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High-Value Life Guide / Browse by problem

Health and longevity

Your body keeps the receipts.

Daily habits, prevention, chronic illness and medicines: read the costs, benefits and limits before choosing what applies.

All 173 guides in this topic →

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Chapter 1 editorial cartoon: Life has no reload button. — Editorial cartoon · Chapter 1Life has no reload button.
Original illustration with Chinese lettering; the English dialogue is below. Humour is a reading aid, not evidence.
English dialogue
Just popping out.
Read the safety page first.

Three starting points

Selected from 173 guides

Chapter 1 · Guide 1Author's grade A

Always wear seat belts, both front and back

Wearing a seat belt in the front seat cuts the risk of dying in a crash by roughly half. For drivers and passengers in light trucks, the reduction is …

Cost: No cost at all. It only adds about 2 seconds to every trip.
Benefit: According to NHTSA estimates, seat belts lower the risk of fatal injury for front‑seat occ…

Chapter 2 · Guide 1Author's grade A

Quitting smoking, the earlier the better

On average, smokers live more than 10 years less than non-smokers. Quitting before age 40 eliminates roughly 90% of the extra death risk caused by con…

Cost: It costs nothing — in fact, it saves money. A pack-a-day habit costs roughly $3–$4, which …
Benefit: One U.S. study that tracked participants without assigning them to groups found that curre…

Chapter 34 · Guide 1Author's grade B

Before taking two cold or pain relievers at the same time, check their ingredient lists — only one of them should contain acetaminophen.

Acetaminophen is present in many cold medicines. Taking two such products means you’re consuming double the dose, which can damage the liver. In the U…

Cost: No cost at all. It only takes a minute or two to glance at the ingredient list on each pac…
Benefit: Over six years, 22 U.S. hospitals tracked 662 cases of acute liver failure. Of these, 275 …