ยง1 ยท 48 tips
What nearly free things clearly lower your chance of dying early?
Tips from this section that apply in the United States. This section is about health and medicines. It is general information, not a substitute for a doctorโs diagnosis or prescription.
Buckling up in the front seat of a car cuts your chance of being killed in a crash by more than 40%. In the front of a light truck it cuts the risk by about 60%. Of the people who died in U.S. cars in 2022 whose belt use is known, half were not buckled up.
Wearing a helmet with the strap fastened lowers a motorcyclist's risk of dying in a crash by about 40%, and of a head injury by about 70%. The strap has to be snug โ a helmet dangling loosely on your head doesn't count.
A working smoke alarm cuts the chance of dying in a house fire by about 60%. In U.S. house fires where someone died, 40% started while people were asleep. If you burn coal or use gas indoors in winter, add a carbon monoxide alarm. In China in 2018, 11,500 (1.15ไธ) people died of carbon monoxide poisoning, and in the 3 winter months, about 70% of those deaths happened at home.
Replacing hoses and stoves on time is a duty of the user under the Regulations on Urban Gas Management (ใๅ้็ๆฐ็ฎก็ๆกไพใ). The same regulations expressly forbid altering pipes or removing the gas meter yourself. They also say a gas company may not require you to buy products or services it designates. If someone comes to your door saying you โmust replaceโ something, you can simply refuse.
In 2025 alone, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ไธญๅฝ็พๆงไธญๅฟ) investigated 828 mushroom poisoning incidents; 2165 people fell ill and 13 died. That same year 34 more species were newly identified as poisonous that had never been recorded as harmful before. Silver needles turning black, โif bugs eat it, it's safe,โ โonly brightly colored ones are poisonousโ โ none of these sayings holds up.
Parking an e-bike or charging it in the lobby, corridor or stairwell of a high-rise residential building is expressly banned by a regulation of the Ministry of Emergency Management (ๅบๆฅ็ฎก็้จ). If you don't correct it, an individual is fined 500 to 1000 CNY and a business 2000 to 10000 CNY. The fine is the small part. What matters is that this kind of fire starts in your only escape route.
For every 10 mmHg drop in blood pressure, the chance of a major cardiovascular event falls by about 20%, stroke by 27%, heart failure by 28% and death by 13%. Among Chinese people aged 35 to 75, 44.7% have high blood pressure, and only 7.2% have it under control.
For a few dozen CNY and one tube of blood, you can find prediabetes while you still have no symptoms at all. The official U.S. screening advice is to test people aged 35 to 70 who are overweight or obese. If the result is normal, repeat it every 3 years. The U.S. counts a body mass index of 25 as overweight, relaxed to 23 for Asian Americans; the Chinese standard is 24.
For every 1% increase in average speed, the chance of a fatal crash rises by about 4%. There is no safe level of alcohol where โa little is fine.โ Handling a phone in your hand makes a crash 3.6 times as likely as focused driving, and dialing makes it 12.2 times. When you are so sleepy that others can tell, it is about 3.4 times.
For infants under 1 riding in a car seat, the chance of a fatal injury in a crash is about 70% lower. For children aged 1 to 4, it is about half. Holding a child on your lap gives no such protection.
A pair of stops costs a few dozen CNY. New York City installed window guards free in high-risk households and visited to explain how to use them; in one borough, reported child falls dropped by half over 3 years. New York later passed a law requiring landlords to put guards on apartments where children aged 10 and under live. A window screen does not count as protection.
If you fall into the water wearing a life jacket, your chance of drowning is about half that of someone not wearing one. Drowning is still the leading cause of death for children aged 1 to 14 in China. The drowning death rate in rural areas is about twice that in cities.
Training balance 2 to 3 times a week, tai chi for example, cuts the number of falls among older people by about 23% and the number of people who fall by 15%. Having someone come to assess and modify the home cuts the number of falls by about 20%. Falls are the leading cause of injury death for people over 65 in China, and more than half of them happen at home.
In the Qidong study, people vaccinated against hepatitis B at birth were 84% less likely to get liver cancer later. Adults can't simply apply that drop to themselves, and low antibodies alone are not a reason to get all 3 shots. People who finished the full series, once had protective antibodies and have a normal immune system usually don't need a booster. If you aren't sure whether you were ever vaccinated, take your lab report to a vaccination clinic for assessment.
In the U.S., once tetanus develops, about 1 in 10 people die. Deep wounds and wounds with dirt in them carry the highest risk. If a wound is dirty and it has been 5 years or more since your last shot, you need 1 booster shot. Treating it that day costs a few dozen CNY at most; don't put it off.
In data on 1,670,000 (167ไธ) women in Sweden, those vaccinated against HPV before age 17 had only about one-eighth the chance of later getting invasive cervical cancer compared with those not vaccinated. Those vaccinated between 17 and 30 had about half. So the earlier you get it, the more it is worth.
A mammogram every 2 years for women aged 40 to 74 is explicitly recommended in the official U.S. screening advice. For women 75 and older, and for adding ultrasound or MRI for dense breasts, the official conclusion is that the evidence is not enough. When a checkup package charges extra for those, you can skip them.
In the rural India trial, women who had just one HPV test in their lives were about half as likely to die of cervical cancer, and about half as likely to be found with advanced cervical cancer. At one or two hundred CNY a test, the U.S. recommendation is to test every 5 years.
A stool blood test that costs a few dozen CNY, done every year or two, lowers the chance of dying of colorectal cancer by about 16%, and by 25% for people who completed at least one round. For people invited to have one colonoscopy, the chance of getting colorectal cancer over the next 10 years falls from 1.20% to 0.98%.
In the trial of flu vaccine after a heart attack, deaths within a year fell from 4.9% to 2.9%. For people with cardiovascular disease and for older adults, a shot each fall costs 50 to 150 CNY.
In a phase 3 trial, this vaccine blocked 97% of shingles, about the same across age groups. The drawback is 3000 to 4000 CNY for 2 doses, entirely out of pocket. What that money buys is a 97% reduction in cases.
In a trial of 84,500 (8.45ไธ) older adults, the 13-valent pneumococcal vaccine blocked about 46% of pneumonia caused by the types it covers, and 75% of the most dangerous invasive infections. But no effect was seen on pneumonia from all causes, so don't expect it to prevent all pneumonia.
In the Linqu, Shandong trial, followed for 22 years, people whose H. pylori was eradicated were about half as likely to get stomach cancer later, and about 40% less likely to die of it. The test costs one or two hundred CNY, and eradication means two weeks of pills.
Eligible heavy smokers who get a low-dose CT every year have a 20% lower chance of dying of lung cancer than those who get only a chest X-ray, and a 6.7% lower chance of dying overall. The price is follow-up testing after a suspicious result, and the worry during that time.
Evidence keeps growing that putting deadly means out of reach works: after painkillers were restricted, related suicides fell 43%; at places where people often jumped, adding barriers cut suicides there by 86%. So don't stock sleeping pills or pesticide at home. When you can't see a way out, call 12356 first โ it works nationwide in China and is staffed at least 18 hours a day.
The fire extinguisher, fire blanket, escape hood and first-aid kit are all on the Ministry of Emergency Management's (ๅบๆฅ็ฎก็้จ) 11-item home emergency list. A set costs a few hundred CNY, bought once. In studies of home safety guidance given in person at the home, the rate of injury was about a quarter lower.
In U.K. outpatient records, about 2.8% of people over 60 with visible blood in the urine were eventually found to have bladder cancer; for ages 40 to 59 it was about 1.2%. That is not high, but it is high enough that you must get checked once. Get checked even if it happened only once, the amount was small and it didn't hurt.
Men with erectile dysfunction later get cardiovascular disease about 40% more often than other men, and heart attacks about 60% more often. The younger the man, the bigger the gap. So get your blood pressure, blood sugar and blood lipids checked, and don't buy pills yourself to cover it up.
When you manage cardiovascular risk factors, erectile function itself improves. On a questionnaire score, it rises by 2 to 3 points on average. The questionnaire has a total of 25 points, and 22 or above counts as normal.
Worn every time and throughout, a condom cuts the chance of passing on HIV between a man and a woman by roughly 70% or more. Using one โmost of the timeโ does little better than not using one. It also protects against other sexually transmitted infections, but syphilis and herpes sores that appear where the condom doesn't cover can't be blocked.
Testing for HIV at the CDC (็พๆง) is free. Without your own consent, no organization or individual may disclose your name, address, workplace or medical history. A positive result is not a death sentence: people who keep taking medication and bring the virus down to undetectable do not pass it on to their sex partners. Among such partners in the study, not a single case was transmitted.
In one set of interviews, nearly half of the people who survived a suicide attempt said that no more than 10 minutes passed between the thought first appearing and acting on it. Three-quarters had some contact with people around them during that time. Among people admitted to hospital for self-harm, about 2% died by suicide within 1 year and about 7% after 9 or more years; the great majority did not later die by suicide.
Paraquat has no antidote, and in one group of patients in Bangladesh, more than 40% couldn't be saved. It inflames the lungs, which slowly stiffen, and the kidneys and liver are hurt as well. Among people saved from carbon monoxide poisoning who got only ordinary oxygen, nearly half have a brain that is not what it was 6 weeks later, and even among those given hyperbaric oxygen, a quarter still do.
At one hospital in Xinjiang, only 5.5% of the people who fell from a height and ended up in the trauma ICU died, but the injuries were severe and treatment was long. Nearly half had injuries to 3 or more body regions, more than a third needed a ventilator, and the longest ICU stay was 132 days. Half of them fell from no more than 3 meters. Among those severely hurt, fewer than 60% were later able to go back to work.
Among proper U.S. donors who were screened layer by layer before donating, 31 in every 10,000 reached kidney failure 15 years later, versus 4 in 10,000 among equally healthy people who didn't donate. Among a group of people in India who sold a kidney, 86% said 6 years later that their health was worse, and three-quarters were still in debt.
Radiation can't be seen with the naked eye, and a radioactive source is a solid sealed inside a small metal shell, so โit looks fineโ is no way to judge. The chance of an ordinary person running into one is very low: fewer than 1 incident per year per 10,000 sources. But once it happens the consequences are severe. In 1987 in Brazil, people took apart a radiotherapy machine from an abandoned clinic, and in the end 4 people died.
In Sweden, people who have been seen at a specialist clinic for a gambling problem die by suicide at 15 times the rate of people their age, and die from all causes at 1.8 times the rate. The signal that can tell ahead of time who will die by suicide is depression. So if you are gambling with borrowed money and your mood stays low, call 12356 (China's national mental-health hotline) first.
People who are not yet infected take an antiviral drug in advance, called pre-exposure prophylaxis. For those who take it on schedule, the risk of infection falls by about 70%. For those who take it on and off, it does almost nothing. It is a prescription drug: you first get checked at a hospital, then it is prescribed, then you return for regular checkups.
Women over 65, and women after menopause who have risk factors for osteoporosis, should have their bone density checked once. Checking risk first and then treating the high-risk people reduces hip fractures by about 17%. In numbers, for every 1000 people screened, about 5 fewer have a hip fracture. No change in total death rate was seen.
For postmenopausal women who have been diagnosed with osteoporosis or have broken a bone, taking alendronate reduces hip fractures by about half and symptomatic spine fractures by more than half. For older adults who start a once-a-year infusion after hip fracture surgery, new fractures over 2 years are about 35% fewer. Calcium alone cannot stand in for these drugs.
The official line in China is that ice must be 15 cm thick before adults can skate on it. The U.S. and Canada put the minimum at 10 cm, and that counts only new, clear ice. White ice is only half as strong, so the thickness has to double. On the same sheet of ice it can be a foot thick in one place and only an inch or two a few steps away, so measure as you go.
An angle grinder spins extremely fast; a disc that breaks can fly out and hurt someone, and a wood saw blade fitted to it can suddenly kick back. In two accidents in China, a saw blade was fitted and no guard was on: one worker had a thigh artery cut and one had a neck artery cut, and neither could be saved. The guard, safety glasses plus face shield, and a firm two-handed grip cost very little.
The fear that mentioning suicide will plant the thought was not seen in the research. When a question about suicide was added to a questionnaire for secondary-school students, the students who were asked were no more distressed, and no more of them had thoughts of suicide. Students who were already depressed were actually less distressed after being asked, and students who had attempted suicide before actually had fewer suicidal thoughts.
Atrial fibrillation is the heart beating in a jumble. Blood pools in the heart and forms clots, and a clot that reaches the brain is a stroke. Taking an anticoagulant as a doctor assesses cuts strokes by about 60% and deaths by about 30%. Aspirin-type drugs cut strokes by only about 20% and can't take the place of an anticoagulant. In a 2014 to 2016 survey, only 6% of people in China with high-risk atrial fibrillation were taking an anticoagulant.
After hepatitis C infection there can be no symptoms for decades, and one antibody test tells you. Once confirmed, an oral drug for 8 to 12 weeks clears the virus in at least 95% of people. People whose virus is cleared later have about 60% lower risk of death and about 70% lower risk of liver cancer. These drugs entered medical insurance in 2019, with prices down by 85% or more on average.
Places like septic tanks, manholes and vegetable cellars can fill with toxic gas and run short of oxygen, and a person can collapse in seconds. Before going in, ventilate, get a passing gas test and put protection on, with someone outside watching the whole time. If any one of these is missing, don't go in. Opening the cover and waiting a while does not confirm it is safe inside. If you see someone collapse, don't go down after them; call 119 (China's fire emergency number) and 120 (China's ambulance number).
Among people 45 and older at high risk of stomach and esophageal cancer, those who had a gastroscopy were about half as likely to die of these two cancers. But people who choose to get checked already take better care of their health, so this number runs too high. By the strictest way of comparing, esophageal cancer deaths are only about 20% lower, still within the margin of error. For people not at high risk, the guidelines do not advise screening.
Wood ear and white fungus soaked too long, wet rice noodles left out too long, and corn flour fermented at home can grow a toxin called bongkrekic acid. Boiling doesn't remove it, and there is no antidote. Of the people who fell ill in the poisonings of this kind reported across China in eleven years, about 30% died.
