Why do boomers need to start paying attention to their health?

What are the most common health problems you see in baby boomers?

Are there specific health issues that boomers should be concerned about?

How often should boomers see a doctor for routine, preventive physicals?

What kind of patients do baby boomers make?

What health advantages and disadvantages do boomers have?

Can boomers expect a more active lifestyle in their 60s, 70s and beyond?

How well have boomers done at taking steps to ensure their health as they age?

The generation that once didn't trust anyone over 30 is now hitting an age where their bodies are starting to show signs of wear and tear.

Baby boomers, the largest and perhaps most influential generation in history are entering their 40s and 50s. While their impact on our medical care system has been extensively debated, little has been written about their overall health in general and the kinds of physical challenges and changes they are starting to see in their bodies.

Yale University professor Dr. Brian Peck, however, is pioneering a new specialty: boomer medicine. In his new book, "The Baby Boomer Body Book: The Complete Health Reference for Our Generation," (Sourcebooks Inc.; 448 pages, $21.95) Peck, an expert in chronic diseases and a baby boomer himself, chronicles the aches, pains and other changes that are part of boomers' -- and everyone else's -- aging. Then, he dispenses advice on how to avoid them.

We asked Peck to answer some questions about boomer health issues. Here are his edited responses:

Q. Why do boomers need to start paying attention to their health?

A.  Those born between 1946 and 1964 have reached a critical stage. The benefits and protection of youth can no longer be relied on. This is also a time of life when significant changes take place in all organ systems, many of them influenced by hormonal changes or the accumulated wear-and-tear of life in general. For example, most of us experience vision and hearing loss. More serious conditions that typically begin to appear at this age include multiple sclerosis, hepatitis C, rheumatoid arthritis and post-polio syndrome.

Many of the conditions that start to occur at this age are unexpected, confusing and even alarming to those without knowledge, which is why I wrote "The Baby Boomer Body Book." There's such a large number of people facing these changes at this time. This generation needs to educate, protect and prepare itself. Prevention is the most effective treatment for everything.

Q. As a whole, what are the most common health problems you see in baby boomers? And what can be done to prevent them?

A. Health issues must be divided into lifestyle issues and into disease-specific issues. I think that the three most common or pervasive health issues facing baby boomers today, in terms of lifestyle are smoking, diet and exercise.

In terms of specific illnesses, which is a slightly different question, the most common conditions are:

• Arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries)

• Kidney disease

• Stroke

• Osteoporosis (which causes bones to break easily)

• Cancer, especially lung, breast and colon.

The three disease groups mentioned above are easily, although not completely, prevented by lifestyle changes. ... In general, do not smoke, get a significant amount of weight-bearing exercise, get the fat out of your diet and increase the calcium in your diet. These things are easy to do. If everyone did them, our national health care budget would shrink and we would all live longer, healthier, more comfortable lives.

Q. Are there other specific health issues that boomer men and women should be concerned about?

A. The three top health issues for men in their 40s and 50s are arteriosclerosis, prostate enlargement and colon cancer. Prevention strategies include staying away from cigarettes, decreasing dietary fat, getting a rectal exam every one to two years and getting a colonoscopy at age 50.

Women in this age group have slightly different concerns. While men need to take enough calcium and to get enough exercise, women develop bone loss much earlier and more rapidly than men, and osteoporosis itself is a risk factor for a lot of the other things that go wrong. Osteoporosis is probably the single most prevalent problem of aging women. Women also need to stay away from cigarettes and to engage in weight-bearing exercise to protect against arteriosclerosis, and they also need cancer screening. For women, this includes mammography and pap tests as well as colonoscopy.

Q. How often should boomers see a doctor for routine, preventive physicals?

A.  Baby boomers should see physicians or ... physician assistants and nurse practitioners at least once every two years if there are no active health issues. Medical conditions such as high blood pressure, arthritis, stomach problems or others naturally dictate more frequent visits.

Q. What kind of patients do baby boomers make?

A.  Baby boomers as patients are no different from those in any other age group, except that it is easier for most doctors to identify with and communicate with them because many doctors are baby boomers themselves. Like any others, baby boomers can either be in denial or they can take a serious interest in their health and actively participate in making decisions about prevention and treatment.

Q. Compared with previous generations, what health advantages and disadvantages do boomers have?

A. Today's baby boomers have many advantages over previous generations. These are too numerous to list completely, but some of the more important examples include:

• Fluoridation of water.

• Improved agricultural and food preservation methods.

• Antibiotics.

• Hormones.

• Health insurance.

• The knowledge that exercise is medicine.

• Knowledge about calcium and other mineral and vitamin supplementation.

• Modern dental technology.

• Miniaturized diagnostic studies, especially those made possible by endoscopes.

• Access to hospitals and regular preventive medical care, such as mammography, Pap tests, rectal exams for the prostate and other health screening.

• Vaccination and eradication of most childhood diseases, such as polio.

A result is that boomers are generally healthier than people of previous generations.

Q. Because of this, can baby boomers expect a more active lifestyle in their 60s, 70s and beyond than previous generations?

A. Yes. Baby boomers will definitely be more active than their predecessors, but only if they take care of themselves. A huge proportion of the age-related diseases we see in our parents is caused by fat, smoking, alcohol and lack of exercise. ... Today we know better, due to advances in general and scientific knowledge.

Q. Compared with other generations, how well have baby boomers done at taking steps to ensure their health as they age?

A. Many boomers have done a good job at this. However, there are still far too many who do the most horrible things to themselves, like smoking cigarettes. There are still too many eating huge amounts of saturated fat, fast foods and not exercising. There will always be those who fail to take advantage of all that our society has to offer. The knowledge is out there. It is up to the individual to seek it out.