6°c Clear
18°c Sunny
Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
A little work(out) never killed anyone
Revelations of a poll by the Heart and Stroke Foundation will serve as a wake-up call for baby boomers hoping to live a healthy life well into their golden years.
The boomer generation has often been labelled as the entitled generation, which typifies what many boomers may be thinking -- that the good life in later life can be had with ease.
Not so fast -- the Heart and Stroke Foundation has other ideas.
According to its poll, 80 per cent of respondents described themselves as healthy despite 85 per cent not eating enough veggies, 40 per cent falling short on exercise, 20 per cent still smoking and 11 per cent drinking heavily.
According to Statistics Canada, 23 per cent of the Canadian population will be senior citizens by 2031, compared with 15 per cent in 2011. For many of the baby boomers who will make up that grey tsunami, a healthy, pain-free life will sadly be nothing more than a dream.
Baby boomers -- those born between 1947 and 1966 -- have a lot of work to do if they want a good quality of life when they start collecting pensions and senior discounts. As one cardiologist said, if they don't plan to ramp up their health regimen, their final decade could be spent in discomfort and dissatisfaction -- a long step away from the golf course.
The cardiologist, Dr. Beth Abramson, suggests the usual improvements to health -- eating better and less, regular checkups and reduced consumption of cigarettes and booze. But exercise is arguably the biggest factor.
Our culture is far removed from any strong connection to an agrarian lifestyle, where exercise was a matter of day-to-day life. You didn't even think about it.
Now, it has to be scheduled. Abramson says 150 minutes of physical activity a week is the recommended amount of exercise for boomers. It isn't a lot, but she says it will go a long way to keeping seniors strong and their quality of life high.
As the saying goes, a little work never killed anyone. That goes with health, too.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 12, 2013 A11
More Analysis
- Back to Top
- Return to Analysis
More Analysis
(1 of 34 articles for this week)
BlackBerry: off the mat, hitting back
1:00 AM 0What a difference a year has made for BlackBerry.
Twelve months ago, the company's annual conference was a gloomy, mournful affair, ...
Poll
Most Popular Analysis
- Physician networks a way forward for health care
- 'Most hated man' in Senate
- A decade after Mad Cow — the legacy of a crisis
- Political opportunity knocks to abolish Senate
- This summer, check out health care elsewhere
- Harper embraces multilateralism on Arctic issues
- Can't lose when ends justify means
- How to make another bad winter for honeybees better
- Linking hospital quality to payment in Ontario
- StatCan survey data worthless
- The Angelina Jolie effect
- Angelina Jolie: 'I feel empowered... '
- What is Struthers afraid of?
- 'Most hated man' in Senate
- Cash for coitus scheme gets axed in Oz
- Ruining lives for cash flow
- Can't lose when ends justify means
- Physician networks a way forward for health care
- Harper fuels opposition to oilsands projects
- Never take candy from a stranger
- Don, it's not about nakedness
- Speeding fine only half of it
- Ashton might try to get the facts straight
- Ageism is rampant in Canada
- Canadian to expose alien collaboration with U.S.
- Smart people SLEEP LATE
- 'Done deal' offends Whiteshell cottagers
- What are they smoking at First Nations Bank?
- Celebrated economics theory wrong
- Manitoba could follow B.C. on surrogacy issue
- Ruining lives for cash flow
- What is Struthers afraid of?
- 'Genetic engineered' might save planet
- Angelina Jolie: 'I feel empowered... '
- Why we assume the worst
- Public debt management, the Alberta example
- 'Done deal' offends Whiteshell cottagers
- Kim Sigurdson It's time for government fish monger to cut bait
- Speeding fine only half of it
- How CBC and others torque ratings
- Ice roads, airships could work together
- Where is Canada's strategy to help Ukraine?
- Climate options -- grim, grimmer, grimmest
- Mother Nature springs into action
- Industry, First Nations partnerships exploding
- Ageism is rampant in Canada
Ads by Google
You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.
Have Your Say
New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.
The Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010.