

I was reading [this
question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/11515/death-note-old-age-
as-cause-of-death) and it got me thinking about what a person's "original
lifespan" really was.

Does the original lifespan mean the amount of time a person has from birth to
death, ultimately caused by old age (e.g. the longest a person could live
barring abnormal health problems or unusual circumstances (e.g. murders,
accidents))?

What if the person contracts a lethal disease? Surely it would shorten their
lifespan, but would it affect their original lifespan?

So, take for example: John has a lifespan of 93 years (as seen through
Shinigami eyes). He works for the CIA, though, and at one point comes into
contact with a high dose of radiation from a nuclear device. Doctors tell him
he only has a couple days to live.

In this case, John's lifespan has been shortened from 93 years to 2 days. If
he writes his own name in the Death Note, set to die from a different disease
that takes years and years to develop, would he have effectively beaten
radiation poisoning?

Note that the 23-day rule (XVII) would not apply here thanks to rule XVIII.


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death-note
What does the Death Note consider as "original lifespan"?


The original lifespan is the time you are supposed to have alive at the moment
of birth, unless someone, Shinigami or human, use their Death Note on you, or
you make a deal with a Shinigami shortening your lifespan, or a Shinigami
sacrifices themself to allow you to live incrementing your lifespan.

> What if the person contracts a lethal disease?

Once you spent your lifespan you will die, the reasons of death doesn't
matter. If you contract a disease you will live until your lifespan allows you
to live.

To illustrate this, Amane Misa was supposed to die when the fan attacked her.
Gelus knew her life will end, and decided to intervene. Since her lifespan was
spent and she didn't die when she was supposed to, Gelus dies transferring his
lifespan to Misa, hence she no longer lives with her "original lifespan" but
the shinigami's.

> would he have effectively beaten radiation poisoning?

He could be died because a indirect effect of the use of the Death Note, which
caused him to be affected of radiation poisoning, as can be seen in [this
other answer](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/11424/2159), but if there
isn't Death Note involved, no matter what he should die when their lifespan
exhaust, so he could just get lucky and not being poisoned or something
happened before hand that prevented him from being poisoned.


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Okay, let's say I have a Death Note. Now, another Death Note owner wants to
kill me.

Let's say to save my life, I write my own name in the Death Note with
_bradykardie_ as a cause of death. I will over 23 days. And when my lifespan
ends I will die of bradykardie. So, that means, **if no Death Note is
involved** _that CIA Agent won't die_ , **because he isn't supposed to die
then**. _But_ **if he writes his own name in the Death Note** , _with a
disease as a cause of death_ , **he will die of that disease when his lifespan
ends**.


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I think you are missing the point of "Death Gods". The "original lifespan" of
a human is the amount of time they have from birth to death. And I think it is
already decided from before!

The only way it would change would be any type if interaction with a death
god/death note being introduced to the situation.

So if he got affected by radiation, and were to die, this would have been
taken into account in your original lifespan! (As long as the radiation
situation was not introduced by someone with a death note or a death god!


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