A Human life is ridiculously short; so many things to do, so little time to accomplish them.  To make matters even worse, out of necessity, this brief life is utilized inefficiently.  And that indeed is the subject of my discussion.

Consider the following:

1) Life expectancy in Canada is now 81.

2) From 0 to 24 is used to grow up, learn from our parents, and get an education.  Since a university education is a necessity for many of us, and since many professions require two degrees (examples Law and Medicine), we can begin to work (i.e. contribute to society) around 24.

3) When we take into account sleep, 1/3 of that time has not been consumed to carry out the aforementioned activities, so really we only spend 16 years.

4) Assuming an individual retires at 65, he will have 16 (81 – 65) unproductive years!  Again, taking into account that he will sleep for 1/3 of that time, we now have 11 years.

5) I left the best for last.  We spend 1/3 of our life sleeping!  We have now used another 27 years. (81/3).  (Note that I took sleep into account in 3) and 4) above to avoid double counting).

[Really, the “inefficient” part of our lives is well utilized.  Sleep is an important biological process.  We have to grow up, and for humans it’s a long process.  We need an education; and the more educated we are the more we can contribute to society.  Finally, few of us are really unproductive in our old years.]

6)  The total time when we are unable to contribute to society can now be calculated:  16 (per 3) above) + 11 per 4)) + 27 ( per 5)) = 54!

7) Productive years:  81 -54 = 27.  Our efficiency %:  27/81 = 33 or only 1/3 of our lives!

So how do we accomplish so much?  Through sheer number; there are over 30 million inhabitants in Canada.

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