They have always been the generation to watch. Since their adolescence, they have collectively rebelled against tradition and placed their unique stamp on American culture.
There is certainly no reason to think that the baby boomers will become cowards in the face of aging.
Indeed, the largest birth cohort ever is widely predicted to alter the way Americans deal with the final third of life; the so-called "golden" years, according to experts in gerontology and sociology. By sheer massive size -- not to mention their affinity for change -- the 76 million Americans born from 1946 to 1964 will likely force society to think differently about important issues surrounding aging.
For instance: What is old age? Is it 65? 70? 80?
What does it mean to be elderly? Must one gradually lose function and become bedridden before death? Can aging be controlled? Can its effects be minimized?
As the oldest baby boomers reach 55, those questions are looming large for both boomers and the legion of health-care professionals responsible for their care. And while the answers to those questions are far from clear, there is no doubt that boomers will bring a new attitude and enthusiasm to aging, says Dr. Harvey Jay Cohen, a Duke University geriatrician and president of The Gerontological Society of America.
"The expectation is that this generation sees themselves as younger and will want to maintain that," he says. "This is a group of people who are very involved in their own health care."
A Young Baby Boomer
Terrance Young fits that description perfectly. Young, 52, lives in the Adirondack Mountains of New York with his wife. He is an artist who watches his diet carefully, mountain bikes and hikes in the summer and skis in the winter. He also meditates daily, plays the drums and gathers for poetry readings with friends.
Young says he expects to be pursuing these same interests for as long as he can.
"I won't retire and don't look forward to that milestone at all," he says. "It's really not a word because I don't know what I'll be retiring from."
To Young, aging is a process that can, in part, be forestalled with good health habits and good medical care. But, to him, attitude is everything.
"We've all been taught that our cells will wither and die, but I believe much of that has to do with our thinking," he says. "I don't profess to be able not to age, but I know that growing old has as much to do with one's mind as with one's body."
That distinctly baby boomer attitude that keeps people feeling younger than their chronological age is also behind the explosion of interest in hormone therapy. While men are becoming more interested in the use of testosterone and hormone growth therapy, it is women's use of estrogen replacement therapy that has dramatically altered aging for baby boom females. In a speech to the American Society on Aging recently, Theodore Roszak, author of the 1968 book "The Making of a Counter Culture," pointed to female boomers as a force to be reckoned with.
"In times past, age may have brought most women little more than poverty and loneliness. Clearly, women of the baby-boom generation are out to change that sad condition. Judging by the wealth of literature they have produced since the mid-1980s on the challenge of menopause, female boomers are determined to find empowerment and fulfillment in what will be for many of them a second lifetime," said Roszak, who authored the 1998 book "America the Wise: The Longevity Revolution and the True Wealth of Nations" (Houghton Mifflin). While the 1968 book described the baby-boom generation's rebellion against tradition, his recent book explores a new paradigm for aging that identifies longevity as a valued characteristic of contemporary society.
Science Will Provide Support
Boomers' positive attitudes toward aging and forceful advocacy for good health care are only one part of 21st century aging. Science has contributed much to the quest. But while life expectancy has increased dramatically over the past century (adding 28 years to life span since 1900), medicine has shifted its emphasis from living longer to living better. Gerontologists universally debate whether they should strive to increase life span if those extra years are riddled by disability, loss of function and pain. For example, while the death rate for heart disease has declined dramatically, more people than ever are living with coronary heart disease.
"There is a fair amount of debate raging on that question: what the period of disability might be within the total area of life expectancy," says Cohen, the Duke University geriatrician. "If you live until 80, that would be OK if only a year were of disability. But if 10 years were of disability, why would you want to extend that? People say, 'I'd like to live longer if I could be sure that the period of time would be good time.' "
Research on this equation is reassuring thus far, however. Medical advances and a growing emphasis on preventive health care suggests that the number of years of disability is not increasing and may even be shrinking, Cohen says.
"We've gone from the low 70s to the high 70s in terms of life expectancy," he says. "But the period of disability hasn't changed."
Perhaps the most significant scientific finding to arm boomers in staving off aging is research produced within the past 10 years on strength training. Typically after age 40, an astonishing one-third to one-half of a pound of muscle is lost each year and replaced by fat. This shift from muscle to fat is largely responsible for the decline in activity and movement and the onset of sedentary and dependent living conditions, says Miriam Nelson, Director of the Center for Physical Fitness at Tufts University and the author of "Strong Women Stay Young" (Bantam Doubleday Dell, 2000).
But, says Nelson, this physical decline can be slowed or even reversed by dedicated strength training to rebuild lost muscle mass. What this means, she says, is that "older adults, no matter what their age, are not destined to become weaker and weaker with each passing decade, but can remain vital and strong throughout their lives."
Elderly people who do strength training regularly -- at least three times a week -- are more flexible and are much less likely to fall. Strength training also helps to preserve bone and reduces the risk of fracture. Finally, stronger muscles invariably lead to more physical activity. And more activity means that higher energy levels can be maintained. Increased activity, in turn, improves or helps maintain mental health.
Threats to a Different Kind of Aging
Baby boomers, however, are not assured of a different, better mode of aging than their own parents. Indeed, for every Terrance Young, there are five -- perhaps 10 -- individuals his age who are sedentary and overweight. The fact is, boomers, while possessing youngish attitudes on aging, are a prosperous generation that has enjoyed many of life's pleasures to excess.
"On one hand, the baby-boom generation is popularizing exercise in older age," notes Cohen. "But the same generation is also probably more overweight than any previous generation. You would think those would be polar opposites, but both trends are going on."
Sedentary behavior coupled with weight problems spell trouble for many American adults. Obesity increases the risk of heart diseases, several forms of cancer (such as breast and colon cancer), diabetes and other disorders. There is some indication that boomers will embrace their doctors' advice to exercise more. But losing weight has proven to be a difficult, if not impossible, chore for many people.
"People seem less willing to control dietary intake," says Cohen. "If we could make dietary changes, then we might see a striking impact" in terms of good health into old age and longevity.
"This generation actively seeks health information," Cohen notes. "It remains to be seen how they will use this information. It's not clear that they will adhere to the good advice."
Indeed, a recent study from the Journal of the American Dietetic Association found that Americans are so confused about what they perceive to be conflicting nutritional information that they tend to ignore all the advice. In the study, 40 percent of 1,751 adults surveyed said they were tired of hearing about what foods they should or shouldn't eat.
And, while strides have been made in reducing heart disease and lung cancer through behavioral changes, other diseases that are largely out of our control continue to pose serious threats to the enjoyment of old age.
For example, as individuals age, the risk of Alzheimer's disease dramatically increases. After age 65, the incidence of the disease doubles about every five years. After age 85, about 47 percent of people have Alzheimer's disease. A cure for the disease, or even a treatment for the more serious stages of illness, is a long way off, most scientists agree.
Other experts worry that the nation is simply not allocating enough resources to the question of aging, considering that one-third of the U.S. population will be 65 or older by 2030.
"We remain ill-prepared for the 21st century when population aging will become unprecedented," said Dr. Robert N. Butler, former director of the National Institute on Aging, at a 1996 symposium on the issue. "I regard the baby boomers as a generation at risk. We still devote relatively few resources to understanding the biology of aging."
Perhaps words like these will be what it takes to unite the boomers into turning aging into a second "counter culture." This vigorous generation that protested a war, overturned sexual mores, and stood up to every authority, may have its last, best fight on its hands: How to live longer, better -- and how to obtain the help and resources to accomplish it.
"I truly enter each day with the intent to have more control over the aging process," notes Young. "Having been an artist my whole life, I have been confronted with creating realities and so I know what it is like to see something occur just because I thought of it."
Sharon Langin is a Southern California freelance journalist.
Posted July 2001.
