Wave of sickness and disease now striking Baby Boomers

(NaturalNews) Research is now showing that today's "baby boomers", the generation currently eclipsing age 60, is the first generation to be less healthy than the generation before them. Those in this age group are more susceptible to debilitating diseases than in years past, stemming primarily from poor diet and lack of proper exercise.

Professor Teresa Seeman, a researcher from the University of California, examined those today in their 60s, 70s, and 80s and compared her findings to people from the same age groups examined ten years ago. She came to the startling conclusion that about one in five people in their 60s today requires assistance in accomplishing daily activities. This number is 50 percent higher than it was a decade ago.

A common theme that emerged from the research is that technological advancements have played a significant role in creating poor health. As Americans have generally been weaned off of physical labor and instead placed in front of computer screens throughout the years, the level of physical activity among the population has dropped significantly.

The lack of effective exercise was emphasized by a 50 percent increase over the last ten years in people in their 60s having trouble performing simple activities such as walking a quarter-mile or climbing a small set of stairs. There was also a 40 percent increase in study subjects having trouble bending their knees to crouch, kneel, or get up from a chair.

Significant societal and technological advancements that were of great benefit to the Baby Boomers when they were younger is proving to be their downfall in their current stage of life. Those in this age group are fatter and weaker than previous generations were at the same age, and they are more susceptible to chronic ailments that severely curtail their quality of life.

Experts recommend the obvious, mainly an improved diet and increased physical activity. They also warn the current younger generations to become disciplined in living a healthy lifestyle now in order to help offset the things that are currently plaguing their parents and grandparents.

Dr. Ian Campbell, general practitioner and medical director of the charity Weight Concern, expressed concern over the growing reliance on pharmaceutical drugs rather than on lifestyle changes as the appropriate remedy for the problem. He recommends a more preventive approach in dealing with illness.

Perhaps the conditions of economic turmoil in America will drive the younger generations back to the fields where physical labor and nutritious bounty are sure to help undo some of the damage that's been done by a convenient, technology-driven lifestyle.

Sources for this story include

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...

New research: long-term physical activity slows aging on the cellular level

(NaturalNews) Telomeres, regions of DNA which protect the ends of chromosomes from destruction, have made big news in 2009. In fact, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded this year to researchers who investigated the nature of telomeres. Why all the interest? It appears telomeres hold the key to why we age because when a cell becomes old and dies, it's due to the shortening of chromosomal telomeres. So, if you could keep the length of telomeres from changing, that might literally halt aging. And now comes research showing there is a natural way to impact telomeres and produce an anti-aging effect -- long-term physical activity.

According to research just reported in the journal Circulation, intensive exercise can prevent a shortening of telomeres. That, the scientists found, results in a protective effect against aging on a cellular level and could be especially important in keeping the cardiovascular system healthy. So, while you can slather on expensive creams and opt for plastic surgery, if you want to actually slow down aging, your best bet is to get moving and exercise regularly.

A research team from Saarland University in Homburg, Germany, measured the length of telomeres in blood samples from a group of 32 professional runners with an average age of 20 who were on the German National Team of Track and Field. The young men regularly trained by running about 73 kilometers (km) -- a little over 45 miles -- each week. The scientists also measured the length of telomeres from the blood of middle-aged athletes (average age 51) who had participated in continuous endurance exercise since their youth and who ran about 80 km, or almost 50 miles, per week. These findings were then compared to the telomere lengths found in a group of healthy non-smokers, matched for age with the athletes, who didn't exercise regularly.

The results? The scientists discovered that long-term exercise training activated an enzyme known as telomerase which reduces telomere shortening in human leukocytes (white blood cells). Telomere loss was found to be far lower in the older, master athletes who had been exercising for decades. Bottom line: the rate of telomere loss that is assumed to be normal as we grow older and that leads to the physical signs of aging can, in fact, be dramatically slowed through long term, vigorous exercise.

"This is direct evidence of an anti-aging effect of physical exercise. Physical exercise could prevent the aging of the cardiovascular system, reflecting this molecular principle," Ulrich Laufs, M.D., the study's lead author and professor of clinical and experimental medicine in the department of internal medicine at Saarland University, said in a statement to the media. "The most significant finding of this study is that physical exercise of the professional athletes leads to activation of the important enzyme telomerase and stabilizes the telomere."

What's more, previous animal studies by Dr. Laufs and colleagues have shown that exercise exerts effects on proteins that not only stabilize telomeres but also protect cells from deterioration and programmed cell death. "Our data improves the molecular understanding of the protective effects of exercise on the vessel wall and underlines the potency of physical training in reducing the impact of age-related disease," Dr. Laufs concluded.

For more information:
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/con...
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/cont...