Food, Home and Style
Want to Live Longer? Have a Recession.
In good times we live longer, in bad times we die younger. Makes sense—but it’s not true.
The Depression, for instance, increased life expectancy by more than 6 years, according to a study by researchers at the University of Michigan. Meanwhile, during the boom years of the early 20th century, life expectancy actually went down.
The researchers think there are a few reasons: people have to work more in economic expansions, so they have more stress, so the smoke and drink more, which shortens their life span. Pollution is also a bigger factor when economies are pumping out a lot of products, which can affect health.
It’s not yet clear whether this downturn will have a similar happy impact. In a recent story on Forbes.com, our friend Kiri Blakely points out that the smoking rate has crept up for the first time in 15 years.
“I blame the economy!” she says. “Think about it, if you are either a) laid off or b) doing all your laid off former coworkers’ jobs, you are so stressed out that you are going to start indulging in some bad habits. Like smoking.” Oh well.
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It’s important to note that the material you’ve presented is about the United States at the time that our economy was focused on manufacturing. No longer is this the case. In this recession, people in the United States won’t be as likely to die from pollution from economies pumping out a lot of products… because the factories pumping out those products are in Mexico, China, southeast Asia, etc.