Death Clock app tells me I'll die on December 7, 2039 at age 91. I'll take it.

Thanks to a story in the Washington Post, "How many years do I have left? An app gave me helpful insights," today I learned how long I have to live -- based on the answers I gave to 29 questions. The story gave some examples of the questions.

Although the specific date of death is obviously not intended to be accurate — the app’s disclaimer says it’s “for fun only” — it does tie your personal habits to your likelihood of living into old age and tells you what lifestyle changes might buy you more time. Thus Death Clock AI’s motto: “Know your date. Change your fate.”

After responding to 29 questions — including how much of the day I spend sitting, whether I get at least seven hours of sleep a night and whether I get all my recommended cancer screenings — I had my answer. A darkly humorous “Save the Date” card suggested I plan my end-of-life celebration for April 17, 2042, but I also learned the most likely ways I would die: sleep disorders, cardiovascular disease or cancer, in that order. Of course, cancer and heart disease are the two big killers in the United States. But I was surprised by how harmful sleep issues are.

The screenshot above shows the first result I was presented with after answering the questions and agreeing to sign up for a three day free trial of the app, after which I'd be charged a monthly or yearly fee. I plan to cancel before the three days are up, for a reason I discuss below. Ninety-one seems like a pretty good age for me to die. Pleasingly older than I am now (I'm 76) yet not excessively old, which 100 seems to be.

My most likely ways to die aren't surprising, since heart disease and cancer are the most common causes of death, and metabolic health involves healthy levels of blood sugar, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, blood pressure, and waist circumference -- all of which are contributors to health or the lack thereof.

Though I like the prospect of living to be 91, seeing how many years I'm estimated to have left still is a bit shocking. Fourteen years is the same as going from age 30 to age 44, which I recall went pretty damn quickly. Maybe I can find a way to slow down my perception of time, but unfortunately my experience is that the older I get, the faster the years seem to pass.

The Death Clock app doesn't show a big difference between how much time I have left with my current habits and with better habits. It's just about half a year. The reason is that I'm already slim, a healthy eater, a frequent exerciser, a non-smoker of tobacco and a non-drinker of alcohol, and I get plenty of sleep, along with other positive health habits. So there's not a whole lot of improvement left for me. Which explains why I'm not interested in paying for the app to send me tips for better health.

Hmmmm. The estimate is that 84% of my life is complete. Guess I need to make the most of the remaining 16%, though given the uncertainty of life and death, it could be that actually my life is 99.99% complete and I'll have a sudden heart attack before I finish this blog post. (Got to type faster...)

Again, better health habits only get me about another six months of life, so I'm not motivated to pursue them.

Rounded off, that's zero years. So I'll stick with having a few sweets every week and not being totally stress-free, which I suspect were a couple of the areas where I could squeeze out another few months of life if I made some lifestyle changes.

The author of the Washington Post story had a different reaction to his experience with the app. It makes sense that the app's results will be of most benefit to people who could live markedly longer if they changed some of their habits.

I had a similar reaction. I know how poorly I sleep, and I know how important a good night’s sleep is. But when my results showed I’m most likely to die because of a sleep disorder, I had an “aha” moment. Knowing that improving my sleep would remove my top death threat just might motivate me to do something about it, such as keeping to a regular schedule, avoiding large meals before bedtime, getting rid of screens in my bedroom and limiting naps.