Source: BBC Health; British Medical Journal
A retrospective University of Oxford (that’s in England) study of some 19,000 male British civil servants between the ages of 40 and 69 has found that men with high blood pressure an high cholesterol who smoke may die 10 years earlier than their healthier cohorts.
Not entirely earth shattering news if you haven’t been living in a cave, but 10 years is a very significant difference. Not convinced? Let’s put it this way then, by the time the group was followed up on 38 years after the initial physicals and histories were taken, 13,501 (out of 19,000) had died.
Add diabetes and obesity and the 10 years you may lose increases to 15. And ladies, in case you are feeling a bit of relief, Professor Peter Weissberg, head of the British Health Foundation, adds, “There is no reason why the same should not apply to women.”
Downer for a Monday, I’m aware. But if it motivates only one of you then I feel better.
Posted by David Marc Schwadron, Esquire