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72 Comments
- FrostyCow, on 07/16/2009, -1/+26Low IQ and lack of concern for things in general (i.e. heart health) probably correlate.
- FervinsUlterius, on 07/16/2009, -8/+31In related news, incidences of heart disease & stroke related deaths in the bible belt found to be 20% higher than average.
- Mankind121, on 07/16/2009, -2/+15Whats with all the duplicates hitting the front page
- vanguardanon, on 07/16/2009, -0/+9Correlation does not equal causation.
- Gloogle, on 07/16/2009, -0/+8Some people have addiction to food and are pretty smart.
- SilverStandard, on 07/16/2009, -0/+8You gotta love it when Diggers change everything political.
- jack2454, on 07/16/2009, -2/+9yes, because stupid people don't understand how the world works, so they get angry. they can't think and solve a problem; they just get mad.
- topgigmedia, on 07/16/2009, -0/+5Lower IQ likely means hard labor jobs, which pay less and can lead to poor, cheap and unhealthy food choices. I am sure there is some link.
- SystemicThought, on 07/16/2009, -1/+6Coincidentally, lower IQ is also linked to people throwing away the bun from their cheeseburger "because of the carbs."
- DirtyVicar, on 07/16/2009, -0/+4Don't bother... a story never, ever gets removed no matter how many people flag it as a duplicate. It's just to make us feel like we're doing something.
- inactive, on 07/16/2009, -1/+5Dupe:
http://digg.com/health/Lower_IQ_a_heart_disease_ri ... - TheDatabit, on 07/16/2009, -0/+4Does this mean the idiots I work with will die soon?
- snappleman, on 07/16/2009, -2/+6you're
- manlyandy, on 07/16/2009, -0/+4I bet there are more that are addicted to food and pretty dumb.
- siyengar, on 07/16/2009, -6/+9Seems like Most Republicans will succumb to heart attacks then.
- appleofdischord, on 07/16/2009, -0/+3Hyperbole much?
- DiggMeUpPlz, on 07/16/2009, -0/+3Welcome to Digg.
- badfish0116, on 07/16/2009, -5/+8In other related news AIDS and HIV infection rates in San Francisco highest in the nation.........
- 13373h4X0r, on 07/16/2009, -0/+3This study claims to have found a link (and I don't doubt that there is such a link), but I think it would be a mistake to infer that lower IQ *causes* a significantly higher risk of heart deaths (although it's easy to imagine how lower IQ could affect lifestyle decisions that affect the risk heart related deaths).
Consider the following recent Time article ("Why Are Southerners So Fat?"; July 9, 2009) which I believe made it to the Digg front page:
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,190 ...
Among the factors identified are: (1) Availability of very inexpensive, high-calorie foods; (2) Very high average outdoor temperatures (e.g., 100F) discouraging physical exertion and exercise; (3) Lack of reasons to walk short distances (because most points of interest are so far apart that they are only practically accessible by cars).
Not being fit definitely affects one's productivity, and thus affects one's socioeconomic status. Not being fit also affects blood flow to the brain (and hence cognitive function) and the rate of production of new neurons in the brain (do a Google search for "adult neurogenesis", and also look at the Wikipedia article on the general topic of "neurogenesis"). Not being fit also increases one's risk of cardiovascular disease.
So, taking those facts in to consideration, it seems likely that there would be correlations between: socioeconomic status, IQ, and cardiovascular disease. However, I think it would make sense to regard all three of those things as consequences of a single cause: lack of fitness.
Sure, there is a "positive" feedback effect here, where declining fitness leads to a decline in socioeconomic status, IQ, and poor cardiovascular health, which in turn results in lifestyle choices (consuming inexpensive high-calorie foods, and disinclination to exercise based on the increased difficulty due to being overweight) that then results in further decline of one's fitness. But I think the focus should be on breaking this feedback loop by making it easier for people to get fit and remain fit.
I think it's a big mistake to focus on correlations between "IQ and heart disease" or "socioeconomic status and heart disease" because it gives the impression that maybe some people are doomed to heart disease due to having a lower IQ or a lack of affluence, when, in fact, there's a lot a person can do to reduce one's risk of heart disease -- primarily exercising and avoiding foods with a lot of cholesterol and fat. Yes, being smart and affluent certainly helps one make better choices and afford to devote more time to getting fit, but I think most people in America have the mental and financial resources to prolong their lives and improve the quality of their lives just by devoting a small amount of time to exercise and by avoiding certain foods.
It's a challenge to get fit, especially if one has, for whatever reason, become unhealthy. It's easy to indulge in delicious foods, and avoid exercise. Some people really enjoy smoking or drinking alcohol. If one gets depressed or stressed, it's even more tempting to avoid exertion and find some cheer in eating, smoking, drinking, etc.
Anyhow, I think it would be noble for someone to lead an effort to find ways to make it easier for everyone to get fit -- in a manner that is actually practical for people in various demographics. For example, what can a person in 100F heat with few healthful food sources around them do to get fit, within their possibly poverty-line budget? Time management is also a problem for many people. So, maybe many people aren't rational or clear-minded enough to make decisions that are best for themselves, but that doesn't mean that they can't recognize the benefits of things, especially if they are lucky enough to experience some of those benefits -- and so perhaps people need to be shown how they can integrate exercise and healthful eating in to their lives rather explicitly (i.e., show a dramatization of someone with a very similar lifestyle, for each demographic, and show the path to fitness in detail, perhaps via a regular television series). I think a television program *like* "The Biggest Loser" has the potential to provide encouragement and practical advice, but to have the greatest impact the show would have to be customized for each region of the U.S. and would have to include more details of the things that their peers are doing to get fit. Show how "boring" it is to exercise for 30 minutes a day. Show how "tedious" it is to prepare healthful meals. Show people struggling to get fit, day after day, and talking about their feelings. I think that would be practical and inspirational to millions. - Drakoi, on 07/16/2009, -1/+3Lower IQ Linked to Higher Risk of Deaths
*fixed - thelab101, on 07/16/2009, -0/+2Thank god. I mean darwin. I mean the universe.
- Palaceguard, on 07/16/2009, -0/+2Wasn't this news story this morning?
- dandaman0345, on 07/16/2009, -0/+2wtf are you bitching about algaeturd?
- DiggMeUpPlz, on 07/16/2009, -1/+3Do you goose step?
. - painting, on 07/16/2009, -2/+4yet another pointless "study"
- benroy, on 07/16/2009, -1/+3If one is not smart enough to know that drinking six cups of coffee, smoking a pack of cigarettes, eating a pint of ice cream after a KFC dinner and only look one way when crossing the street every day, they're probably not going to live very long.
- DirtyVicar, on 07/16/2009, -0/+2Actually what I've heard is "it's expensive being poor".
- Mship, on 07/16/2009, -0/+2six cups of coffee is that bad for you, you mean like a measuring cup "cup"? Because isnt there like 3 or four cups in one large starbuck cup?
- atticus29, on 07/16/2009, -1/+2Yeah, but IQ tests are biased against people of lower socioeconomic status- the metric doesn't work. Doesn't that sort of throw a wrench in the whole finding? If not, I mean at least such studies should be taken with a huge mound of salt. It's a slippery slope, correlating all of these things with measures of intelligence that are in fact not accurate measures of intelligence.
- ohplease, on 07/16/2009, -3/+4well good thing im a genus so no way i am geting a hrat attack
also i exersize alot on my lunch brake at teh pillow factory so i fdsfdfff56756555555fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff send help - TyrelVnne, on 07/16/2009, -1/+2That's sacrilegious to even think such things!
- thefuckingshark, on 07/16/2009, -0/+1Also, natural selection.
- inactive, on 07/16/2009, -0/+1I should stop eating ramen noodles so often.
- algaeturd, on 07/16/2009, -4/+5People can laugh and joke all they want to but the truth remains: Americans are fatter and dumber than they've ever been. On both counts. Sarah Palin was almost elected to the second highest post in the land. When she had events, they were full of fat people waving signs with misspelled words on them. They said they didn't want Obama to be the president because he was a Muslim.
If being fat and dumb is going to cause a lot of deaths, then no wonder the government has stocked up on massive amounts of coffins. Because the truth of the matter is that, statistically, this is a nation full of fat, dumb people. - jasongbc, on 07/16/2009, -1/+2My intelligence is only rivalled by my overwheming apathy.
- m3arvk, on 07/16/2009, -5/+6We should limit sexual reproduction to the smartest 25% of the world's population. It would solve overpopulation and correct the stupification of our planet.
- mrmidgetman, on 07/16/2009, -2/+3someone beat you to it. kinda. they said democrats
- nmffffd9, on 07/16/2009, -5/+6god's way of killing off the stupid?
- Frostek, on 07/16/2009, -0/+1As proved by all the 95 year-old heroin addicts... /s
- SpeedStix, on 07/16/2009, -0/+1Isn't that result a little trivial? Wouldn't lower IQ'ed people tend to eat the worst kind of foods. They wouldn't know much better would they?
- NoamChimpsky, on 07/16/2009, -0/+1Did you babblefish that? I understand that English isn't your mother language, but I've only ever read anything that garbled on web translators and Chinese-to-English stereo instructions.
I especially enjoyed:
"your not jaunty sufficiently to pursue retract of yourself"
and:
"as protracted as you don't sell-out a definitely spicy measure" - Tenlow, on 07/16/2009, -1/+2Yeah, having to pay for all those republican funerals is going to suck.
- NoamChimpsky, on 07/16/2009, -0/+1"The kid who swallows too many marbles doesn't grow up and get to have children of his own." George Carlin.
In this case, it would be "The kid who swallows too many cheeseburgers." - jasongbc, on 07/16/2009, -0/+1***** that, hedonism is where all the fun is.
- NoamChimpsky, on 07/16/2009, -0/+1That's a ***** crock and I'm tired of it. The square root of 16 doesn't change based on income bracket. "There" is not a possessive form for the underprivileged. The time it takes a train traveling from Boston isn't lessened by the burden of poverty. Gravitational acceleration doesn't make a penny fall from the Empire State building any faster just because there's a homeless man waiting to catch it in a cup. A gram of sodium is still more volatile than a gram of crack.
Mathematics, grammar, reading comprehension, physics, chemistry, science, biology, history, any subject, any metric that you want to apply to determine intelligence and/or knowledge is inherently equal as long as it is applied equally [that is, everyone is asked the same questions].
Unfortunately, not everyone is playing on an equal field. Those who live in wealthy families have far less stress and far more opportunities to learn. A rich boy, with two parents who have the time to read to him, nurture a sense of curiosity and exploration, in a safe, stable environment, who is well fed (this affects the brain a great deal), and who doesn't have a care in the world, except maybe impressing his parents with good grades, will have an advantage over a poor boy who has one parent that is forced to work 3 jobs and never has any time for him so his babysitter is the television, who is malnourished, afraid of losing his home, afraid of other kids in the neighborhood, who learns that, in his world, there is a bigger priority placed on "tough" than "smart". That in no way means that the rich kid is inherently smarter than the poor kid, he just had better opportunities. However, the end result is that the rich kid is in fact smarter [although he may not be wiser, but that's an entirely different set of metrics]. - R3publican, on 07/16/2009, -0/+1Maybe it's the fluoride?
- Frostek, on 07/16/2009, -0/+1You mean I'm not on slashdot?
:-O - Denominator88, on 07/16/2009, -2/+3BILLY MAYS HERE
- Sino, on 07/16/2009, -0/+1i hope so, the ones i work with too
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