Getting Older Sooner

Americans in their early to mid-50s today report poorer health, more pain and more trouble doing everyday physical tasks than their older peers reported at the same age in years past, a recent analysis has shown.

The survey of 20,000 Americans over 50 began in 1992 with research by the National Bureau of Economic Research supported by the National Institute on Aging, part of the NIH.

Researchers took  3 age groups:  those born in 1936-41 (now ages 66 to 71), 1942-47 (now ages 60 to 65) and 1948-53 (now ages 54 to 59).  They compared  the self-reported health at ages  51-56.

The youngest group reported having more pain, chronic health conditions, and drinking and psychiatric problems than people who were the same age 12 years earlier.

Seems to coincide pretty closely with TV adoption and more sedentary life-styles,  the wider availability of junk food and increased stress of all sorts, the dry rot I wrote about yesterday.

Story at Medical News Today via David Wolfe's Another Boomer Myth Shot Down.  He says Beth Soldo who led the study is a 'world-class researcher'.