Probability of Overweight in Social Networks

Posted: 07 Mar 2010 07:11 AM PST

Probability of Overweight

What? A post about overweight in a MMO-blog? Well, just bare with me for a few minutes and I will explain how all of you can benefit from this info.

I recently read an interesting study (pdf), published in the New England Journal, explaining probability of overweight depending on different factors in life. Here is a small selection of what the study have arrived at.

Probability of overweight increased with:

171% if you have a group of overweight friends.
100% if you have a overweight best friend.
44% if you have a overweight brother.
37% if you have a overweight wife.
27% if you have a overweight sister.

As you can see from the information above your friends and family will have a big influence on you and this is far from unique when it comes to weight.

How to benefit from this information

First and far most important is to surround yourself with people who are sharing the characteristics you value. If all of your friends are lazy and stingy there is a high probability that you will become lazy and stingy yourself.

On the other hand it can be extremely difficult to break a relationship with your childhood friends and therefore it might be a good idea to try and change them instead. Encourage them into changing themselves and there will be a high probability that you will change as well.

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