In just a few hours it will officially be February 21st, 2013 — pub day! Everyday I pick up another study which reminds me why I took on this challenging quest and wrote up my journey in THE LAST BEST CURE. The book I hope you’ll soon be holding in your hands.
This week a new study came out in JAMA Internal Medicine showing that although we might assume that adults today are healthier than our parents were at the same age, the opposite is true. 32 percent of our parents reported being in “excellent” health in middle age. Today, only 13 percent of us in mid-life can say the same.
The study discovered why. Those of us in our 40s, 50s and 60s have higher rates of chronic conditions than did our parents, and at younger ages. Diabetes, high blood pressure, you name it. We are twice as likely as our parents were to be suffering from a disabling chronic illness. Study authors sum it up with these words: “You live longer, but those extra years you bought — you’re sicker. That’s not a good public health outcome.”
Something is really wrong with this picture. Something has to change. THE LAST BEST CURE will be available everywhere in just a matter of hours. Here’s hoping it proves a powerful tool in helping to turn the health story of our generation around.
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The Status of Baby Boomers’ Health in the United States: The Healthiest Generation? King DEet al. JAMA Intern Med. 2013 Feb 4:1-2. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.2006.
