The Health Outlook for 20-Somethings

One of my favorite high school coaches used to teach me about living a healthy, long life in one of the most successful ways—role modeling! He was the only coach I had that reminded me daily to stay active. I couldn’t simply leave practice and sit on the coach for the rest of the night, he would explain, and I should go for a walk on the weekend instead of staring at a TV or computer screen. My coach believed very strongly in physical activity as a mode to improve one’s health and prevent diseases—and though my teammates and I would typically roll our eyes at his ongoing speech —he truly had a very important, timeless lesson to share. My wise, passionate, and persistent coach was not going to let any of my team mates think our health wasn’t something we would have to work for, practice and prioritize.

I continue to think of Coach Sears whenever I consider my own health today. Just because I am young and healthy now, doesn’t mean I will simply stay this way forever. When many of us think about young adulthood, we typically envision strong, energetic, healthy individuals. The transition from adolescence into adulthood is an incredibly important time to establish healthy behaviors, which will last into adulthood. However, according to one study published in the journal Obesity, researchers have found this time in our lives to be particularly “uncertain” because young people today are at a huge risk for developing unhealthy behaviors that lead to weight gain and chronic diseases. The fact is, obesity in young adults has doubled in the past 30 years, physical activity has declined, and our diet quality is deteriorating.

The Health Profile of Today’s Young People

Looking more into “healthy” young adults in the U.S., most of us would be shocked to find the Centers for Disease Control report one-third of “millennias,” or people born between 1980-2000, are cigarette smokers, one-quarter of us are obese, and two-thirds of young people do not report engaging in regular physical activity. Additionally, a new study published in the Journal of Epidemiology shows nearly 1 in 5 young adults has high blood pressure—and if this disease does not get diagnosed or treated early enough—it could lead to cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, and strokes. Further, the quality of our diet is drastically declining. Young adults in the U.S. are not getting anywhere close to the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables each week. And we aren’t just a few servings off—one study shows both high school and college students eating less than one serving per day—the average intake of servings per week is 4 vegetables or fruits for men, and 5 for women (and these are only half cup servings, not the full-cup servings we advocate at HMR).

Lifestyle Matters

Researchers continue to collect data on young adults to learn more about heart disease and how one’s lifestyle can affect our heart health and overall quality of life. The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study began in 1985, following more than 3,000 young men and women ages 18-30 throughout their lives—measuring health risk factors like smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, BMI, and healthy diet—to determine if maintaining a healthy lifestyle during young adulthood has any effect on heart health in middle age. Ultimately, researchers found hardening and narrowing of major arteries—an indicator of cardiovascular disease—was more common in participants with high risk factor levels in their first CARDIA exam. Overall, as the participants got older, calcification levels grew. Practicing a healthier lifestyle at an earlier age, even individuals with a family history of cardiovascular disease, were able to maintain a low risk of developing cardiovascular disease later in life.

Ultimately, one’s lifestyle plays a much greater role in heart health than genetics. CARDIA continues to study participants and gather data, but recently researchers concluded what a young person does early in life truly does make a difference. As of February 2012, researchers found 60% of the participants who maintained healthy lifestyle factors from young adulthood into middle age were able to remain at a low risk for developing heart disease—compared to 5% of the participants that did not follow a healthy lifestyle. The bottom line:  the majority of participants that practiced healthy behaviors in their 20s and maintained low health risk factors were at a low risk for developing heart disease by the time they reached their 40s. Researchers also determined maintaining a healthy lifestyle throughout young adulthood and middle age does much more than influence cardiovascular health—but also improves our quality of life and reduces the cost of healthcare in old age.

Your Health is in Your Hands

Coach Sears made clear to me that my health was in my hands and we cannot expect to live long, healthy, happy lives without making healthy lifestyle choices today and continuing to practice them throughout our lives. A healthy diet—including whole grains, lean proteins, and at least 5 full-cup servings of fruits and veggies each day, along with daily physical activity, no smoking, and a healthy BMI –is what it takes to maintain a healthy lifestyle and minimize one’s risk of developing heart disease later in life.

Stay Tuned…

Knowing that we have the influence and power to protect ourselves against diseases and help ensure a better quality of life, in upcoming blogs, I plan to highlight each of the 5 risk factors researched in the CARDIA study: never smoking, average BMI 25, higher healthy diet score, higher physical activity score, and no-to-moderate alcohol intake, and discuss small changes we can make to lower our risk of heart disease and obesity, improve our health, and ultimately promote healthy lifelong behaviors.
 

 

by sailGirl on 07/16/2012 | Share Story With a Friend

tags: HMR, motivation, exercise