Can You Calculate Your Life Expectancy?
Life expectancies give us a way to compare countries, groups, and genders on health. Life expectancy numbers are more complicated than they seem.
Don't Exercise
Being a coach potato shortens your life expectancy by as much as 9 years. Basically, when you don't work out regularly, your cells tend to age faster (not to mention the extra weight that seems to stick to you more). Not exercising is also a great way to increase your stress level while decreasing your energy level. Not exercising even helps you not fall asleep at night. So if you want to shorten your life expectancy, be tired all the time and feel tense—not exercising might be right for you.
Be Stressed
Being stressed is a fantastic way to shorten your life. Not only does chronic stress damage tissues in the body through the continual exposure to harmful stress hormones, but it also makes you no fun to be around and even interferes with your sleep. This can lead to having fewer friends and a negative outlook (see below).
To shorten your life expectancy: avoid relaxation techniques, take everything very personally and try to take on more than is humanly possible.
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Dislike Aging
People can get really worked up about growing older. It makes them depressed and even angry (they look at aging as "unfair" in some way). Turns out those attitudes are a great way to avoid excessive aging. People with a negative attitude toward aging live more than 7 years less than those with a very positive attitude. So if aging really bothers you, dwell on it a lot and maybe you won't have as many birthdays to worry about.
Don't Have Friends or a Spouse
You can even use your social life to shorten your life expectancy. By avoiding friends and not being in an intimate relationship (like a marriage), your life span decreases. Of course, the quality of your friends/spouse matter too. Researchers have not determined which shortens your life span more—having no friends/spouse or having bad friends/spouse.
