Don't fear the reaper.
June 14, 2001 4:27 AM   Subscribe

Don't fear the reaper. Can this really predict my final days!!
posted by kramer_101 (28 comments total)
 
"Please enter your BMI (Body Mass Index)"

What the flug is a Body Mass Index
posted by Outlawyr at 5:32 AM on June 14, 2001


What's a "Body Mass Index"?

...I gotta beer gut. Does that count?
posted by ZachsMind at 5:33 AM on June 14, 2001


Aww fudge. Ya beat me to it Outlawyr. =)
posted by ZachsMind at 5:34 AM on June 14, 2001


That's Aww "flug" to you, Zach
posted by Outlawyr at 5:55 AM on June 14, 2001


Without putting in my BMI (no idea what it is!) and answering all questions truthfully - I smoke, don't excercise etc....
My life expectancy is 82.2!!!
The BMI must be pretty important
posted by twistedonion at 6:10 AM on June 14, 2001


At risk of great personal embarrassment for: 1). knowing this, and 2). posting a link to such a ridiculous site:

BMI Calculator
posted by hazyjane at 6:20 AM on June 14, 2001


um, the lowest score you can achieve (if answered with an eye towards such) is 72. Pass the cheeseburgers and risky sex please!
posted by machaus at 6:29 AM on June 14, 2001


BMI (basically an indicator of how fat you are) makes a significant difference in your results because obesity is linked to so many diseases -- heart disease, hypertension, diabetes -- I should know because I'm overweight and suffer from all of those.

Using the BMI calculator hazyjane supplied (thanks) to input a BMI number into the calculator, it came back with 78.2 years. Without a BMI number, it was 81.7. So, all other things being equal, my weight could theoretically cost me almost 4 years life expectancy.

But, as machaus implies, you might rather live fewer years and enjoy your vices than live a long, abstemious existence. We all die eventually, anyway, so why not die happy?
posted by briank at 6:37 AM on June 14, 2001


Question 6, cont'd) Do you drink a moderate amount of alcohol - less than a pint of beer or less than 2 glasses of wine - a day?
Moderate alcohol consumption has been associated with decreased heart disease risk. This may be one explanation for the 'French paradox,' in which the French are known for their love of high saturated fat foods, and yet their heart disease risks may be lower (except in the case of those who smoke cigarettes), perhaps because of the higher consumption of wine in that country.


This explanation is nothing but speculation. As the French diet has become more American, the risk of heart disease has risen. Also, scientists have constantly failed to find anything in red wine that might lower the risk of heart disease.

And yes, I don't drink.


88.6. In your face, twistyonion!
posted by MarkC at 6:39 AM on June 14, 2001


To cite Woody Allen: you can live to be a hundred if you just give up everything that would make you want to live to be a hundred.

94.3, btw.
posted by mac at 6:45 AM on June 14, 2001


umm.. I think it's broken. It gave my life expectancy at 3.2 years.
posted by Vetinari at 6:50 AM on June 14, 2001


Thanks for the BMI link

I'm gonna live to 95.4

Beat that!
posted by Outlawyr at 7:22 AM on June 14, 2001


93.2. But, wait, my BMI isn't so hot. I thought everyone who was overweight was going to die soon! Has the media misled me again?
posted by hijinx at 7:22 AM on June 14, 2001


"Your BMI of 31.4 indicates that you are very overweight."

Oh yeah?? Well flug you BMI Calculator! (no honest it's just the beer gut.)

I expect to die before 82.6 but that's what the BBC said. Wankers.
posted by ZachsMind at 7:28 AM on June 14, 2001


Outlawyr: I got a 95.6. So I guess I'm the front runner now?

I really don't care to live to that age. I'll be old with wrinkled balls, and thats just not cool.
posted by howa2396 at 7:32 AM on June 14, 2001


Do you really wan't to know when you're going to die and see the seconds tick away? Try this.
posted by owillis at 7:51 AM on June 14, 2001


According to the deathclock, I have even less time to live....yikes!
posted by briank at 7:57 AM on June 14, 2001


wow, i should have died 16 weeks ago.
posted by clavdivs at 8:30 AM on June 14, 2001


96 even. that city air is going to cost me a whole year of my life! I guess I still have time to move to the middle of nowhere... but, nah.

what I find odd is that it didn't ask anything about my own personal health. I think my seventeen-year history of autoimmune diseases and kidney failure is just a tad more important than my tooth-flossing habits.

silly internet.
posted by rabi at 9:37 AM on June 14, 2001


Thing is I was 240 pounds just six months or so ago. I've dropped over twenty pounds and I'm still overweight? Heck, I'm gonna go do some situps and go to bed. This is depressing.
posted by ZachsMind at 9:54 AM on June 14, 2001


89.4. I need to start working out more.

I had a couple of problems with a few of the questions. The one on whether I live close to relatives really got me: I moved to where I am now just to get away from my family and relatives. If they could just "drop in" whenever they wanted, I'd consider us too close. The stress I've saved myself as a result has to be worth at least two decades.
posted by mrbula at 10:16 AM on June 14, 2001


I smoke, drink, eat lots of meat, rigorously do not floss, and exercise only in the form of running to get more cigarettes. The survey quoted me a robust 84 years (I am not overweight at all, which maybe accounts for some skewing). I think we're getting very public-friendly sets of data here. "Good God! We can't put a poll up that tells people they'll be dead when they're 68!"
posted by Skot at 10:28 AM on June 14, 2001


Re the BMI calculator - there's an important link on the results of the calculator itself that explains a very important element of the BMI - really it's measuring a weight-height ratio (obviously too I suppose, since that's all it's asking). How much of that is fat is largely irrelevant sometimes (e.g. it's used for calculating dosages in chemotherapy based on body size). But how much of that is fat is very relevant for what they're using it for. If you're really muscular (maybe you're just pumped, Zachs!), you can have a skewed BMI. Gotta check that bodyfat percentage too!
posted by DiplomaticImmunity at 10:35 AM on June 14, 2001


*nitpick*

Actually, DI, most (not all) chemotherapy doses are calculated according to Body Surface Area (BSA), not BMI. Just FYI. There's a BSA/BMI calculator here, if anyone cares.

*/nitpick*
posted by Skot at 10:52 AM on June 14, 2001


really it's measuring a weight-height ratio

Well, there you go, then, because I am also rather short for an adult male, and I seem to have the lowest life expectancy anyone here has dared to admit to all day.
posted by briank at 11:59 AM on June 14, 2001


Skot, I think your right.
I have a BMI that falls into the obese region (I think they're failing to take body shape into account) but yet I'll supposed ly live till I'm 90. That may have to do with the fact that I'm a vegetarian non-smoker, but I've never let my vegetarianism get in the way of an unhealthy lifestyle.
posted by Octaviuz at 12:16 PM on June 14, 2001


D'oh! you're (I pick on people for that mistake all the time)
posted by Octaviuz at 12:17 PM on June 14, 2001


you are right skot, I got my acronyms wrong, it's been awhile (thankfully!) since I've been involved in that area! The bodyfat point still stands though!
posted by DiplomaticImmunity at 12:22 PM on June 14, 2001


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