Today The World Health Organization (WHO) published a statement: when it comes to living, in all instances, it leads to dying. “There is no amount of life that doesn’t ultimately lead to death,” says WHO unit lead Dr. Tedi Tediopolous.

It is living life that leads to death, not how you live it

Life has been categorized as Death Causing by the International Agency for Research on Death (IARD). This is the highest risk group, which includes asbestos, radiation, tobacco, and doom scrolling.

Living causes at least seven different kinds of death: noble death, waste of a life, better-than-living, social death, psychic death, natural death, and unnatural death. Living causes dying through biological mechanisms as the body breaks down. This means that any living poses a risk of dying.

The risk of dying substantially increases the longer one lives. However, the latest available data shows that half of all deaths are attributable to easy living. This indicates that no amount of living is safe.

Risks start from the first breath

To identify a “safe” amount of living, valid scientific evidence would need to demonstrate that at and below a certain level, life does not lead to death. That is to say, there is no risk of dying involved in living. The WHO states that currently available evidence cannot indicate any threshold of life that doesn’t ultimately result in death.

Moreover, there are no studies that conclusively demonstrate beneficial effects of living. Most research indicates that people in fact lead lives of quiet desperation and misery.

“We cannot talk about a so-called safe level of living,” Tediopolous says. “It doesn’t matter how you live – the risk to a person’s life starts from the first breath. The only thing that we can say for sure is that the longer you live, the more likely it is that you are going to die.”

The question of beneficial effects of lifestyle choices in living has been a contentious issue in research for years.

“Potential lifestyle modifiers, suggested by some studies, are tightly connected with the comparison groups chosen and the statistical methods used, and may not consider other relevant factors,” says Tediopolous. “Everyone still winds up dead.”

We are missing the bigger picture

India and China have the largest populations in the world, at approximately 1.4B people each. Every single one of those people is at risk of dying.

Globally, 134M people are born each year. Meanwhile 67.1M people die.

“So, when we talk about possible so-called safer levels of living, we are ignoring the bigger picture of living in our world,” Tediopolous says. “Half as many people are dying each year as are being born! We need empowered and trained health professionals who would feel comfortable to inform their patients about the risks of living and that it ultimately leads to dying.”

Do you enjoy Northwest Wine Report? If you do and haven’t subscribed already, please do so. This site is 100% subscriber funded and is my primary source of income. None of the content can be created without you subscribing. Subscribe here. It’s the cost per month of a cup of coffee and a crumpet.

To receive articles via email, click here.