As if we didn’t have enough to complain about, a study by New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene raised the bar. We’re starting to die younger.
Even though life expectancy has steadily been increasing for the last 70 years, the last three have seen a rather worrying trend start to form …life expectancy is dropping. Even with our modern medicine, hygiene and avocados (because apparently, they make you live forever or something) our average lifespan has shortened from 81.3 years in 2013 to 81.2.
Ok, we get it, you were probably going to do anything with that month anyway, maybe hang out in your underwear and complain about young people, but if this is the start of a trend there’s no telling where it will stop. Are we over reacting? Well actually, yes, yes we are, especially when you consider live expectancy only 10 years ago was 79.9 years.
According to the report, there are many factors to that dictate the life expectancy of an NYer, gender, race etc. But none, it would seem, make as much of a difference as WHERE in the city you live. check out the map below:
Basically, Murray Hill and the Upper East Side will be playing canasta at retirement villages, whereas the good people of Brownsville, Central Harlem and the Bronx’s Morrisania will make beautiful cadavers.
The question is, and probably the reason you opened this macabre little post, what is killing us? Simply put, Burgers and smokes. In that order. Heart disease is the leading cause of death followed by cancer. You probably guessed that. Time to quit the cigarettes, eat health, and join the gym.
For more info, you can read the whole report nyc.gov.
Featured image source [Wikipedia]