I recently read that many people worry about accidental death, particularly in ways that are very frightening: poisonous snakes or spiders, or even alligator attacks. This same article noted that based on official death statistics, the vast majority of people actually die from chronic health causes: heart attacks, obesity, and other ailments that result from poor attention to long-term personal fitness. In 2003, accidental deaths in the United States numbered around 100,000; chronic health-related deaths were more than 2.4 million.
