Latest news with #DeathClock
Medscape
30-06-2025
- Health
- Medscape
Death Clock App Not Ready for Prime Time, Says Ethicist
This transcript has been edited for clarity. Hi. I'm Art Caplan. I'm at NYU's Division of Medical Ethics at our medical school. I came across a really interesting app called the Death Clock. It is exactly what it sounds like. It basically is an app where you feed in all your health information, personal information, social information — any fact about you — and it promises to tell you your death basically is a forecaster of when you're going to die. You might say, some people might have an interest in that. What's the issue? Well, I think there are many issues. Should a patient come and ask you about this, I think you'd be wise to be ready to answer in case this app or others like it that are coming take first problem is, can we accurately predict your death date, even given a whole array of personal information? I still don't think so. Having worked now for a while on geroscience, meaning what factors cause senescence — not diseases in old age, like Alzheimer's disease or Lewy body dementia, but just aging — we don't really understand why some people age at different rates. There's a disease called progeria where a 10-year-old can go through aging and end up looking like a 90-year-old at the age of 11. Then, there are clearly differences in the rates at which people age from midlife to old age. We don't understand them well, but we're learning. I think an app that says it can tell you your death date is not accurate. Some people aren't going to want to know their death date without getting counseling. If someone asks if they should buy the app, I think either that company or you, as the doctor, had better be prepared to counsel them about what it would mean if it predicted an early death or a death that's coming soon. Aside from fear and worry, what plans should they make?Should they fill out advanced directives? Should they not retire to Arizona sooner? They're going to want information and counseling, and somebody has to provide it to them, and I don't see this company doing that yet. People need to at least try to cope with bad news. Another reason the company says the app is interesting is it'll push you to make lifestyle changes that will extend your death they offer — I think it was for $50 a year, if I remember right — a program to counsel you, claiming to be targeted to your particular situation, so that you can live longer. I doubt that is necessary either. We all know how to counsel patients in terms of wanting to live simple steps. I don't mean simple to do, but I mean five or six rules that hold up: lose weight, more exercise, moderate drinking, wear your seatbelt, don't use recreational drugs in excess. We know what the tricks are if you want to add lifespan. I don't think you need to sign up for anybody's program yet. Probably the biggest worry I have is, who's going to get all this information? I don't trust this company not to resell. I don't trust this company to protect individual identity. Even if they tried, with hackers and accidents, having this private company control identifiable information — boy, I think that's a much bigger risk than any benefit you might get from having the death clock. Overall, I'm still not ready. I did take a peek at my own prediction. I've got some time left, which is good to know, but that was just curiosity so that I could talk to you about it. In general, I don't think this is ready for prime time. I do think the downsides still outweigh the benefits, so I would be pretty cautious before I set the death clock with a patient. I'm Art Caplan, at the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Langone. Thanks for watching.
Daily Mail
07-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE I invented the 'Death Clock'... and was horrified when it confirmed my worst fears about my own health
Brent Franson wasn't afraid of dying. He was afraid of dying from Alzheimer's disease. He remembers seeing sufferers on TV growing up, with their listless expressions and inability to walk. It left him certain he did not want to develop the devastating condition. His worst fear was revealed when he used the Death Clock - an artificial intelligence that predicts - down to the minute - when and how a person will die. Franson invented the app, which analyzes a person's body metrics and lifestyle, and input his own information. The 43-year-old was shocked when the Death Clock projected his demise at 76 years old. Among possible causes of his death: Alzheimer's. It made sense, Franson thought. In his 20s, he had become addicted to anti depressants and sedatives, which left him unable to sleep properly for a decade - a risk factor for neurological decline - and he had a gene that predisposed him to dementia. Franson was also working late, eating large late-night dinners and balancing his role as husband and father-of-three. Determined to change his fate, however, Franson made major lifestyle changes - becoming what he called a 'sleep athlete.' He fine-tuned his schedule to make time for rest and exercise and to create a better work-life balance. One year later, he ran his information through the Death Clock again and it revised its estimate — adding an extra nine years to his life expectancy. The most likely cause of death? Alzheimer's was still a possibility, but so were cardiovascular diseases and cancer. 'Something does have to kill you eventually,' Franson told He added: 'My biggest fear in life, it's not death. It's Alzheimer's. Just the thought of having to live with Alzheimer's — so this was really a wake-up call for me.' As the aging population of the US continues to grow, so will the rates of dementia. Currently, an estimated 6.8million Americans have Alzheimer's disease - the most common form of dementia - the vast majority of whom are over 65 years old. By 2050, this number is projected to rise to nearly 13 million. A lack of sleep - especially a lack of deep sleep - has been linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer's in numerous studies. Experts say it stops the body from clearing out waste products from the brain — raising the risk of dangerous amyloid beta protein clumps forming that raise someone's risk of the disease. More than one in three adults — 50 to 70million people — regularly do not meet the CDC's recommendation of at least seven hours of sleep every night. One study has suggested sleeping six or fewer hours per night before age 70 is linked to a 30 percent increased risk of dementia compared to people getting seven hours or more. It can also drive other unhealthy behaviors, like exercising less or eating more sugary treats, which can also raise risk. To boost his sleep, and slash his risk of Alzheimer's, Franson began by banning all mobile phones from the bedroom. He set a consistent bedtime of 9.30pm, and made sure to have his last meal at 5.30pm every night. Scientists say a consistent bedtime helps the body's circadian rhythm while eating too close to bedtime means the body is still digesting, disrupting sleep. Some suggest it can take three to four hours for a meal to transit into the intestines. He also lowered the bedroom temperature to 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius). Experts recommend sleeping at temperatures between 60 and 67 degrees to reduce the body's internal temperature and ensure a restful night's sleep. He had two sets of blackout blinds installed in his bedroom, as well. One that descends horizontally from the ceiling, and another that moves vertically across the window, to block out all light while he sleeps. Another lifestyle change was cutting out alcohol. Alcohol has also been linked to sleep disruption, reducing the amount of time spent in REM sleep — a stage for memory consolidation — disrupting the sleep cycle. The Alzheimer's Society says drinking alcohol also reduces the volume of the brain's white matter, which helps the brain transmit signals between different regions. This can lead to issues with the way the brain functions. Alcohol can also shrink the parts of the brain involved in memory. Franson also makes sure to exercise during the day, saying he alternates between weight lifting, cardio exercises and yoga. A July 2022 study published in the journal Neurology analyzed the health information of 501,400 people from a British health database over 11 years. Researchers found people who engaged in consistent vigorous activity — sports or working out — had a 35 percent reduced risk of developing dementia. Even people who reported completing household chores saw a benefit and had a 21 percent lower risk of dementia. A separate October 2022 meta-analysis of 38 international studies found people who engaged in activities like regularly walking, running, dancing, playing sports or swimming had a 17 percent reduced risk of developing Alzheimer's disease compared to those who did not. And while there is plenty of fancy and expensive health tech, Franson said sleep, diet and exercise are more than 90 percent of the puzzle of longevity. He added that nine percent was cancer screenings and about one percent was 'all this crazy stuff that people like to talk about.' Franson added: 'The discussion in the longevity space is often focused on the wrong thing. 'People devote a lot of time talking about things like Ashwaganda or full-body scans when, compared to sleep, diet and exercise, these are going to make only tiny incremental differences.'
