Low Priority
by: Andrea J. Stewart
Experts agree that 18- to 30- year- olds are not concerned with long-term health. Dr. Michael Fine said this age group is challenged primarily by pregnancy, substance abuse and depression. Fine said they are not worried about proper nutrition.
“Young people don’t see themselves as vulnerable,” said Lori Rosenthal, assistant professor of Communications Sciences and Disorders at Emerson College. Rosenthal said that common health campaigns rely on fear to get people motivated, such as threatening diabetes to scare people to eat right and exercise Fear campaigns don’t work for younger people, she said, because they can’t see any instant results.
Appearance-based messages could be successful at making health a higher priority for young Americans, Rosenthal said. However, she added that the eventual beauty promised in the milk commercials of the 1990s was still too delayed to make much of a difference. People 18 to 30 years old are concerned with “right now,” she said, not what could potentially happen years in the future. Rosenthal evoked the popular anti-smoking campaign slogan “kissing a smoker is like licking an ashtray” as a better approach to get younger generations thinking healthy.
That assumes, of course, that 18- to 30- year- olds are largely unaware of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. Personal trainer Judith Bruen said that college-age individuals are less in tune to their physical wear and tear, people 25 years old and older start to realize their bodies are affected by what they put in them and what they do to them.
“You hear less of ‘I want to look hot when I go out.’ Instead, it’s ‘I’m sleeping better,’ or ‘my emotional health is better’,” Bruen said of the over-25- year- olds.
Although he’s only 20 years old, Rhode Island College student Adam Bright said he understands he needs to abandon his fast-food lifestyle. Bright said he is very conscious of what a good, balanced diet and regular exercise could do for him.
“But I always come up with an excuse. Either the weather’s crappy, or my leg hurts, or something else,” he said. As for the fast food, Bright said he spends a lot of time running around between work and school, and the drive-through is about all he has time for.
Art by: Andrea J. Stewart