如果我们对一个吸烟的人说：吸烟会让你短寿，他可能不会太在意，因为老去以后的事情似乎很遥远。可如果我们说，你每吸一支烟，寿命就会缩短15分钟，他可能会就会有点紧迫感了。把生命分成很小的计算单位来看，或许我们才会学会珍惜。
Dr. David Spiegelhalter, a statistician at the University of Cambridge, says that it’s not the occasional indulgence but consistent over-eating of certain foods that can impact your longevity. Calculating that the average life spans about 80 years, he divided that time up for adults 35 and older into nearly a million half hours, and assigned each 30 minute period to be 1 microlife. Each microlife is about one millionth of life expectancy after age 35.
剑桥大学统计学家大卫?斯皮格尔特博士表示，真正影响你长寿的不是偶尔过量食用某些食物，而是长期过量食用。在预计平均寿命约为80岁的前提下，他把35岁及以上人群的余下寿命分成了约100万个30分钟时间段，然后把每个30分钟称为一个“微生命”。也就是说，35岁以后，每一个微生命就是你寿命的一百万分之一。
Smoking eats up approximately 10 microlives for every 20 cigarettes smoked — or about 15 fewer minutes of life expectancy per cigarette.
吸烟时，每吸20支烟就会大概消耗10个微生命;或者说，每支烟会让寿命减少15分钟。
Averaged over a lifetime, the following habits are linked to the loss of one microlife: smoking two cigarettes, eating a burger, being roughly 11 pounds overweight, chugging a second or third alcoholic beverage, and watching two hours of television.
按一生的平均水平来算，以下行为会导致一个微生命的丧失：吸两支烟，吃一个汉堡，超重11磅，喝下第二或第三杯酒饮，以及看两小时电视。
On the positive side, behaviors that can add half hours of life expectancy include: drinking 2-3 cups of coffee or taking statins, cholesterol-lowering drugs (one microlife), eating fruits and vegetables (four microlives), and working out 20 minutes per day (two microlives). (Source: time.com)
从另一方面来看，能够帮助增加微生命的行为有：喝2到3杯咖啡或吃降低胆固醇的他汀类药物(1个微生命)，吃水果蔬菜(4个微生命)，每天锻炼20分钟(2个微生命)。