# I See Dumb Sick People ... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 4, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-see-dumb-sick-people/617817 "2012-04-04T14:50:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-see-dumb-sick-people/617817/1 "2012-04-04T14:50:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*Intelligent people take less sick leave, researchers find \*\* > > Intelligent people take less sick leave, according to atudy showing a “clear” link between low intellectual ability and long-term work absence. Cognitive ability at a young age has a ‘‘strong impact’’ on whether sickness stops people from working several decades later, the researchers said. > > The study involved more than 23,000 people whose cognitive behaviour was measured in either 1946, 1958 or 1970. In the 1946 group, 47 per cent of those who were on long-term sick leave had been in the bottom quarter of childhood ability, compared to 13 per cent who were in the highest category. Some 41 per cent of those off sick from the 1958 cohort were in the lowest quartile of ability, while 32 per cent of the 1970 interviewees were also in this category. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9183107/Intelligent-people-take-less-sick-leave-researchers-find.html](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9183107/Intelligent-people-take-less-sick-leave-researchers-find.html) So who is regularly sick where you work? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-see-dumb-sick-people/617817/2 "2012-04-04T14:52:40Z")
Not me. That’s for sure. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-see-dumb-sick-people/617817/3 "2012-04-04T15:01:06Z")
Maybe they have the cart before the horse. Illness makes you dumb, not being smart means you don’t get sick. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/22080_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-see-dumb-sick-people/617817/4 "2012-04-04T15:01:57Z")
I wonder - did they also consider people who will come to work sick, thereby infecting the rest of the workforce? I would think an intelligent person would recognize when bedrest is the correct course of action. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-see-dumb-sick-people/617817/5 "2012-04-04T15:08:10Z")
How much does it take into account that dumb people are often forced to go into low level, physically demanding jobs that are more difficult to perform when sick. I work in an office because I’m super smart. When I sprained my arm (doing something dumb) it didn’t stop me from working. But if I was employed as a waiter or construction laborer, I would have been unable to perform my job for at least a week. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-see-dumb-sick-people/617817/6 "2012-04-04T15:14:46Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Maybe they have the cart before the horse. Illness makes you dumb, not being smart means you don’t get sick. I agree - and their conclusion that education could help future generations be less sick is a dumb response. You can’t fix stupid, and I suspect that low native intelligence and many health problems have a high co-morbidity rate. I know that’s true for Down’s Syndrome. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-see-dumb-sick-people/617817/7 "2012-04-04T15:21:21Z")
I must be a genius. My only time off for sickness has been when i was hospitalized for my gall bladder. Of course, I go in sick so that I can take off on nice days. . . ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-see-dumb-sick-people/617817/8 "2012-04-04T15:36:33Z")
Are dumb people more suggestible, or hypochondriacs? The dumbest people I know are also the ones who just cave when they’re even slightly ill. Makes me wonder if they’re internalizing all the ads for prescription drugs. They can’t get out of bed if they have a cold. They can’t go outside if their allergies are acting up. They’re sad about something so they must be clinically depressed. They’re fatigued because their legs are restless. Dumb sometimes means disorganized, so you have people who don’t arrange for backup child care, alternate transportation when the car breaks down, etc. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-see-dumb-sick-people/617817/9 "2012-04-04T16:15:29Z")
The study looked at people on “long-term” sick leave, not those workers who don’t call in sick when they have a headache. I bet that some of that is the fact that less intelligent people do work that is harder on your body, but not enough to count for the least intelligent people being 3 times more likely to be on leave than the most intelligent. The poor may have a higher incidence of smoking and alcoholism, which would contribute to poorer health in the long-term. StG ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-see-dumb-sick-people/617817/10 "2012-04-04T16:24:53Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > They’re fatigued because their legs are restless. > > . I briefly had RLS postop [stupid massage boots for the prevention of blood clots overstimulated the nerves in my legs.] Have you ever tried getting to sleep with RLS? [or chronic pain, arthritis in my knees and hips makes positions for sleeping tricky depending on which joints are hurting at any given time.] If you can’t get to sleep, or sleep properly several days in a row, your body has issues, your mind has issues. [Sleep deprivation](http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/1690) negatively impacts your ability to function. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-see-dumb-sick-people/617817/11 "2012-04-04T22:18:31Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Are dumb people more suggestible, or hypochondriacs? The dumbest people I know are also the ones who just cave when they’re even slightly ill. Makes me wonder if they’re internalizing all the ads for prescription drugs. They can’t get out of bed if they have a cold. They can’t go outside if their allergies are acting up. They’re sad about something so they must be clinically depressed. They’re fatigued because their legs are restless. > > Dumb sometimes means disorganized, so you have people who don’t arrange for backup child care, alternate transportation when the car breaks down, etc. Or maybe they don’t know anyone with one of these weird problems and they think they are a freak but then they see an ad and realize that they are not freaks and actually have a medical problem. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-see-dumb-sick-people/617817/12 "2012-04-04T22:25:32Z")
From the article > [@](#): > > Cognitive ability at a young age has a ‘‘strong impact’’ on whether sickness stops people from working several decades later, the researchers said. > > The study involved more than 23,000 people whose cognitive behaviour was measured in either 1946, 1958 or 1970. > > In the 1946 group, 47 per cent of those who were on long-term sick leave had been in the bottom quarter of childhood ability, compared to 13 per cent who were in the highest category. > > Some 41 per cent of those off sick from the 1958 cohort were in the lowest quartile of ability, while 32 per cent of the 1970 interviewees were also in this category. > > The authors, writing in the journal BMJ Open, stated that over 2.5 million people receive health-related benefits in the UK, including Incapacity Benefit and Employment and Support Allowance. OK so they are not separating out why the people are on long term sick pay or they don’t seem to notice the decline over the years, nor do they compare how smart they got later on in life. Perhaps this is because the “stupids” worked in jobs that had more dangerous conditions. Like a mine or other labor intensive jobs. But the fact that it has been steadily declining seems to me to negate their basic idea. If they were just as stupid in 1970 as they were in 1946, why are they sick less? Of course their basic idea is being presented by the Telegraph so we don’t know if that is accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-see-dumb-sick-people/617817/13 "2012-04-05T07:36:32Z")
**Duckster** , I get what you’re saying. We had one in our office and she was a friend of mine. She came to work maybe four days a week, sometimes three. I’m not saying she was stupid but there was _something_ going on…Our “boss” would usually come out and mingle in the late afternoon. One day when about half the staff was “out sick” I told him I’d started to call in “Stupid” that morning. He said it wouldn’t have worked, as it was a chronic condition. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-see-dumb-sick-people/617817/14 "2012-04-05T14:37:41Z")
Note that the study addressed only _long-term sick leave_, so the picture of a woman with the sniffles was ridiculously inappropriate, and this has nothing to do with a person calling in sick for a day or two. ---
**Author:** ![Plumbkrazy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Plumbkrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plumbkrazy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-see-dumb-sick-people/617817/15 "2012-04-05T15:22:38Z")
Dumb people = crappy jobs. Nobody likes crappy jobs. Also, Whole Foods isn’t exactly packed with retards. Poor people often have poor diets. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-see-dumb-sick-people/617817/16 "2012-04-07T16:04:56Z")
Intelligent people know that signing “my mother” on sick notes doesn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Crab\_Rangoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Crab\_Rangoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crab_Rangoon)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-see-dumb-sick-people/617817/17 "2012-04-07T16:10:53Z")
I find that the people where I work who are most often out sick are the ones that do not comprehend that a super-sized smoothie from Dunkin Donuts is not, in fact, good for you. Perhaps this does not correlate exactly to “intelligence” per say - but I have a sneaky suspicion…