Study: Baby Boomers’ Health Very Poor, Getting Worse

[dkf]

WASHINGTON (CBSDC) – The Baby Boomer generation’s overall health has been on a sharp decline.

Australian researchers from Adelaide’s three universities have completed the first stage of a report on the generation born between the end of the Second World War and the mid-1960s.

Obesity among baby boomers is more than double the rate of their parents at the same age, and boomers with three or more chronic conditions was 700 percent greater than the previous generation.

--

“We have to do something now in terms of reducing obesity as a risk factor if we’re going to manage health costs into the future, but I think more importantly if baby boomers are going to be able to lead active and productive lives in their later years,” he told ABC.

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012/10/01/study-baby-boomers-health-very-poor-getting-worse/

[leftstreet]

1. Baby Boomer Bashing is on Wednesdays, not Mondays n/t

[Earth_First]

2. The debate is Wednesday...

Therefore (OP) has been moved to Monday.

FYI: The gun control debate has been rescheduled for the second Tuesday of the month.

[lapislzi]

7. Oh, shoot...did I miss the circumcision thread?

I always try to keep up with those...

[Mr.Bill]

3. Yeah, but let me tell you...

we've had an awful lot of fun getting ourselves in this condition.

[yawnmaster]

4. Oh jeeeze...we are in our 50's and beyond, of course our health is getting worse!!

What braniac came up with that headline.
We are well over half way through our lives...
What, our health is going to keep IMPROVING until our death date, then poof, dead???

[pinboy3niner]

5. Why are they spinning it to portray us as prematurely frail?

Any minute now I expect a dingo to carry me off...

[flamingdem]

6. A dingo ate my baby boomer!

nooooo

[pinboy3niner]

8. !

[Chorophyll]

22. !!

[BumRushDaShow]

23. !!!

[leftstreet]

25. !!!!

[HiPointDem]

20. spinning it to imply how terribly unhhhhealllthy boomers are -- how much monnnnney it will cost

everyone elseeee -- how we can't afffford itttttt -- same old same old.

[pinboy3niner]

24. Durn 47-percenters!1!!

[WinkyDink]

9. All BBs? Or just Australian ones?

[SheilaT]

10. Hmmm. Maybe that's why

I've noticed so many people my age and younger who are taking multiple prescription medications. I'm constantly horrified at how old and ill so many people in their 50's and early 60's are.

While obesity, smoking and certain other habits are often to blame, I also think that because doctors will simply prescribe a medication for whatever's wrong, and almost never look into getting the person to make changes in their lives, we've gotten to this point.

[Blue_In_AK]

11. I guess I'm one of the Lucky ones then.

I just turned 66, and I feel great. I just passed my yearly physical with flying colors, walk about 15 miles a week, have a healthy BMI, and the only prescriptions I take are Synthroid and some drops for my eyes after cataract/cornea surgery this spring. I'm planning to live into my 90s if we make it past 12/21/2012.

[pinboy3niner]

13. I suspect the Aussie boomers had to deal with premature senility

Twelve years ago I was driving down the road one night with my Aussie visitor (then about 50) when he pointed at the sky and asked, "Is that the North Star, pinboy?"

I looked where he was pointing and then took a couple of beats before answering.

"No, Warwick," I told him. "That's the North Cessna."

[bemildred]

12. I understand a lot of the generation before us is already dead.

I suppose that is better, since dead people are no longer a burden to society.

[Redlo Nosrep]

14. Being Raised on a Farm Helped

65 here, walk 6 to 8 miles a day every day and have since my 20's, and am running a hobby farm in my retirement -- but being "active and productive" started in my early teens with farm chores on 110 acres, walking uphill (both ways, of course) two miles to catch the school bus, gym classes, eating organic foods out of the garden and orchard, and hiking/backpacking trips all over Oregon. I'm as addicted to exercise as any junkie.

Just two prescriptions and yes, a bit of middle-aged spread that is melting away with all the projects I'm working with hubby on to whittle down that "Honey-Do" list (chicken coop! shed! outhouse! rain barrel system! ooh, look at this, sweetie!).

Use it if you can, or lose it.

[Brickbat]

15. "Old people getting old."

Also, med-tech firms find more ways to profitize getting old.

[Fumesucker]

16. I guess that's why the retirement age so desperately needs to be raised..

Because the Boomers are all decrepit.

[dkf]

17. Maybe obesity is a secret government weapon to keep people from collecting SS.

[HiPointDem]

21. +1

[pinboy3niner]

26. +2

[Jennicut]

18. Obesity is up among all ages.

Gen X, Gen Y and my children's generation (those born in the mid 2000's and beyond) all have higher rates of obesity then previous generations did in their 40's, 30's, 20's teens and childhood. Baby boomers may only be obese now. Gen X and Gen Y got fatter younger. And today's kids play more video games, watch more tv, and they have the internet, etc.

[Habibi]

19. This is an Aussie study of American boomers?

Seems that way from the (brief) article. Huh?

Did the study take into account the burden on many boomers who are doing elder care during an economic downturn and also trying to save for college/retirement and trying to maintain some kind of income? In Australia, family caregivers are given a care stipend, or so I understand from reading an elder care message board. That helps them pay the bills. Plus, they have socialized medicine, so they can at least get medical care for themselves without going bankrupt.

None of that is true here. Caregiving stress is breaking a lot of middle-aged people, and I'm one of them.

[bluerum]

27. It's called ageing. Welcome to reality people.

[HockeyMom]

28. Food Posioning 4 years ago

was the last time I went to a doctor. AGE related? I doubt that. Before that? Sinus infection maybe 15 years ago? I can count on one hand the number of times I HAD to go to a doctor.

Obesity? I weighed 100 lbs in my 20s and still do in my 60s. Only time I weighed more was when I was pregnant (127 lbs). Actually, they tell me I don't weigh ENOUGH. I am 5'1. What am I supposed to weigh???? If I have weighed this for 40 years, maybe it is what I am SUPPOSED to weigh? I am a hyper person. I cannot SIT for long periods (including a JOB that requires me to do so). Maybe it's not so much what you eat, but the "exercise" you get? Oh, just had a Big Mac, fries, and soda for lunch today! Last time? Maybe 4 months ago? When I get the urge, I go with it.

They can take all this and SHOVE IT, as far as I am concerned.

[kestrel91316]

29. My health is fine. But it won't stay that way much longer if the repukes get their way

and kill healthcare.