I am above average. Chances are so are you. It’s great to be above average! All hail those fortunate to be so. I am so far above average I’m not sure I can cope.
Now before you get too euphoric and so over excited that you tell your boss to stuff his job where the sun doesn’t shine, take up residence somewhere very warm and sunny and learn to play the ukulele, perhaps one should ask the pertinent question, “Above average at what?”
I am of course referring to the number of legs I have. You see you only need one person to have one leg to find anybody with two above the mean average. Incidentally, incase you’re interested, you wouldn’t be anything special if comparing the mode or median averages so let’s be selective, eh? It turns out that being selective is an important part of the reporting of any scientific study, as we shall see.
On the other hand being below average is good too. I have a below average heart rate when compared to the general population of the World, but an above average heart rate compared to that of the overall population that the World has ever seen, and may I say I’m jolly pleased about that.
I recently read an article from Tufts University that suggests that a build-up of a fat molecule known as ceramide might play a leading role in muscle deterioration in older adults. Interesting.
I read on, (bear with this next quote).
“There is a known relationship between elevated ceramide levels and unhealthy muscle in obese adults, but to the best of our knowledge, this had not been studied in healthy weight, older adults,” said Donato Rivas, Ph.D., the study’s first author and a scientist in the Nutrition, Exercise Physiology and Sarcopenia Laboratory at the USDA HNRCA at Tufts University.
And it turns out that it still hasn’t because their “study” enrolled ten 10 men in their mid-seventies and nine men in their early twenties. 19 men. Woo! What does that show? Statistically not much I can tell you.
Perhaps another explanation is that as you get older, you become less active and therefore lay down more fat hence your ceramide levels increase. So we’re seeing a possible connection between age and fat storage?
Quite frankly I can go to Swindon on any Saturday and find that connection! Also a connection between decreasing age and reduced dress sense, and a disconnection between car drivers and indicators!
Another newspaper article reported a study made by Pixmania (who?) that found the average UK worker spent 2 hours extra working per day (yes, I will repeat that, PER DAY) by checking emails etc on their smart phone. This was picked up (presumably on their smart phone) and expanded upon by an “Internet psychologist” (I didn’t know they existed either and still don’t know why), saying we should ditch our smart phones and perhaps become happier more productive workers.
Some people must spend the whole of their lives (and I mean this literally) on the phone for that statistic to work – just think about it for 1 second. That psychologist would do well to do so in my opinion before basing such an extreme outcome on such a flimsy premise!
In conclusion, you can’t trust a statistic when it is bandied around unless you read the small print and/or have two legs, compared to the general population of the UK!
9/10 cats recommend that you eat healthily, drink moderately and move as much as possible. I know it sounds preposterous but I’m sure I can find evidence to back it up. Now where did I put my smart phone?
