Do we worry too much about the wrong things?

Generally people are terrible at assessing risk. Worrying about having an accident, whilst lighting up another cigarette or eating another plate of chips.

The UK national Health Service put together the Atlas of Risk, a tool to help the English understand the diseases and conditions that are the biggest killers in England and so hopefully make better life style choices.

The comparitive figures are likely to be pretty similar in New Zealand.

“It’s easy to lose perspective and worry about small or insignificant risks while ignoring, or being unaware, of the major threats,” the NHS explains on the site. “The NHS Choices Atlas of Risk has been designed to help put health threats into perspective.”

A picture clearly shows the relative figures.

I first came across it on the businessinsider.com.au.