Baby Boomers face more health problems than their parents

I go to the GYM regularly and I see many people trying to lose weight but very few actually succeed and those that do lose weight don't keep it off for very long. And to make matters worst many of the GYM trainers are fat themselves, which make me laugh seeing a fat persons trying to make another fat person lose weight. Hard to believe that as we humans have evolved and have conquered that what used to kill us famines, hunger, Now we are at the other end of the spectrum, having too much to eat is now killing us.

Baby boomers need to learn to relax, have you ever tried to shop in the same store with them? They're notorious at Trader Joe's - they'll do whatever they can to either cut in front of you or hurry you up by hovering right next to you while you're paying. Then yesterday at Disneyland I had three of them try to cut in front of me in line for the tram even though I had two crying toddlers with me iand when that didn't work they cut off someone else. What a shameful generation they are in terms of manners. I'm so proud to have been born in '67, a much more courteous generation.

Of course baby boomers will have more disabilities. The "advances" in medicine now enables doctors to diagnose and identify these "disabilities." My grandfather died of a heart attack in 1960, now he would have had a bypass, been out of the hospital within a few days, and told he has to reduce his cholesterol, etc. His wife, my grandmother, suffered from "old age." Now it would be called dementia.
I'm 54 and happen to have Multiple Sclerosis, it was diagnosed with an MRI. 20 years ago, MS was diagnosed with a process of elimination. They would test for different things, until they figured it out. My neurologist made the comment that she's treating more and more MS patients, and doesn't know why. I told her, "You can diagnose it now with an MRI." She thought about it and agreed.
We aren't any unhealthier, the doctors just have better tools today.

They are fatter.

lazy kids!!!!

This REALLY is about people becoming a lot more OBESE than their parents generation AND the rate of obesity is much higher in blacks and Latinos, so that brings the rate down for THE WHOLE AGE GROUP.

Someone also correctly notes that regions like the south (and midwest) eat a lot more fried foods and fewer fresh fruits and vegetables. They also exercise less.

So it's ethnic, socio-economic and regional obesity and lack of exercise. YET this article hides these facts deep in the text, misleading us with the opening that MOST boomers are unhealthier while in fact many are far healthier.

This is the kind of bias built into our strictly age-based insurance system now, so that a superbly healthy 50+ person pays 3-4 times more in rates than an obese, lazy 25-year old who's going to have the resultant problems of hypertension, risk for heart disease and arthritis, stress on organs and trouble walking, likely to injure themselves if they DO heave themselves into the gym, etc.

This same bias is going to be built into the Health Care Bill that the supposedly progressive Democrats cobbled together - they're no better than the current insurance industry or lazy AMA of doctors in making healthy, active middle-aged and older whites pay the burden for insuring fat, lazy younger people and minorities. AGE DISCRIMINATION of the worst kind.

Must make any revisions fair to individuals who take good care of themselves and REDUCE costs of overall healthcare REGARDLESS OF AGE.

Madame X wrote:

Baby boomers need to learn to relax, have you ever tried to shop in the same store with them? They're notorious at Trader Joe's - they'll do whatever they can to either cut in front of you or hurry you up by hovering right next to you while you're paying. Then yesterday at Disneyland I had three of them try to cut in front of me in line for the tram even though I had two crying toddlers with me iand when that didn't work they cut off someone else. What a shameful generation they are in terms of manners. I'm so proud to have been born in '67, a much more courteous generation.

You were born in '67. Now, let's see. That means that your parents were most likely baby boomers. I could be wrong, too. But someone taught you to be courteous. To rant about baby boomers being noncourteous is stereotyping people-kind of how people used to treat nonwhites before the Civil Rights movement. You don't remember that, do you? Being Hispanic and a woman, I know exactly how that felt. So next time you try to generalize or stereotype people, why don't you do this on an individual basis, not as a group? Every generation, and ethnicity has RUDE people. And come to think or it, I think Trader Joes started out as a convenience-type store around '67. That puts Trader Joes in the baby boomer era.

As for illnesses, I agree that technology and medicine has advanced in the last 30 plus years. Medical technology is constantly advancing. I agree that America as a whole is overweight. We have become a sedentary society with technology literally at our fingertips.

"No Mas" said it well and clearly! With increased
awareness of health needs and improved medical care
our western world is seeing each generation living longer productive lives, well worth it even with greater medical costs for the last decades of life.

the biggest problem with the baby boomers and all subsequent generations is a lack of good old fashioned HARD WORK. Thus, the tendency for overweight individuals. trust me, i'm 29, and less than half the people my age would even consider doing the 60-90 hr weeks that i put in farming, fabricating and various other assorted HARD WORK. and i REALLY fear about the younger generations. worthless. how can we have any kind of social fabric if no one is willing to work for it.

I grew up in a family where my mom will say something if my weight is over and advised me to cut back and exercise more.She enrolled me in activity and let me ride my bicycle to school instead of taking the school bus.
Some of friends family would not say anything to thie kids, they are afraid they will get mad.
Its a sensitive issued with weight.They rather not talk about it and see thier kids grow into obesity.
I have a co worker who is obese, she constantly say she did not eat alot but when you put a huge serving in front of her, she will finish it.
Portion size in this country is too big. Food are plentiful and people take it for granted.
Enough of excuses of being depressed or unhappy so you eat alot. How about those happy days? Do you eat less?? Do you have more unhappy days in a year than happy days???
Do you workout to lose weight during happy days?NO.
Mainly they don;t exercise alot. We choose to park closer to the store, take elevator rather than stairs, jump in the car, jump out the car and into the couch.
All my family members are not fat, HWP and we know why. Our family 3 generations nobody is obese or overweight. Why, we choose to talk to it out when we see things are not right.
We understand food is good but know the limit.
Overweight can only be one of the reason, over eat,lack exercise, lack of self confidence and self love.

Thanks to companies like Monsanto, our food is radiated, gmo'd, hormone filled, pesticide, fluoride polluted. The Illuminati including Gore want to depopulate the planet. Take the vaccines people.

Everybody is different, some are fat some are skinny and the people that are skinny because they starve themselves always turn up fat later. Obesity is bad but its not who the person is. Don't put huge portions in front of your obese friend, normal portions(be nice) and ask them if they would like to join you for a walk at lunch time. You don't need to be mean.

I'm a boomer myself (born 1953), and IMHO boomers aren't any less healthy than earlier generations, they're just bigger whiners.(Although I found Madame X's comments obnoxious -- obviously you're not as courteous as you think you are, my dear.)

The woman in the photo is a year younger than me but to me she looked shockingly old. Maybe this writer just interviewed people who happened to be old before their time.

The end is closer than they think as ObamaCare loomes nearer.

Is it possible the studies found fewer disabilities among older groups because many people with disabilities die in their sixties?

jlb wrote:

the biggest problem with the baby boomers and all subsequent generations is a lack of good old fashioned HARD WORK. Thus, the tendency for overweight individuals. trust me, i'm 29, and less than half the people my age would even consider doing the 60-90 hr weeks that i put in farming, fabricating and various other assorted HARD WORK. and i REALLY fear about the younger generations. worthless. how can we have any kind of social fabric if no one is willing to work for it.

I think you're a little young to brag, talk to me when you're 75. I have some real bad news for you, the Pioneer lifestlye you are leading is not likely to keep you in tip top shape when you get older, any more than it helped the generations of people who grew up a hundred years ago doing the same things you are doing.

Most people who have your routine wear many parts of their bodies out and by the time their 60 they have more aches and tired bones than they can count. Their easy to spot, many look hardened, like tough old birds. They take a little time to get going in the morning, get up slowely, many walk a little funny, and most remember the good ol days when everything didn't hurt. Remember, our pioneering ancestors worked hard, ate natural foods, were rarely overweight, and usually died long before they hit their mid 60s. The average Greek or Roman livespan was about 20-30 years, and even in the early 20th century the avarage lifespan was only 30 to 45.

I'm not suggesting you'd be better off as an overweight couch potato, but regular 60 to 90 hour weeks of hard physical labor has never been associated with a long life free of physical problems.

If you want to live a long comfortable life, I strongly suggest you cut back if you can.

This article is good at pointing out the obvious. Which is we as a nation are NOT getting healthier but instead getting sicker and heavier by the day. Obesity is just a symptom of a much deeper problem. But the fact remains the same. If you do the things that it takes to keep your weight in control then you generally WILL FEEL BETTER AND LOOK BETTER - which in turn fuels your internal fire and motivation to do what it takes to stay that way. If you would like to change directions and live a vibrant life full of energy and purpose then PLEASE go to WWW.TROYSFITNESS.COM and check out the wealth of free information. It just may change your life!!!

Economist wrote:

Is it possible the studies found fewer disabilities among older groups because many people with disabilities die in their sixties?

Boomers enhanced their intellectual skills thus they think hard but don't need to work hard (the lack of physical obligations lead to heavier bodies)and conversely the ensuing generation - their offspring - works hard physically so they're naturally thinner (possible because they spent years sponging off their parents and didn't bother to develop intellectually so all they could get were menial jobs that require physical activities). The generation after that, the one that demands entitlements, neither works hard nor thinks hard thus they'll be back on the fast track to obesity.
Disclaimer: this example does not include every case, but it is merely meant to be a snapshot of a macro trend.

Let's be fair here. All generations of folk are the size of monolithic limestone promontories.

Fat,spoiled,lazy AMERICANS.