The Grim Reaper. Photo credit: Conscience: taxes for peace not war, http://flic.kr/p/7JLnw8
Feel a cold shiver at the back of your neck? No, it’s not the office air conditioning; it’s the icy hand of Death. The last few weeks have seen a flurry of scientific studies dedicated to the many, many ways in which we are all apparently decreasing our life expectancy. Here are just a few. Enjoy.
- Watching television. Sitting down in front of the box may seem like a danger-free way to spend an evening, particularly if there are riots raging outside. Not so. According to a recent Australian study, watching too much television is as bad for your health as smoking. “Every hour of TV that participants watched after age 25 was associated with a 22-minute reduction in their life expectancy,” reported Alice Park on Time‘s Healthland blog.
- Not exercising. You must take at least 15 minutes of exercise a day to improve life expectancy, according to a Taiwanese study in The Lancet. “The researchers also found that people who did some exercise tended to get a taste for it and do more – every additional 15 minutes reduced all cause death risks by another 4%,” reported Maev Kennedy in The Guardian. To the gym!
- Being in a relationship. Most murders are committed by someone known to the victim. But don’t forget that your nearest and dearest can off you by accident too – in this case, by suffering from stress. The Telegraph reported that a recent study at the University of Glasgow found birds who were paired with an “anxious” partner were more likely to die young. “Prof Pat Monaghan of the University of Glasgow said: ‘The take-home message is that the wrong kind of partner can be very bad for your health,’” wrote Martin Beckford.
- Being born. Actually, you may as well lie inert in front of the television with your stressed-out partner; it won’t make a difference. According to Fiona Macrae in The Daily Mail: “A growing body of research suggests the first 1,000 days of a child’s life – the nine months in the womb and the first two years out of it – are vital to their long-term health.”
- Being male. “A girl born this year is almost eight times more likely to reach the age of 100 than her grandmother, it is revealed,” wrote James Chapman in The Daily Mail, citing mysterious “figures” that have been released by… someone. Luckily, The Sun is a little more informative, explaining that the claim comes from recently released UK government statistics, rather than a shadowy figure in an underground parking garage. Anyway, the important thing to note here is “girl”. Men still lag behind in the life expectancy stakes: while a girl born in 2011 has a one in three chance of reaching the age of 100, baby boys come in at just one in four. Sorry, chaps.