Stay safe

What’s the riskiest activity you do in your life? Is it worth it?

Why it matters

Men live a few years less on average than women, and the reason for that is, to a large part, their risk-taking behaviour: More accidents, more substance abuse, more crime.

At the same time, very few people envy Brian Johnson for his over-optimised life, where he ages at supposedly half the rate of anybody else but has to stick to a very restrictive routine.

This is a practical guide to understanding where risk actually comes from in your life and how to reduce it without becoming joyless.

All the risks

So what’s an appropriate level of risk to take? That’s only something you can say. What we can help you with is making those risks visible so you can make informed decisions. Note that we focused here mostly on lifestyle risks - we will cover other risks in later posts, for example, risk from your living environment, gambling, and others.

Risks from Activities

To compare risk across activities, we use the micromort. One micromort equals a one-in-a-million chance of death. One hour of living is about one micromort.

We list a few examples here, but you probably know best what’s most risky in your life. Just estimate the corresponding values with AI.

Commuting

• Risk: When comparing one hour of commute across means of transport, we get roughly: Car (0.2) is safer than walking (0.3), which is safer than cycling (2), which is safer than taking a motorbike (6) , which is safer than taking a “boda boda” scooter taxi in developing countries (10).

• Safety: Wear safety gear, take defensive driving courses, don’t run red lights, don’t text and drive, and don’t drink and drive.

Adrenaline sports

• Risk: Skiing (0.7 per day), Scuba diving (5 per dive), Skydiving (8 per jump), Paragliding (74 per launch), Ascent to Matterhorn (2840 per ascent)

• Safety: Know your skills and be very conservative with the risks you take within the sport. Safety training. Question if you can get your adrenaline “cheaper”.

Putting it in perspective

• Risk: one day of living (24), covid vaccine (2.9), covid infection at 25 (100), covid infection at 65 (14000), giving birth (120)

• Safety: We can’t put all the numbers here. The best thing is you think about what the highest risk activities are in your life, and do some research with an AI model on risk and safety measures

As I mentioned in the exercise post, I bike around London, which is currently the riskiest activity in my life. That said, I believe it’s net positive overall due to the health and wellbeing benefits of regular exercise.

One way I mitigate the risks of cycling is by using Citymapper’s “Quiet” mode, which routes me away from high-speed traffic and major roads. It’s a good reminder that risk isn’t just about what you do, but also how you do it.

The same idea applies elsewhere. For example, choosing a car with a strong safety rating significantly reduces risk compared to driving an older, less safe vehicle.

Cameron

Risks from Substances

One micromort is roughly 0.5l wine or 1.5 cigarettes. However it’s pretty hard to compare risks from substances because death is only one risk factor, and others, such as psychological impact, damage, dependence, loss of relationships, all add to the burden.

One study compared those in a combined “harm to user” score, and despite lots of flaws, it gives at least some intuition. We summarise here risks and safety measures for the most common substances ranked by the combined “harm to user” score. We also tried to quantify probabilities for some of those risks with AI. Do your own research if you consider taking any of these substances.

Heroin (34 harm score)

• Risks: Fatal respiratory failure and rapid, severe physical addiction.

• Numbers: 25% who try get addicted, 30 micromorts/hit, 3% of users die every year.

• Safety: Carry Naloxone; use fentanyl test strips; never use alone.

Alcohol (26 harm score)

• Risks: Organ damage, high dependence, and accidents.

• Numbers: 15% get addicted, 10x injury risk after 3 drinks, 1/20 death related to alcohol.

• Safety: “Safe” is 2 drinks/week; eat before drinking; never mix with other depressants.

Cocaine (15 harm score)

• Risks: Acute cardiovascular stress, nasal tissue damage, dependence.

• Numbers: 17% addiction rate, 5 hours of life/dose, 24x increase in heart attack/h.

• Safety: No alcohol (toxic cocaethylene), test for purity, chop finely, saline rinse for nose.

Tobacco (13 harm score)

• Risks: High long-term disease risk (cancer/heart) and intense chemical dependence.

• Numbers: 30% addicted, 1 cig = 20min life lost, 50% cause of death for heavy smokers.

• Safety: Use nicotine replacements (patches); avoid combustible (smoked) products.

Ketamine (13 harm score)

• Risks: Permanent bladder scarring and injury due to loss of motor control.

• Numbers: 25% of frequent users report urinary symptoms.

• Safety: Avoid frequent use; never use in water; do not mix with alcohol.

Amphetamines (11 harm score)

• Risks: Cardiovascular strain, sleep deprivation, and stimulant-induced psychosis.

• Numbers: 10% dependence, 5x higher risk of psychosis.

• Safety: Ensure 7+ hours of sleep; monitor heart rate; stay hydrated.

Cannabis (8 harm score)

• Risks: Dependence, cognitive impact, and potential paranoia.

• Numbers: 10% dependence, 4x higher chance of psychotic disorder for daily users.

• Safety: Avoid high-potency THC; use a dry-herb vape; don’t mix with alcohol.

Ecstasy/MDMA (9 harm score)

• Risks: Overheating (hyperthermia) and mid-week serotonin “crashes.”

• Numbers: 0.6% emergency treatment/year, 1 micromort per pill, 13 if with other drugs.

• Safety: Max one pill per three months; test for purity; max 500ml water/hr if dancing.

Psychedelics (5–7 harm score)

• Risks: Psychological distress or triggering latent mental health issues.

• Numbers: No dependence, 25% of lifetime users report at least one bad trip.

• Safety: Safe environment; use a sober “trip sitter”; avoid if predisposed to psychosis.

Next month will be all about mental heath. Did you have an experience that could help others? Share with us by replying to this email or messaging us at christoph@euzoia.org

Risks from exposure

Just by living our body is exposed to lots of stressors that all affect our health. We covered a lot of them already in our post on nutrition, so only cover the non-nutrition ones here:

Skin

• Risks: 1 in 5 people develop skin cancer. 5+ sunburns in your life doubles your melanoma risk.

• Safety: SPF 30+ and seek shade when your shadow is shorter than you.

Eyes

• Risks: 1 in 3 adults over 65 face vision-limiting disease. 50% of all sight loss is preventable.

• Safety: UV400 sunglasses and look far every 20 minutes for 20 seconds.

Ears

• Risks: 1 in 4 adults have permanent noise damage from concerts and loud environments

• Safety: Wear earplugs in loud venues and keep headphone volume below 60%.

I didn’t wear sunglasses for a long time because I felt I didn’t “need” them - I could see just fine without them. Until I learnt way too late that seeing better isn’t the only advantage - it’s also protecting your eyes.

Similar for the ears: I love parties more than the average person and always felt that earplugs reduced the fun. That is until I found earplugs that filtered each frequency at the same level, thereby reducing the volume without filtering the highs. That was a game changer for me. Cost quite a bit of money but not leaving the house without them now - conferences, gym classes, parties, I feel I’m less stressed and exhausted when using them.

Christoph

Do something now

• Based on all this, ask yourself: What is the highest risk activity in my life? Can I do it safer?

• For the highest risk thing in your life, sit down with an AI and try to estimate the risk for your situation.

• Keep a “risk journal” to briefly reflect if risks were worth the rewards (e.g., if you drink alcohol frequently, just keep track if you actually enjoyed it)

• Get yourself some good earplugs, sunglasses, sunscreen if you don’t have it yet

• Commit to us on the change that’s most important to you

• Block some time in your calendar to apply our guide on behavior change to this

• Check out our youtube and podcast on the topic.

• Share this post with a friend