Boomers are aging and retiring, and they are less healthy than their parents as they do it. 39% of them are obese compared to 29% of their parents and only 13% are in “excellent health” compared to 32% of their parents.
This deterioration in health correlates to a deterioration in lifestyle and nutrition. 52% of Boomers report sedentary lifestyles with no physical activity. That statistic, like many other health-related statistics, compares unfavorably with their parents’ generation, with only 17.4% reporting sedentary lifestyles.
All this even as our medical knowledge and skill improve! But TVs and electronics are powerfully seductive. Connecting to the world from a device you hold in your hand is amazing and offers many benefits, but unless you’re a Pokemon Go fanatic, you don’t get lots of body movement while you’re making those connections. Too often while you’re sitting looking at a screen of any type or size, you’ll end up munching some kind of highly refined packaged food product.
Contemporary research reports these links between sustained sitting and major health issues:
You work a lot of years to get to retirement, and you look forward to finally being able to do what you want to do with your time — but if more than half of you continue your sedentary habits when you retire from that sedentary job, more than half of you won’t be able to follow your passions in retirement.
So here are some pledges to make to yourself to be active and live a more healthy – and more fun – lifestyle!I will move my couch and the TV into a room with no other attractions and go into that room only to watch a specific show. Better yet, I can commit to core-strengthening exercises any time I’m in front of a TV.
Some scholars tell us that hunter-gatherers were taller and healthier than we are today. If they died at a younger age on average, it was only because their medicine was less advanced, and a minor medical event for us could kill them. We can enjoy the same great health of hunter-gatherers AND have the benefits of modern medicine.
With simple changes in lifestyle and eating habits, it’s not hard to be active. We can live longer and better than any generation before us. In retirement, we can do all those things we always wanted to do – those things that stir our passion.
For more information about how to become your best self and be active, please contact us.
David Michael Gilbertson is the founder and president of 3 Elements Lifestyle, LLC., a Fitness and Weight Loss company that specializes in YOU!. With more than 15 years of experience owning, operating and managing clubs of all sizes, David lectures, delivers seminars and gives workshops on the practical skills required to successfully help you with your health and fitness goals. David also helps you build the teamwork, management, and training necessary to open your own fitness center. For more information on Licensing and Consulting Services Visit his website at www.3elementslifestyle.com or email at daveg@3elementslifestyle.com or call (805) 499-3030.
Phone:
(805) 499-3030
Address:
1620 Newbury Rd #6
Thousand Oaks, CA 91320