Anyone out there gamble on sporting events? Data suggests that the U.S. sports betting market is over $17 BILLION dollars a year, so my “bet” is that at least some (or many) of you out there do, in fact, bet on sports. There are many different types of bets one can make including what team will win the game being bet on, how many points are given to the underdog, how individual players will perform, etc.
There is a type of bet called the “OVER/UNDER”. As an example, in a football game, the total amount of points predicted to be scored by the aggregate of two teams may be a certain number (for example, 48 total points) and you can bet the “UNDER” meaning less than 48 total points are scored or bet the “OVER” meaning that you believe more than 48 points will be scored. With this bet, you are not betting on what team will win the game, but rather, simply how many points will be scored.
Okay, time for Posner to take this “OVER/UNDER” discussion to the health arena. Human nature is such that we will tend to OVER estimate certain aspects of our health and UNDER estimate other aspects. For example, people will tend to OVER estimate their:
- Exercise time
- Relative state of health in general
- The “healthy” nature of their dietary patterns
Examples of UNDER estimating health aspects include:
- Actual weight (if the person does not get on a scale regularly)
- Alcohol consumption (they taught us In medical school to multiple by 2-3X the amount of alcohol intake a person admits to)
- Parameters such as blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol levels: Unless regular lab testing is performed people often believe their numbers are “normal”, when in fact, they are elevated into an unhealthy level)
Please take a step back and evaluate YOUR “Over/Under” assessment of your health parameters. If you have not gotten on a scale recently or had a general doctor checkup visit, do so. Do NOT make a bad bet on your health.
Here is a song from Kenny Rogers, aka “The Gambler”.
