- Micromort – Acute risks, such as riding a motorbike or going skydiving, may result in an accident – a natural unit for comparing such risks is the Micromort, which is a 1-in-a-million chance of sudden death, for some defined activity.
- Microlives – However many risks we take don’t kill you straight away: think of all the lifestyle frailties we get warned about, such as smoking, drinking, eating badly, not exercising and so on. A microlife is 30 minutes of your life expectancy; based on starting at 35 years of age we have about 500,000 hours left.
| Activity | #Micromorts/day/event |
| -How to calculate- | i.e. 5 = (1 in 200,000) |
| 6-miles-motorbike (48 miles equals one skydive) | 1 (1 in a million) |
| 17-miles-walking | 1 |
| 10-miles-bicycle | 1 |
| 230-miles-car | 1 |
| 6000-miles-train | 1 |
| 12000-miles-comm-jet | 1 |
| All-Cause-day | 24 |
| Scuba-diving-certified | 5 |
| Skiing | .7 |
| Skydiving | 8 |
| Running marathon | 7 |
| Base jump | 430 |
| Mountaineering | 2840 |
| Mountaineering-Everest | 37932 (1 in 26) |
| Hang-gliding | 8 |
| Giving birth | 120 |
| Lightning Strike-USA | 3.5/yr (1 in 280,000) |
| Dangerous Occupation | Odds of death per year |
| Lumberjacking | 137 in 100,000 |
| Commercial Fisherman | 99 in 100,000 |
| Aircraft pilots | 48 in 100,000 |
| Roofers | 45 in 100,000 |
| Police Officer | 14 in 100,000 |
| Risk factor | Men | Women |
|---|---|---|
| Smoking | ||
| Smoking 15–24 cigarettes (die 10 yrs earlier than non-smokers avg) | −10 | −9 |
| Alcohol intake | ||
| First drink (of 10 g alcohol) | 1 | 1 |
| Each subsequent drink (up to 6) | −½ | −1 |
| Obesity | ||
| Per 5 units above body mass index of 22.5 each day | −3 | −3 |
| Per 5 kg above optimum weight for average height each day | −1 | −1 |
| Sedentary behaviour | ||
| 2 hours watching television | −1 | −1 |
| Diet | ||
| Red meat, 1 portion (85 g, 3 oz) | −1 | −1 |
| Fruit and vegetable intake, =5 servings (blood vitamin C >50 nmol/L) | 4 | 3 |
| Coffee intake | ||
| 2-3 cups | 1 | 1 |
| Physical activity | ||
| First 20 minutes of moderate exercise | 2 | 2 |
| Subsequent 40 minutes of moderate exercise | 1 | ½ |
| Statins | ||
| Taking a statin | 1 | 1 |
| Air pollution | ||
| Per day living in Mexico City v London | −½ | −½ |
| Geography | ||
| Per day being a resident of Russia v Sweden | −21 | −9 |
| Calerie Restriction | ||
| 15% CR (adds appx 5 years to lifespan) | 5 | 5 |
