pan6467

Are you as healthy as your parents and grandparents?

I look around today and yes, my generation (the 30-40) may have a longer life span but, we don't seem as healthy as our parents. And if we are physically healthy, then we have the mental health that we are taking meds for.

It also seems that we have a lot more "rare" diseases and health problems than we faced in say the 60's through 80's.

It just seems that something is wrong here to me. Maybe it's lifestyle and the people I associate with. maybe it's because there are more people and thus more rare diseases become known not because the %age went up, but because just the numbers grew.

I mean athletes seem to be falling apart faster, people seem to be out of shape and suffer from more gastro problems, breathing maladies, and so on.

Has anyone else noticed this and what do you believe is to blame.... lifestyle, eating habits, environment, the pharmaceuticals pushing their ever increasing catalog of drugs onto us..... what?

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I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"

maleficent

It depends...

My maternal grandfather died at 65ish from throat and stomach cancer... caused by smoking cigars..

My maternal grandmother died at age 68 from alzheimers...

My father - has had bladder cancer, prostate cancer, thyroid cancer, two heart attacks, before he turned 65... Now at 73 - he's as healthy as a horse (knock on wood) He's still a practising attorney that can work circles around his associates half his age... and intends to be carried out of his office in a box.. He tried retirement and it wasn't for him.

My mother - should be bionic with all the replacement parts she's got in her... a year or so ago, she had her shoulder replaced.. again.. because of crippling arthritis... She's also had her hip replaced, her knee replaced, and cateract surgery so she could still see (whcih the bonus there was she was able to see without glasses fo rhte first time since she was 8) She's not healthy, she's very sedentary and basically is waiting to die... My father gets her out doing things -they take cruises twice a year... they go to vegas (legal conference there)... they have fun... but my mom complains about how old she feels.

I'm not unhealthy - I take no medication at all.. and won't.. but i'm not healthy either... I need to drop a lot of weight... My blood pressure is higher than it shoudl be... I am active... but i'm also lazy... I have no one to blame for my health but my lifestyle choices... too much coffee, too many years on the road (which is not an easy life) a lot of personal sacrafices made for my job...

health is directly related to attitude I think.. if you have a good attitude and thing you feel good then you will be ok... it's the people like my mother who are just waiting for the grim reaper that are the worst off..



But honestly, I think the health problems were there in the 60s and 70s - -they were just not talked about... my maternal grandmother had a double mastectomy when she was in her 50s- no one ever talked about it... my mother's cousin died of ovarian cancer... no one ever talked about it... another cousin had another form of cancer... wasn't talked about -female troubles weren't talked about - -cancer wasn't talked about...

I usually rant on and on about the pharmaceutical companies and their advertising on television.. but the good thing it's brought about is attention to some disease and it's brought disease out of the closet... and where it is able to be talked about.

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Willravel

I'm a lot healthier. My whole family suffers from heart disease and alcoholism. I eat mostly organic foods and I exercise very regularly (and I rarely drink, always in moderation).

Ample

My grandmother is having her 90th birthday tomorrow, her sister lived to be 104!

I know Im not as healthy than my mothers parents, but more healthy than my fathers side. My grandfather went running everday till be was 70. When his eye sight went bad he ran laps in the basement. He did this up to about six months before he passed away.

My father side. They were overweight and drunks. Enough said there.

I would think that people in general are less healthy. Gramps and Grandma didnt eat McD's three times a week. They did walk and ride bikes. People now a days dont do any physical activities and stuff their face with the nastiest shit. I was lissening to Calin last night. "If you sold rats asshole on a stick, Americans would eat it, maybe add a little butter or salsa on it.

If it wasnt for all the advances in meds. Our grandparents life rate would have been a hellva lot long than ours

Zeraph

I'm more healthy (overall, since it would depend on which ages youre looking at.) But my sister is probably less healthy so I guess it evens out as far as your theory goes.

cookmo

Well lets see...this is kinda hard to answer.

My grandparents on both sides were non smoking, religious teetotalers. But,their vice was the down home appalachian food, served with a side of lard,that they grew up on and continued to eat their whole lives....mmmm pappaws chicken and dumplings......My parents however, while their weight is relatively in check for the most part, smoke like freight trains and have terrible drug and alcohol problems.

Then you get back to me and my brother, while we were teenagers we did drugs and drank quite a bit. Now that we are older and have kids we dont drink or smoke or do drugs, but we are both over weight...go figure.

Charlatan

All my grandparents (as of last Thursday) are dead, so I suppose I am more healty than them.

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CSflim

Do you mean am I healthier that my parents are right now, or am I healthier now than my parents were at my age?

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raeanna74

I'm as healthy as my parents were at my age. I'm also taking better care of my health than they did. I have the tools that they did not. They discovered that my Mom was going through early menopause when she was only a few years older than I was. My mom wouldn't take hormone replacement pills because she was afraid they'd cause her cancer. My mom had high blood pressure when she was my age. She was at least 50 lbs overweight when she was my age. She's now nearly 100 lbs overweight. She would not take any blood pressure medication and she didn't exercise. Now her blood pressure is so high that the Dr wants to hospitalize her. Also my Mom went through the medication and treatment for it seemed a year for Lymes disease. She managed to beat it but was miserable during treatment.

My Dad has a plate in his thigh, one in his head, had a broken nose, fused vertebre, and had had carpal tunnel surgery at least once on each hand by my age. He was seeing a counselor for depression and emotional psychiatric problems. I can recall my Dad coughing and getting horse often when we was younger. Now, in only the past 10 years they've discovered his acid reflux and asthma.

I exercise about 3 times a week on average. I am only 10 lbs overweight. I have no chronic conditions that I take medication for besides Allergies. I have a broken bone in my foot and spurs on my left knee but otherwise I'm in good health. I take suppliments to support a genetically weak thyroid but I'm not thyroid hormone yet and don't need it yet. I also have carpal tunnel syndrome but manage to control it with my braces at night time.

My parents did not know and their Dr's did not even know at the time that some of their conditions would be worse if left unchecked. They're now in a worse state because of neglect. I would like to believe that we take care of health issues more promptly in the hope of preventing long term problems. I think that's why we hear of more problems now than we did back then. Small problems become bigger problems and we've learned to deal with the smaller stuff sooner.

As for my grandparents. My Dad's parents were in terrible health. Grandpa died at the age of 59 from smoking and heart related problems. Grandma is barely hanging on. My Mom's parents were totally different. Grandma died from early exposure to pesticides that they'd used years ago in their greenhouse/floral shop. Before some pesticides were outlawed. They caused scarringin her lungs that exponentially multiplied itself till she could not breathe at all. Grandpa - he will be celebrating his 90's birthday this month. He had a stint put in his heart 7 years ago but other than that I cannot recall him every being sick. He walks 9 holes of golf 4 times a week and the other 3 days he walks a mile each day. That guy can go and is STILL the handsome soldier he was years ago!

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pan6467

When your parents/grandparents were your age.

__________________
I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"

ASU2003

My Dad is really healthy. I would probably be amount the same. Either when he was 26 or when he is 55.

I am healthier than the rest of my family.

Mentally, I'm probably not as happy as they were back in their 20's.

newtx

I sure hope I am healthier. I certainly get more excercise and my eating habits are more healthy. My great grandmother lived to celebrate her 103rd birthday so it does make me wonder.

Plaid13

Im no where near as healthy as my parents or grandparents. Im allergic to damn near everything sometimes with a almost crippling effect. On top of my wonderful allegys im a bad insomniac. so my immune system is a joke.

abaya

Compared to my parents when they were 26? Well, my mom is Thai and was skinny as a rail back then. She also smoked (until she got pregnant with me). She's never exercised much as an adult, and it shows... yeah, the skinny-rail look went out when I was born (when she was 34). So I'd say she looked healthy, but probably wasn't that healthy in reality.

My biological father, he was very healthy at 26, I imagine. He was working on fishing boats as a career, which conditions your body very well. He probably wasn't sleeping enough, but he grew up on the outdoors and loved working outside and eating well. I don't know if he exercised, but I don't know if it matters when you are a manual laborer. Of course, with a job like his, it doesn't matter how healthy you are... your life ends the day you go overboard. Which is what happened to him, 6 years later.

My stepdad has always looked healthy, also because he's a manual laborer and has had muscles his whole life. He was a bit of a hippy when he was 26, though, and was just moving in with my mom at the time to help raise me after my father died. So he was probably smoking shit and not eating that great, then. Still, I think he was healthier at that age, before he started falling off scaffolding (he is/was a carpenter) and injuring his back lifting way too many heavy things. Now he is still doing manual labor but has to take a couple days off once every week or two, just for body pain or headaches/migraines.

As for me, I think my body is in great shape, but I don't eat balanced meals and I have always had a screwy sleep schedule. I haven't been sick in a long time, though, which is a good sign. I'm 5-2" and 130 lbs, work out almost daily (at least 3 times a week), never broken a bone, have never smoked anything in my life, and stopped drinking beyond my limit a while ago (though I only did that for a couple of years, at ages 22 and 24). I think I'm in better shape than I ever have been before, actually, and I hope to stay this way for a good long while! Now, if I could just eat more fruits and veggies... Oh, and get rid of my allergies... but I don't count that as being "unhealthy," since it doesn't affect my immune system.

__________________
And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran

Dilbert1234567

I wish I was, my mom takes great care of her self, so she has me beat. My dad takes decent care of him self, so he has me beat. My grandmother is not doing great, but she's still ticking and healthy. then there's me, I try to take good care of my self, I’m 21, I don’t drink very much, I eat healthy, no fast food, I’m only a bit over weight, but bad things keep happening, for the past 5 months I’ve been battling a prostate infection, and that has been all kinds of hell. All through out high school I was also very sick, with a multitude of other problems, Psoriasis, asthma, other breathing related problems, as well as many other things.

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Jinn

The decline in "mental health" I associate with the, pardon the language, "pussy-ification" of pyschology, like taking away honor roll in elementary school because kids felt bad.

"Physical health" declined with the mass Internationalization of things like McDonalds.. look at the obesity increase in places like China and Japan over the last 10 years.

My grandfather died of a heart attack, my grandmother of Parkinson's. The leftover grandmother and grandfather are live and well..

I'm healthier than they were, I think..

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Grasshopper Green

My dad's great grandmother died in 1977 at age 104. Her daughter, my great grandmother, died at age 96. My grandma is 82, still going strong, and never had any major health issues until last year when she had some sort of autoimmune problems that have been put into remission. My dad is 55 and is healthier than probably most people...so yeah..my dad's side of the family is healthier than I am.

My mom's side of the family are all alcoholic, chain smoking, down home eating Southerners and most of them didn't (or won't) see their 70th birthday. I'm way healthier than all of them.

I'm not horribly unhealthy; I have definitely been eating better lately than I have in the past few years, I walk A LOT but don't get too much other exercise, don't smoke or do drugs, and only rarely drink, and I'm not overweight according to my BMI, but I could definitely be healthier. My one bad vice would probably be my diet pepsi...which will probably give me cancer if breathing Salt Lake's disgusting air doesn't.

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"They say that patriotism is the last refuge to which a scoundrel clings; steal a little and they throw you in jail, steal a lot and they make you king"

Formerly Medusa

oracle2380

I'm definitely living a healthier lifestyle than both of my parents were at my age (26), but my maternal grandfather was going to school on a tennis scholarship at my age (and pretty darn good at it from what I hear).

As I look at my peers though, I almost look like a stud as far as performance and body compisition go. I just don't understand how someone provided the same oppurtunities for exercise and diet can still manage to allow themself to get out of shape. I realise that genetics and desire may be in my favor, but who doesn't want to look and feel better.

Which brings me to the psychological aspect. The latest generations 40> are much more prone to avoid discomfort than our parents, and especially our grandparents. Whether it be emotional or physical pain we tend to avoid it make an eacuse as to why it is not essential to our emotional growth. It is pain that builds character and self esteem. I'm not sure how to put it exactly but basically it boils down to this: 1. when we fail or don't succed at a goal we stop trying to accomplish it, and we then feel bad for failing. Because we feel bad we go to a psychologist to examine why we feel bad, and the psychologist recommends more therapy to pinpoint the culprit. After therapy and soul searching we determine that it was someone elses fault, and realise that setting defineable goals lead only to pain...Thus 12th, 13th etc. ribbons for childrens competitions, psycho parents yelling at coaches, refs et al.

We have too many outs in life with no sense of self culpability. Nothing is an individuals fault it was because of an external force outside your control. Which is why we have so many 'slackers' out there.

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"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference." - Robert Frost