If the thought of your mortality frightens you, these new state by state death maps will allow you to breathe a little easier (unless you live in one of the states where breathing issues are a disproportionate leading cause of death) as you try to avoid the reaper’s cold embrace.
Okay, sorry, just the thought that one day I will have to die keeps me up at night sometimes and while I thought these maps would help at first (and they are useful), I’ve been wracking my brain for the past thirty minutes thinking about just how I can avoid Influenza and Pneumonia, which are some of the disproportionate leading causes of death in California. The other states don’t offer much help. If you’re in Florida, for instance, you will want to avoid accidents. But which types of accidents? And how can accidents be avoided?
If you’re feeling particularly brave, you can check the graphics out over on Slate. Be warned, however, that the article’s author points out that the information obtained for the creation of these maps was from a 2008 CDC report that used information from 2005, so even if the maps aren’t entirely accurate, they’re still pretty fun to look at. Or terrifying. Perhaps terrifying is the word I should have used.