It’s a grim secret that many medics refer to the decades between 50 and 70 as ‘sniper’s alley’, because that’s when you have to start ducking and diving to avoid the bullets of heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, strokes, dementia and diabetes, which can strike at any time. In fact, a new study has shown that although we might be living longer, we’re less healthy than previous generations.
The global study by researchers at the University of Oxford and University College London found people in their 50s and 60s today are more likely to have serious health problems and chronic illness than their parents’ generation did at the same age. The authors expressed concern for worsening health (and even severe disability) for baby boomers as they enter their later years.