We all know that smoking, physical inactivity, and a poor diet are bad for our health.
Just how bad is another matter.
It’s hard to know what that cigarette, missed workout, or greasy burger is doing to us today when we probably won’t feel all that much different tomorrow.
A new Canadian study is giving us a much better idea. Using newly-developed methods to mine a massive amount of data from the Canadian Community Health Survey, researchers have been able to determine just how quickly our bad habits are killing us.
“We found that life expectancy was reduced by about 6 years from unhealthy living,” says Dr. Doug Manuel of the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, and lead author of the study.
That’s six years taken off the life of the average Canadian for no other reason than lifestyle choices.
And that's just the average. When the study compares Canadians who followed recommended healthy behaviours with those with the unhealthiest behaviours, the difference in life expectancy was a whopping 17.9 years.
“I'm always surprised by the magnitude of this,” says Manuel. “I've been doing this for a while but still I'm always surprised by how much healthy living actually does affect your health."
Smoking is still the single biggest risk factor, but leading a sedentary lifestyle is now a very close second. The study found that 26% of all deaths are attributable to smoking vs. 24% to physical inactivity and 12% to poor diet. 0.4% of all deaths are attributable to unhealthy alcohol consumption.
Researchers have used the findings to create a more accurate online health calculator called Project Big Life.
Manuel says the calculator doesn’t take variables like family history or genetics into consideration. But he hopes people can use it to explore ways to live a healthier lifestyle. He says even small steps can make a big improvement. “There’s a very consistent relationship between how you live and how it affects your health, no question.”
