Christmas is a time of excesses, when we throw our diets out of the window and just enjoy the many blessings of food and drinks laid out during Noche Buena. Just be careful that you don't go overboard, as according to a study featured on The Telegraph, indulging in too much eating, too much drinking, and too much smoking may just shave off a few hours of your life.
“Microlives” are 30 minutes of your life added or knocked off due to healthy or unhealthy habits. While this can happen when you abuse your body at any time of the year, it’s during Christmas when people tend to indulge a little too much.
Cambridge University’s Prof. David Spiegelhalter based his calculations from previous population studies. He found out that the most common habits--even those that we thought weren’t harmful such as re-watching episode nine of Game of Thrones season two--can lose a person one microlife.
Here are a few examples:
- Smoking two cigarettes can knock off one microlife
- Drinking two cups of coffee can add one microlife
- Drinking an additional two glasses of champagne can knock off one microlife
- A 20-minute brisk walk can add two microlives
Of course, these general findings aren’t etched in stone, and there are still a lot of factors that can affect one’s lifespan. There’s no need to become paranoid and to start counting microlives the same way some people count calories. What’s important is to eat, drink, and be merry in moderation. Better yet, instead of having too much of a good thing, why not share what you have with others? Christmas, after all, isn’t just about making yourself feel blessed; it’s also about passing on the blessing to others.
(Photo by Alpha via Flickr Creative Commons)
