Have you ever thought about how many times you would do things in a lifetime? If not, these numbers may get you to thinking.
Note: All calculations are based on a life expectancy of 80 years old (the average life expectancy in the US as of 2017 is 78.6 years, Canada is 82.25 years, Australia is 82.5 years, the United Kingdom is 81.16 years, and Japan is 84.1 years). Calculations for retirement age is 63 (the retirement age according to the US Census Bureau ranges from 62–65 years of age).
How many times will these things happen in a lifetime?
2.92 billion heartbeats — The heart beats about 100,000 times a day and 36 million times a year.
420 million blinks — The average person blinks around 15 times a minute. Assuming the person gets 8 hours of sleep, the number of blinks in a day is 14,400 while the number of blinks for a year is 5.3 million.
672 million breaths — The average person breathes about 16 times a minute, 23,000 breaths a day, and 8.4 million times a year.
63,000 miles walked (Approximately) — According to a 2003 study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, the average American takes 5,117 steps a day (the recommended amount is 10,000 steps a day, which is about 5 miles).
Some assumptions had to be made with this particular calculation. Of course, a newborn can’t walk, and a young child will have fewer steps per day than this amount. Also, a person in their later years will most likely be walking less than this number of steps per day. (This calculation is based on 64 years of full walking activity, 14 years of decreased walking activity, and two years of not walking)
26.6 years of sleep — Assuming we get 8 hours of sleep every night, in a year, we would sleep 2,920 hours or 121.6 days.
9.1 years watching T.V. — According to a 2015 American Time Use Survey by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, those age 15 and over spent an average of 2.8 hours watching T.V. per day. That’s 1,022 hours per year or 42.6 days a year watching T.V. (The calculated amount of 9.1 years includes kids under 15 who probably watch the same amount of T.V., but it does not include children under two years of age)
10.19 years working — Based on the same survey, an employed person worked an average of 7.6 hours a day at their job. If someone started working at age 18 until retirement at age 63, working 261 days a year (depending on the year), they would have worked 1,983.6 hours in the year. In their lifetime, they would work 89,262 hours or the equivalent of 3,719 days.
204,400 times urinating — Most people use the bathroom to urinate about seven times a day on average. That equates to 2,555 times a year.
29,200 times pooping — Normal ranges for pooping go from one to up to three times per day. A person averages about a pound of poop per day, but this depends on their weight. This comes out to about 14.6 tons of poop a person produces in a lifetime.
6,939 gallons of water consumed — The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated that the average daily intake of drinking water consumed per day per person is 3.9 cups after the age of two. 76% of people drink plain water on any given day.
2.62 million gallons of water used for other things — According to the U.S. Geological Survey, each person uses between 80–100 gallons of water per day for cleaning, showers, baths, toilets, etc.
2.27 years cooking — In 2014, the marketing research company Gfk found that Americans spend 5.9 hours per week cooking. The UK was also at 5.9 hours, Australia was at 6.1 hours, and Canada was at 6 hours. The country with the most time cooking per week was India at 13.2 hours per week, followed by Ukraine at 13.1 hours. An assumption was made for this calculation that someone started cooking for themselves at the age of 15.
5.4 years spent outside — Based on The National Human Activity Pattern Survey that was sponsored by the US Government, respondents reported spending 87% of their time in enclosed buildings and 6% of their time in a car. This equals to 93% of the time being essentially indoors or enclosed.
Now go on and get outside.
