09-20-08 Dr. Fagin on Healthvue

Quita Culpepper: Now it's time for our weekend Daybreak health segment with one of our favorite physicians, Dr. Randy Fagin. And this week we're focusing on a huge part of the population: baby boomers.

Dr. Fagin, thank you so much for being with us this weekend.

Dr. Fagin: Good morning, my pleasure.

Culpepper: Well, first of all, what is the age range for the so-called baby boomer?

Dr: The baby boomers are hitting that kind of critical 45 to 65 year-old age group, where they are experiencing a brand new set of health issues.

Culpepper: Oh! Well, I know that over the past couple of years there have been a lot of important health studies about this part of the population. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Dr: Yeah, you know there was a really important federally funded studied that actually tracked around 20,000 baby boomers. They found that they're having more difficulty with simple activities. Things like walking a couple of blocks, lifting mildly heavy objects, like 10 pounds. They're also finding they're having more difficulty or experiencing more of diabetes, high blood pressure (hypertension), high cholesterol, and a lot of these things are actually linked to obesity. One of the biggest problems we're seeing in the baby boomer population is being overweight.

Culpepper: Now I know that there was another study involving baby boomers and their sex life. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

Dr: You know, this is a group of folks that grew up in the sexual revolution, and their opinions about sexual activity are very unique because of that. Over 85% of the baby boomers experience an intimate relationship at least once a week and less than 5% think that sexual activity should be limited to the young.

Now, you couple that with the fact that you have a group of folks who have either recently lost a spouse to death or they've recently experienced a divorce, and they've never been through that whole sexual education that all of us and newer generations have gone through. There are some terrific studies that actually show that up to a third of all patients experiencing HIV in the United States today are within that baby boomer population. Sexual education in the baby boomer population is critically important.

Culpepper: Now, what are some other health issues that male baby boomers especially need to be aware of?

Dr: You know, being in that baby boom population [means] prevention is far more important than treatment for these folks. They're at a point in their lives that they can catch things early enough to prevent rather than treat. So screening tests, and your once a year physical for high cholesterol, for high blood pressure, getting a PSA [blood test] and a rectal exam for prostate cancer, and a colonoscopy for colon cancer. Screening is the key, and they're in the right age group to do it.

Culpepper: Now you talked a little bit earlier about obesity and how it is affecting baby boomers. What about endurance exercise and weight training? How will that effect them? Will that help?

Dr: Absolutely. In fact, there are some great studies that have shown that baby boomers specifically who diet alone are less fit than baby boomers who exercise. Now as we look at exercise, both endurance and weight training are important for different reasons. The endurance exercises actually help our cardiovascular system, or our vascular health. The weight bearing actually helps our bones, and in an age group that is more prone to osteoperosis, you want to be able to combine your vascular health with your bone health.

Culpepper: Alright. Great tips and advice, Doctor. Thank you very much for being with us.

Dr: My pleasure.

Culpepper: And do not forget we will have Dr. Fagin on every other week. So if you have a question for him or a topic you'd like him to discuss, just log on to KVUE.com and go to our weblinks section, and ask your question on Dr. Fagin's website. He'll answer it in the coming weeks.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• The Urology Team
• Dr. Richard Chopp
• Dr. Stephen Hardeman
• Dr. Randy Fagin
• Dr. Melody Denson
• Dr. Elizabeth Houser
• Dr. Elizabeth Rutledge
• Dr. Lester Wang
• Dr. Bryan Kansas
• Dr. Eric Giesler
• Austin
• vasectomy
• prostate cancer
• HIFU