Boomers and aging: taking steps to change health behaviors, but unaware of heart disease risks

Baby Boomers are as optimistic as younger people. They’re equally concerned about losing their physical independence, facing major illnesses, losing their memory, and being able to pay for medical costs as they age. Roughly 40% of both Boomers and younger people are most concerned about facing cancer as they age, with only 13% of Boomers most concerned about heart disease. In fact, more Boomers and youngers are more worried about memory loss than heart disease in aging.

This profile of Boomers comes out of the LifeGoesStrong survey, conducted among 1,416 U.S. adults, including 1,078 Boomers born between 1946 and 1964.

Losing physical independence, facing a major illness, losing memory and being able to pay for medical costs are among the top concerns of Boomers as they face aging.

Over 1 in 2 Boomers is also actively trying to improve their physical fitness by following a regular course of exercise – about the same proportion as younger people. However, most are engaging in more exercise to change their health. The plurality of Boomers choose walking as their regular form of exercise And, for the 2 in 3 Boomers who have changed the way they eat to lose weight are doing so to improve their health — not their appearance, which is the motivation for more younger people.

The issue of “looking older” ranked at the bottom of the list of 11 fears-into-aging as shown in the chart, with 1 in 3 Boomers worried about their aging appearance. In the ‘appearance battery’ of questions in this survey, 1 in 3 Boomers was found to regularly dye their hair (mainly to cover gray hair), 11% would consider using a wrinkle filler like Resalyne or Juvaderm, and only 5% of Boomers would consider using Botox injections.

LifeGoesStrong is the online social network targeting “mid-lifers” (read: Baby Boomers), launched by NBC Digital and Procter & Gamble in 2010.

Health Populi’s Hot Points: On the positive side of the health ledger for Boomers, it’s laudable that over one-half appear to be engaging in some physical exercise and changing their eating behaviors to eat more fruits and vegetables (74%), to lose weight (67%), to reduce fat intake (69%), to lower cholesterol (60%), and to eat fewer processed foods (60%). Except for lowering cholesterol, these other behavior changes were not based on a recommendation from a doctor but were self-motivated.

From a health risk knowledge standpoint, the more concerning aspect of this study is that Boomers are more worried about cancer than heart disease. Yet it’s heart disease that’s still the #1 killer of Americans each year, as detailed by the National Center of Health Statistics.

This finding dovetails with the story published earlier this week on men, women and heart attacks, covered here in Health Populi. While cancer grabs headlines and Hollywood plotlines, it’s heart disease that needs more front-page coverage to raise consciousness of this chronic burden of disease largely driven by lifestyle habits.