Smoking, Drinking, and Being Overweight Can Cost You Over $8 Million

It is common knowledge that having vices can be quite expensive. Drinking and smoking, especially when done everyday, can get pricey quite quickly without you even knowing it. Now, a group of researches has conducted a study with results showing that Canadian men may rack up to over 8 million dollars if they keep these kinds of vices in their lifetime.

According to the Canadian Men's Health Foundation only about 30 percent of a man's overall health is linked with his genetics. On the other hand, the remaining 70% is determined by his lifestyle choices. This means that a lifestyle choice of having vices could be detrimental to a man's health.

The study by the CMHF tackled three risk factors that a man may face over his lifetime. Namely, these are being overweight, excessive drinking of alcoholic beverages, and the use of tobacco products. As reported by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), the cost of these factors was calculated by using the cost of goods and insurance premiums and investment returns based on case risk.

When the total cost was calculated, it was shown that it can be in the range of $1.7 million to $8.6 million. The most costly among the three risk factors goes to cigarette smoking because smoking 40 sticks a day can cost over $4.5 million over a person's lifetime. Excess alcohol intake comes in second at almost $3.3 million at 5 drinks a day over a person's lifetime. Lastly, being overweight by 150 pounds can cost a person $800,000 in their lifetime.

An infographic has also been released showing what other goods the cost of these risk factors can fetch you. They include, but are not limited to almost 7 trips to outer space on the Virgin Galactic, a brand new car or a luxury vacation yearly for 45 years, a private island, and a considerable sum saved for retirement.