Overindulgence at Christmas can take hours per day off your life: research However a traditional turkey dinner with five portions of vegetables, followed by a brisk walk and two cups of coffee would add three hours to you life. Using data from population studies Prof Spiegelhalter calculates that, averaged over a lifetime habit, a microlife can be "lost" from smoking two cigarettes, being five kg overweight, having a second or third alcoholic drink of the day, watching two hours of television, or eating a red meat burger. On the other hand, microlives can be "gained" by sticking to just one alcoholic drink a day, eating five portions of fresh fruit and vegetables, and taking at least 20 minutes of exercise a day. Drugs like statins and living in Sweden instead of Russia, or living in the 20th century as opposed to the 19th, also adds microlives. Prof Spiegelhalter said this kind of calculation allows a rough comparison of the effect of relatively unhealthy choices. However he added: "These are all averages per day but the message is really about long-term habits. Translating it into a daily rate makes it easier to understand but the point is that if you are smoking 15 cigarettes a day then you are rushing towards your death where as eating healthily and exercising you are extending your life. Writing in the BMJ he added: "A lifetime habit of an extra portion of red meat per day is associated with a reduction in male life expectancy of around one year, from age 80 to 79. This does not look very impressive, as people tend to dismiss effects that are perceived to lie in the distant future. As author Kingsley Amis said, "No pleasure is worth giving up for the sake of two more years in a geriatric home at Weston-super-Mare." But the loss of one year over 45 years is 1/45th, which pro rata is roughly one week a year or half an hour per day. So an alternative, possibly more engaging, narrative is that a lifelong habit of eating burgers for lunch is, when averaged over the lifetimes of many people, associated with a loss of half an hour a day in life expectancy. Which is, unless you are a quite a slow eater, longer than it takes to eat the burger. In spite of the limitations, he concludes that "a reasonable idea of the comparative absolute risks associated with chronic exposures can be vividly communicated in terms of the speed at which one is living one's life." He adds: "Of course, evaluation studies would be needed to quantify any effect on behaviour, but one does not need a study to conclude that people do not generally like the idea of getting older faster." Healthy Christmas Day Turkey with sprouts, carrots, parsnips, cabbage, followed by fruit pudding - plus two hours. Two cups of coffee - plus 30 minutes 20 minute brisk walk - plus one hour one glass of champagne - plus 30 minutes = plus four hours Unhealthy Christmas Day Beef with one or two vegetables - minus two and a half hours. Watching Downton Abbey on TV - minus 30 minutes. Two cigarettes - minus 30 minutes. Two more glasses of champagne - minus 30 minutes. = minus four hours