In a study commissioned by Aetna, the insurance giant measured everything from how we rank our health compared with other generations—to why some of us exercise at all: To look good in our underwear.
“There is a disconnect,” mused Keri Gans, about the study’s participants. “It’s surprising.”
For example, while 67 percent of people believe they need to lose a median of 25 pounds, another 54 percent believe they can be healthy—even if they’re overweight, the “What’s Your Healthy” study found.
But jokes aside, misinformation can mean serious health consequences. More than a third of adults are classified as obese by the Centers for Disease Control.
“Being healthy is about being at a healthy body weight … the higher their weight goes, the higher their risk increases,” said Gans, also author of the “The Small Change Diet.”
Millennials—those between 18 and 34—are more likely than other generations to think that having good eating habits and exercising regularly equals being healthy—even as they are far more likely to hit the booze to deal with stress, which 37 percent of them admitted doing often.
And about half of the millennials and GenXers—those 18 to 48—said they snack on unhealthy food when they’re stressed out.
These two younger groups, perhaps not surprisingly, are more vain than the older baby boomers—with about a third of each of the younger generations saying they care about looking good in their underwear.
Just 19 percent of the baby boomers worry about how they look in their undies.