Increasingly we are bombarded with latest research findings that tells us something is much worse for us than previously thought.
It seems that in our ignorance many habits are impacting our life expectancy more than we had previously thought.
This got me thinking and here is some food for thought.
We’ve known for a long time that smoking is not good for us, but what is its impact on life expectancy?
Latest research states that for every week you smoke you knock off one day of your potential life expectancy.
Alcohol is back in the news, with findings indicating that if you drink more that eighteen units a week you reduce life expectancy by four years.
Sugar is also vilified and can contribute to the onset of diabetes and heart disease, which can wipe out more than 10 years of life expectancy.
It also contributes towards obesity which can in turn for someone with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of over 40 to lose 10 years of life.
Where you live also needs to be considered and with more of us becoming urbanites we are exposed to increasing levels of air pollution.
For every 10 milligrams per cubic metre of particle matter in the air, life expectancy falls by 0.6 years.
In parts of China today urban pollution is reducing life expectancy by over three years.
Urbanites are also experiencing more loneliness which increases your mortality rate by over 30 per cent.
Also in cities, life expectancy depends upon where you live. In London, if you live in the most deprived areas you can expect to live 25 years less than those who live in the best parts of town.
Increasingly, we are hearing about the risks associated with the type of job you have. In the USA deaths on the job are 3.5 for every 100,000 in work.
When you examine different industries, you will find the rate for forestry workers at 90 and the fishing industry rate jumps to 118.
Also in the USA life expectancy is falling, driven by increasing consumption of drugs. Today life expectancy is1.5 year lower than all the other 35 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Being the most obese nation on the planet people of the USA should exercise more. Lack of exercise has the same impact on life expectancy as smoking.
Seems the answer to having a long life is to be a non-smoking teetotaller who lives in the countryside, who loves their own company and has a diet full of fruit and vegetables.
It would also help if you had inherited a sizable sum from a rich aunt and you kept in trim growing your own produce.
Finally, drugs are a big no no. It is that simple. Not practical for most with a global population of 7.6 billion and 80pc, 6.1bn, living on less than $10 a day.
Seems like a cigarette, a drink and a bar of chocolate would go some way to alleviating the misery they endure each day.
Gordon is the former president and chief executive of BMMI. He can be reached at gordonboyle@hotmail.com