According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation, Canada, most baby boomers are physically inactive and overweight – and the trend is for even more inactivity and growing obesity. The situation is such, says the Foundation, that baby boomers are suffering serious declines in heart health.

Baby Boomer = A person born between 1946 – 1964.

Over the last 100 years, with growing wealth and improved medical services, people in Canada have been enjoying longer life-spans and improved quality of life. This could all change as the baby boomers experience a serious decline in health, says the Foundation.

Over 50% of boomers are physically inactive – couch potatoes. Almost one third of them are clinically obese, 21% of them smoke. A cocktail for looming stroke and heart disease.

The number of baby boomers turning 60 in Canada is growing at a rate of over 1,000 per day. Heart disease and stroke risk grows rapidly at this age if a person is not physically fit and of the right weight.

The demands on Canadian health services will grow tremendously as time passes. One quarter of all Canadian health professionals are baby boomers themselves; people who will soon be retiring.

As demand for bypass surgery, angioplasty and other heart disease health services explodes, and thousands of health professionals retire, wait times for treatment will get longer and longer.

Health professionals are amazed that boomers are not aware of how weight can affect their health. 57% of them really believe that being overweight has no effect on their cardiovascular health (Heart and Stroke Foundation Survey). Most Canadian boomers also think life expectancy will carry on getting longer.

Here are some startling figures about boomers in Canada:

Smokers
2006 21% – 1996 29%

Physically inactive
2006 52% – 1996 43%

Obese
2006 30% – 1996 19%

The Canadian study is a reflection of the developed world today. In the USA, Western Europe, Japan and Australia, the trend is very similar. Those over 70 today had very different lifestyles for most of their lives than younger people now. They were more physically active for more years of their lives, they tended (until recently) to eat much less junk food. Our growing life expectancy figures are thanks to people whose lifestyles were different for most of their lives from the lifestyles of the majority of people today.

Even in the third world the trend is starting to change, especially in the middle classes. In China and India, obesity is a growing problem. In the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico, diabetes has now become the number one killer.

Written by: Christian Nordqvist
Editor: Medical News Today