Things Baby Boomers can do to stay out of nursing homes (yes, they are the obvious ones)

Boomer Chronicles points us to an article with things you can do in your 40's and 50's to minimize the likelihood you end up in a nursing home (or at least move that date back by several years).

Anyone who has visited a friend or relative in a nursing home could easily walk out with a distinct desire to not enter one as a resident. If one is 45 years old, the prospect appears far enough away to easily put it out of one's mind. However, it's possible that certain lifestyle choices being made in one's 40s/50's that will dramatically increase the odds that one will someday end up in a nursing home(and possibly sooner than they'd like).

A study was conducted by Rutgers University scientists and isolated the following key factors:

Cigarette smoking
Physical inactivity
Obesity
Elevated Blood pressure
Total cholesterol level
Diabetes

The group tested ranged in ages from 45 - 64 years old (averaging 54 years). In other words, not all that old when the topic is nursing homes.

Even without this latest study, it's not news that people should lose weight, stop smoking, and monitor blood pressure, cholesterol, etc., however it might be the spectre of an early admission to an nursing home that gets some people off the couch and making new lifestyle choices. Whatever works.