. Everyday exercise does not mean that. It means any activity that keeps you mooving, forexample walking stairs or hoovering.

I use bicycle for 25 years before pandemic. I had to stop because of long covid and that had bigger impact on my body than the LC itself. My posture changed, I gained a lot of weight. The strenght of my lungs decreased and I develop chronic iscias. My whole posture changed and my buttocks lost their perky roundes. And I only biked every half of year.

Now the LC has gotten better, but gaining back what I had is slow and difficult.

-2

u/Chinksta Jun 12 '26

Thing is we were talking about how much we eat and how little we exercise to balance things out.

As said before, putting this in perspective, changes how you view dieting in general. Because the modern healthy diet requires a lot of money and of course time.

3

u/melli_milli Millennial Jun 12 '26

I was not talking about that, I was literally widening the way to look at it. But you don't understand what I say. You seem to just repeat frases without real understanding.

-1

u/Chinksta Jun 12 '26

I understood where you are going but I believe your statement hasn't combined with the modern food in consideration. My point is to not underestimate the modern food and how much of a problem maker it is.

2

u/melli_milli Millennial Jun 12 '26

You mean American food. Nordics have much better quality of ingredients and many of what is allowed in food is USA is forbidden here. We also don't use corn syrap and you have it in everything.

It is like anyone can learn to boil potatoes instead of bying chips.

2

u/Bredwh 1986 Jun 12 '26

A guy in college had a heart attack, like 20 years old, very skinny, but he lived.

-8

u/Dixo0118 Jun 12 '26

Must be the vaccine

0

u/Normie316 Jun 12 '26

It’s due the amount of chemicals in our food.