Aug
20

This could save more lives than a cure for cancer…?

Written by-Zach-

What is it, you ask?
Well, I’ve gathered some figures from the Cancer.org website and used them to figure out the average number of years an average American loses from cancer. I share these figures below.
I also show some math I used to get to my final product: (if you’re not into math, just skip this section and go on to Analysis section.)

Chances of getting cancer about 40%
Chance of surviving cancer about 61%
61% of 40% is 24.4%
So chances of dying from cancer is 40% minus 24.4% which equals 15.6%.
77% develop cancer after age 55
Average life expectancy in the US: approximately 78 Years
12% lose 23 years of life or less from cancer
3.6% lose more than 23 years of life from cancer
(to make the statistics workable we will say that the 3.6% actually lose 78 years of their life, and the 12% lose the full 23 years of their life, which is obviously an exaggeration on both parts)
So if we say that 12% loses 23 years and that 3.6% loses 78 years we could say that the average American loses 5.6 years of life from cancer, if we multiply 12% times 23 years plus 3.6% times 78 years.

29% of our life spent sleeping
22.6 years of life spent sleeping

Average American person loses 5.6 years of life from cancer
Average American person loses 23 years of life from sleeping

ANALYSIS

We need a cure for sleeping! (Don’t take me too seriously. This is obviously not a reasonable conclusion for anything, but it is, however, a very interesting thought.)
We spend millions of dollars a year on cures for cancer, which are, very important I might add. However, I don’t believe that a cure for sleeping is on any of our priority lists. Why not? There is a 100% correlation between people who sleep and people who die. Not to mention that it steals 4 times more life than cancer.
You might say, “Well, sleeping is not a disease, sleeping is a natural process of a living human”. To that I would say a disease is defined as “any harmful, depraved, or morbid condition, as of the mind or society” and I would suggest that anything that is 4 times worse than cancer is quite harmful and rather morbid in its effect of human life. I can also say that cancer, as far as I know, is quite natural, just like sleep. Diseases have been a part of the human race for quite some time. To say that something that has been around for that long isn’t natural, then I don’t know what would be.
What we need is a pill or some sort of treatment so we don’t have to waste our lives sleeping. Sleep can become just a luxury, not a necessity as it is now. It’s nice to lie down after a long day or after working out at the gym, but it’s a pain to have to waste 29% of your life doing it. It’s inefficient, it’s unproductive… it’s just not American. It’s also a pain when you don’t get enough sleep, think of the other diseases that would be cured with a cure for sleep: insomnia, sleep apnea, along with 82 other known sleep disorders. Never have another bad dream again.
Also, think of the money you’ll save in beds. Good beds cost lots of money, and for a big family beds can get pretty expensive.
Come on people, we need to jump on this before other countries do it first. I think Japan is working on it right now actually, how else do they get their kids in school for 15 hours a day?Drugs, of course…Just think, that could be us.


  1. jack Said,

    Life is the most fearsome disease, it has a 100% mortality rate and rapidly infects every organism at birth.

  2. Danny Said,

    http://health.howstuffworks.com/sleep-is-so-last-year.htm
    Modafinil.

  3. Alex Said,

    Life may be the most fearsome disease, but water is the most fearsome compound.
    think about it 100% of people that have ever died have come into contact with water.
    The ancient Egyptians even mummified themselves in order to escape the effects of water but alas were always too late because by the time the mummification was started the terrible effects of water had already taken place.

  4. paul Said,

    sleep doesn’t steal life as you are still alive while sleeping.

  5. Crono trigger Said,

    Use the Enteron?
    >Yes
    No

    ……..You feel rested!!!

    …….But you’re still hungry.

  6. Michelle Said,

    What about air! 100% of people, organisms, animals, trees, plants have breathed air.

  7. Dave Said,

    This may just be one of the stupidest things I’ve read.

  8. Brandon Said,

    I’m with Dave (7.) on this one. This could apply to any activity that involves a significant time investment (work, movies, etc). Sleeping is nice. It’s comfortable. We like it. Cancer is painful and its treatment has all sorts of horrid side-effects (e.g. puking your brains out).

    I see what you are getting at here, but it’s just really contrived.

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