Being a supposed Millennial myself and making a number of observations in my work within the healthcare and health and fitness industries, I have realized that health maintenance may be even more vital of a lifestyle focus than for the prior generations. There are many reasons and variables that play into this and I hope to cover as many as possible.
First of all the predicted retirement age for our generation is now in the 70s for an individual to qualify for social security and Medicare. So if you actually want to be able to enjoy retirement, taking care of yourself is vital. Even if you do manage your money well enough for an early retirement, you won’t want a preventable health condition to drain finances too soon before qualifying for Medicare.
Even with the Affordable Care Act, the cost of healthcare is still extremely high and only looks to be getting higher in the near future. Because of this, preventable conditions like type II Diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and many others become a financial burden to keep up with. So while gym memberships and fresh produce may cost a little bit more now; it is a more manageable cost than treating chronic conditions and the other associated problems they cause later in life.
In addition to these first two reasons the current corporate employer also doesn’t care as much about employee longevity. Gone are the days of pension plans that provide ongoing healthcare to company retirees, causing employers to actually care about the individual health of employees. Now employers require shifts that make healthy living a greater challenge to achieve and once your health has deteriorated enough to impact either your attendance or performance you are terminated. Left without the health insurance you had and limited employment options due to age and physical ability.
Our first few reasons have focused on finances and employment; let’s talk about family. Many millennials are putting off having kids into their 30s. This means by the time most of our kids graduate high school we will be into our 50s. In addition, if our kids also wait until their 30s to have kids, that puts most of us into our 60s by time our first grandchildren start to show up. If you’re like me, then I know you want to be able to play and do activities with your grandkids. This will be difficult to do in your 60s if you don’t start taking care of yourself now! The hardest part of health maintenance is trying to get healthy after problems have already started to set in. So be proactive, and start getting at least five fruits and vegetables a day and doing some form of activity each day for at least 30 minutes. For more information feel free to read our other articles or just ask us your questions!