If you have been worrying about your retirement account given the fluctuations in the stock market, here's good news. You are less likely to survive a downturn.
A recent paper, "Stock Volatility as a Risk Factor for Coronary Heart Disease Death", (European Heart Journal; 2011; 32(8): 1006-1011) explains:
The volatility of financial markets may cause substantial emotional and physical stress among investors. We hypothesize that this may have adverse effects on cardiovascular health. The Chinese stock markets were extremely volatile between 2006 and 2008. We, therefore, examined the relationship between daily change of the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) Composite Index (referred as the Index) and coronary heart disease (CHD) deaths from 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2008 in Shanghai, the financial capital of China.
We found that CHD deaths fluctuated with daily stock changes in Shanghai, suggesting that stock volatility may adversely affect cardiovascular health.
A recent paper, "Stock Volatility as a Risk Factor for Coronary Heart Disease Death", (European Heart Journal; 2011; 32(8): 1006-1011) explains:
The volatility of financial markets may cause substantial emotional and physical stress among investors. We hypothesize that this may have adverse effects on cardiovascular health. The Chinese stock markets were extremely volatile between 2006 and 2008. We, therefore, examined the relationship between daily change of the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) Composite Index (referred as the Index) and coronary heart disease (CHD) deaths from 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2008 in Shanghai, the financial capital of China.
We found that CHD deaths fluctuated with daily stock changes in Shanghai, suggesting that stock volatility may adversely affect cardiovascular health.
As one who made my living in the money management world for the past 40 years, the thesis has some intuitive appeal. Personally, I needed both a CABG and a stent in the past but heart disease also runs in my family. Weight, smoking and drinking were never issues in my case. When multiple factors are involved, causation is hard to determine.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, Barry, but you have to admit it's suggestive..... :)
ReplyDeletenonlocal