I read a book about the way of the Samurai and it spoke about meditating daily on death to overcome our fear of it.

I think your suggestion, however, about doctors describing behaviors in a way that do not necessarily relate to our mortality is much more practical than asking everyone in the world to meditate daily on their death. Often times I take issue with the way scientists apply the results of the studies they discuss in blogs, but I think your suggestion about describing behaviors in a way that does not necessarily relate to death is a really good application of the findings you are talking about.

I wonder, though, how people would do that. Like, what about cell phone use? That's what I thought about when I read this article. When I read about cell phones and brain tumors, I get really determined to curb my cell phone use, but later I find it more comfortable not to think about it too much. How could someone talk about cell phone use without mentioning brain tumors?? Perhaps we could suggest that devices that keep the raditation further from our heads look really cool, or to say that people who talk all the time on cell phones are annoying...

Anyways, good article!

OMG, I'm doomed then. I should have been 6' under already.

now i have strong reasons to prevent my fiancee from getting exposed to the sun

I think it also has to do with how much control we believe we have over our own bodies. There is the mentality that with daily effort we can successfully prolong our lives but there is also a conflicting reality that no matter what we do some things are out of our hands when it comes to our own bodies. We all know that person who worked out and ate right and still died of cancer and we love to hear about the man who drank and smoked all his life and lived to be 100. These anomolies are more interesting and therefore catch out attention more readily, giving us a skewed view about how much control we really have.

Excellent article. This was a joy to read and I will share this with my family and friends. Keep up the great work.

I think a person can be driven mad by the constantly changing "rules" on what is and is not bad for our health. Granted there are a few things that have remained a constant over the years, ie smoking, over eating, but, in truth, a person could be driven to fatalistic thinking with all the media reports on the latest "bad" things to eat, drink, use, or wear. There is also the desensitizing factor. We hear a constant barrage of all the things that are bad for us, to the point where one could develop the attitude that, no matter what I do, I am going to die anyway.
Loved the article!