Survey: 2. Sex and Health

Any shrink will tell you that the three taboo areas people don’t like to talk about are sex, money and their relationship with God.  Our Class Survey asked about all three.  And we are going to share results in that order: Today’s report is Sex and Health, looking at reports of how fat we are, pot use, prosthetics, and other measures of our health including our current levels of sexual activity.

How Fat Are We?

We asked everybody to tell us their current height and weight, now and back in 1969, and then used those data to compute a “Body Mass Index” for each respondent, then and now. Time has thickened a lot of our waistlines, and America’s obesity epidemic has not spared our class.   But we are substantially leaner than other college-educated males our age and much less likely to be obese than “all males in the USA” (as reported by the CDC).

How Many Serious Ailments Have We Had?

Happily, only 1% of us are in “poor health” right now, but many of us have dealt (and are dealing with) some serious ailments. Nevertheless, we are more fortunate in this regard than the average American aged 65-75.  For example, 22.4% of them have had some form of cancer, compared to 14% in our class; 22.6% have had heart disease, compared to 14% in our class; and a whopping 56% have high blood pressure, compared to 28% of us.  (Those 2016 national stats include adults of both genders and all levels of education–data from the CDC’s National Health Interview Survey. )

How May Pills Do We Take?

We take medications less frequently than “elderly Americans” who AVERAGE taking 5 prescription medications.  (MD Magazine)

What about Viagra, Cialis and the like?  See below for info on THOSE pills.

The Bionic Man

We live in a wondrous time when not only can medicine intervene with pharmacological help, but medical devices and prostheses can extend our lives and make our time more productive and enjoyable.

Hey, You, Four Eyes!

About 3/4 of us have glasses.  That’s typical for adults nationally, according to the Vision Council of America; but given our stage of life, it might be a bit lower than average.  About one in ten of us has a hearing aid. But very few of us have tried to combat hair loss by means of hair transplants.

Smoking, Tobacco

Over 95% of the class are non-smokers.  Our 5% of Classmates smoking compares favorably with CDC reports on the frequency of smoking by education (8%) and age (9%).

Smoking, Pot

Even with the legalization of marijuana in so many states, our usage is surprisingly light: about 14% total, and then mostly only “occasionally.”  About a third of our classmates never touched the stuff.

How Often Do You Have Sex?
(and do you need pharmacological help?)

Excluding people not answering, the class divides fairly evenly between those who are no longer having sex, those who are active monthly and those who are active one or more times per week.   And about 1/3 of those who are sexually active use medication to help with sex.

Summary

Overall, it’s clear that we as a class are a fairly healthy bunch, given our status as septuagenarian men.  Of course, there’s a bias in these results because our survey could not include men who have passed away or the small number of living classmates whose health or mental status prevented them from responding.  There has been much research about the social determinants of health, and our relatively good health is surely a function, in part, of our level of education, our economic status, our high rate of marriage and other indicators of relative privilege that have accrued to our exclusive group.  But part of that story is healthy behaviors (like keeping our weight down and not smoking) for which many of us can claim personal credit.  (In many cases, some of that credit must also go to a weary and watchful spouse.)  May we all continue in good health and vigor (with or without the help of those pills)!

And stay tuned for the next installment of these reports from the Class Survey:  “3. Our Work, Then and Now.”