Dear US-Friends,

I have discovered an unbelievable simple method to increase your life expectancy by quite a bit. Its so amazingly simple that I really have to share it with you in English (instead of hoping you will learn enough German to read the original version).

First you will have to understand the concept of “life expectancy”. Its a statistical thing. Data collected by (in this case: death proof) statistical methods. It collects data at which age people die based on where they live. For the US this data is collected at state level. For each state they have an average value (some die much earlier, some much later) but averaged over millions it gives an indication about how long you might live. But: If you speed on the highway or take drugs “life expectancy” will no save your life – your premature death will only influence future “life expectancy”.

All things equal, the life expectancy should be the fairly the same in the United States of America. OK, considering random factors it might vary by days. Considering a certain influence of different eating habits or occasional local natural catastrophes, lets maybe expect a difference of weeks or month. So lets take a look at what we really have:

Life expectancy in the USA by state

Life expectancy in the USA by state (click for larger version)

A difference of life expectancy of up to four years – depending on where you live is quite a bit. Imagine! An extra year (or two or three or four) added to your life! How much more could you do!

First thing that springs to mind is that the “bible belt” has the lowest life expectancy in the US for its inhabitants. For those who are not familiar with the term bible belt here where its roughly located in the US:

Bible Belt Quelle: Wikipedia

Bible Belt Quelle: Wikipedia

If you live there, you can expect to die with a likelihood above 50% before you even turn 78 years. But its not only the bible belt. What’s even more surprising is the similarity with the political map of the US (Source):

Republican vs. Democrats in the US- Summery of seat distribution during the last 16 years

Republican vs. Democrats in the US- Summery of seat distribution during the last 16 years (Click picture for source)

 

Keys

Keys

This picture goes only back 16 years in election history (I don’t have older data) but visual similarity is incredible. There is no north-south difference,  there is no city vs. country difference – but if you live in Republican dominated states, you will die (up to 4 years) earlier then if you live in Democrat territory. I will not start to discuss the “why” – I will leave that to you.

So, knowing that- there are two simple recipes for my US friends to gain (up to four) more years:

  • Move to a state where the majority tends to vote strictly for Democrats (best: Minnesota or Hawaii)
  • Chance the vote of your home state to democrats (e.g. by sharing this article)

Knowing that some of my friends already life in Democrats territory and/or have voted for Democrats (or Greens or Pirates) in the past – is there anything that they can do to even further increase their life span?

You might be surprised, but: Yes, it is!

Lets look for that at another part of the world: Europe.

Life expectancy in the EU

Life expectancy in the EU

To the right we see the Eastern Europe countries whose life expectancy is as low as in the bible belt. But life expectancy in Western Europe is mostly considerably higher then in all the US [my own home state Germany comes in with mixed results and differences of up to four years between states (but even the worst life expectancy here is only as bad as the US average)].

This is also supported by a UK based Economist, who compared health insurance costs with life expectany (nicely visualized):

The US stands out as an outlier: the US spends far more on health than any other country, yet the life expectancy of the American population is not longer but actually shorter than in other countries that spend far less.

Source: Max Roser – Our World in Data

[Remark: This data does not cover the effects of Obamacare yet]

So what my already Democrats-oriented US friends could do to live longer:

  • Move to (southern) Europe – here life expectancy is higher then anywhere in the US
  • Support at least the only US politician (I know) who thinks the US can learn something from Europe: Bernie Sanders (even if he can’t become president any more, he & his movement will be around)

This, my dear US friends may not be what you would like to hear from me. But I want you around as long as possible. So I beg you: Do it.

And be assured: Its not in the way that Donald Trump or the Republican Party will ever ask you to do. They might just kill you (earlier then you deserve). Voting Democrat may instead just save your life (for a while).

 

See also: Neun mal Sechs- Articles about the USA and/ or in English

Petition: Waffenverbot abschaffen bei der Convention der Republikaner

With the Partsch in America

Schöner beleidigen mit Shakespeare

The Beautiful Ones

Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child:  Title: The Wheel of Darkness

Electrifrying: Jeffery Deaver – The Burning Wire

Lee Child: Nothing to loose

Silence of the sheep

in music

crazy me

There is more to life

w/ and w/out you

Murder my Sweet

memories of the blazing sun

 

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