
Baby boomers show concerning decline in cognitive functioning - mrzool
https://news.osu.edu/baby-boomers-show-concerning-decline-in-cognitive-functioning/
======
fxtentacle
"lower cognitive functioning [..] was linked to [..] loneliness, depression,
inactivity and obesity"

In short, this is a lifestyle issue of their own making. In my area, housing
prices are high and rental apartments are sparse, because we have lots of
villas with garden that would be large enough to comfortably fit a family with
3+ kids but are instead occupied by one lonely old person.

It would be much better, both for the elderly and for the younger generation,
if they'd move to communal living or rent out their unused space to a family.
That would make it less lonely plus they are helping those people indirectly
paying for their retirement (by generating value for those companies that
retirement funds buy stocks of).

But it appears that nostalgia and vanity get in the way.

~~~
lapcatsoftware
> In short, this is a lifestyle issue of their own making.

Wow, this is such a superficial analysis. The article was clear that this was
also linked to wealth: wealthy people were not affected.

We're talking about large scale societal trends. Can you explain why, in a
certain period of time, millions of people just decided to create lifestyle
issues of their own making? What makes these people different from previous
generations? How can we not talk about the overall economy, for example?

~~~
fxtentacle
The way I read it, wealth didn't make it worse, while poverty did.

But the issue of being lonely and that causing psychological issues is also
affecting the wealthy. In fact, I would guess that many of the villa owners in
my area are wealthy.

And surely people wanting to stay in the house that they grew up in is a
lifestyle choice. What makes them different from previous generations is that
they can afford to make this choice. Their parents probably had to live with
family for financial or cultural reasons.

So I stand by my summary: people are making decisions with unexpected side
effects.

~~~
lapcatsoftware
> Their parents probably had to live with family for financial or cultural
> reasons.

Not sure there's any evidence of this. The article is talking about people in
their 50s and 60s, not "the elderly" you referred to in your original tweet.
My (pre-Boom) grandparents were certainly not living with their parents when
they were in their 50s or 60s (or indeed at any age after adulthood).

------
Shorel
This is comparing them to previous generations at the same old age.

------
mcv
> _" Findings showed that average cognition scores of adults aged 50 and older
> increased from generation to generation, beginning with the greatest
> generation (born 1890-1923) and peaking among war babies (born 1942-1947).
> Scores began to decline in the early baby boomers (born 1948-1953) and
> decreased further in the mid baby boomers (born 1954-1959)."_

Wait what? 1946 is the defining year of the Baby Boom, and now people born in
that year don't even count as baby boomers anymore?

I'm always a bit baffled when I see people born in the late 1950s or even the
1960s counted as baby boomers, but to see people from the actual defining year
of the baby boom not counted as baby boomers is bizarre.

My parents were both born in 1946 as part of the baby boom. They are not war
babies. Their parents (my grandparents) all married after the war. They are
the quintessential baby boomers, and this study starts out by classifying them
as something else.

I originally wanted to make a joke about the title (cue Millennials: "we
_knew_ it!"), but if your study hinges on misclassifying the group you're
claiming to study, I find it hard to take the study very seriously.

------
floppiplopp
It would be interesting to see what role the lead from leaded fuel plays in
this. Boomers in industrialized countries really got the whole load of it.

~~~
ba2plus
When I conquer the world, I'm going to make June 2 a global holiday in honour
of Clair Patterson. Despite his not being a medical professional, he's easily
on par with Jonas Salk, Ignaz Semmelweis, Joseph Lister, and other more famous
medical revolutionaries in terms of his contribution to public health.

------
IXxXI
Baby boomers are most likely to vote right wing conservative.

And so there is always bias present in "research" conducted by left leaning
sources.

------
perl4ever
Baby boomers are getting into their mid-70s.

------
alpineidyll3
Journal of obvious results strikes again. Just given thier lower generational
health and higher level of medication this is inevitable.

