The Big Question
No, I’m not talking about a marriage proposal, but rather what you begin to ask yourself as the years pile on: How long will I live?
When I toiled in the 9 to 5 world, I had no choice but to rise early. Now that my time is my own, I admit that I am a night owl. Not extreme, but I do go to bed later than most people in my age range. According to statistics night owls make up about 30% of the population so I am not alone. However I should not forget that a study has shown that night owls have a 10% risk of dying earlier than morning people. Ten percent is not enough to make me change my ways.
Tons of studies have been conducted to answer the big question. They have demonstrated that those who do something live 5 years longer, while those who do something else will lose 5 years of life. Whatever results these studies indicate they do not and cannot take into account genetics. If people on your father’s side of the family die young while those on your mother’s side live to 100 and beyond, how do you know which genes you inherited? Tough question.
In short, I think that despite all the studies, trying to determine your life’s span is somewhat of dice throw in our modern world. For example, many people have died while taking a selfie because they posed too close to an imminent danger like the edge of a cliff! And more and more people are dying in accidents caused by the simple fact that while on their phone they do not pay attention to where they are going as they walk – like stepping in front of a bus!
It seems that life spans are also affected by where you live. A study has shown that on average Canadians live three more years than Americans. Why? I don’t know but perhaps the fact that Canadians apologize for anything and everything could have something to do with it!
However, it seems that living in Monaco is ideal if you want to live longer. Men there live until 86 and women live to 94. Why a study on Monaco? No doubt the researchers yearned to spend time in that principality rather than say, Afghanistan.
So many studies, so little time. I mean I think everything has been studied when it comes to living longer. It seems study results come out every day, if not every hour. There are so many variable in anyone’s life in relation to their neighbors that a fair comparison is, to me anyway, difficult if not impossible to make.
Of course, nothing prevents anyone from taking good care of themselves and we do live lives that are more and more easy to measure. Anyone can check their blood pressure in any pharmacy, and an app to measure blood pressure is now available on some phones. There are gadgets that let you know how many steps you take in a day, and exercise machines that can tell you how many calories you burn. The more you know, the better you are able to make changes that will increase your chances of adding a few years to your life.
We can postulate a lot based on our daily habits and study results, but let’s not forget outside influences. In my case it is the dog next door which often disturbs my early morning sleep something experts say is bound to reduce my lifespan. So, my question is: would I live longer if I moved?
So many questions before we can answer the big question.
