Sensei's Forward:

This article from the Globe and Mail and Website are an interesting start. They do not cover many aspects of well being, such as meditation, quality and quantity of sleep, taking quality supplements, for example.

However it is a novel tool for looking at our habits as it affects our health.

Although there are many similar tools online, this calculator is based on real data on factors contributing to deaths in Ontario.

The calculator was created as part of a new report published Monday that found 60 per cent of deaths in Ontario are linked to five controllable lifestyle factors: smoking, alcohol, diet, physical activity and stress.

“I was taken aback, even though I work in this field," said Doug Manuel, lead author of the report and senior scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute.

If people changed even one bad habit, they could gain several years of life, according to the report published online Monday by the ICES and Public Health Ontario.

For the report, researchers examined responses from Ontario health surveys, which question people about habits, such as diet. Using a database at ICES,

they were able to see what happened to survey respondents over time and the age at which they died, helping them determine the relationship between health risk factors and longevity.

Dr. Manuel and his colleagues decided to create the life expectancy calculator as a tool to help Ontarians see how their lifestyle may affect their health. It’s available online at http://www.projectbiglife.ca/.

The calculator doesn't guarantee accuracy and can't account for people with pre-existing medical conditions. But, in general, it reveals how behaviour, such as the amount of exercise you get, can affect life expectancy. The results also show how your risk factors compare to others and tells you which ones need the most improvement.