February 2009
By: Danielle Johnson
Twenty-one years old and free of worries; many young adults feel as if they could live forever. Now they can go to a bar and have a drink with friends, go to the beer store and pick up a box of wine and soothe their minds, relax their body and forget about the long and hectic day they just had.
Turning 18 allowed them to vote and legally buy and smoke cigarettes. Turning 21 brings new freedoms as well, but it also comes with new decisions to face about their body and physical well-being.
Young, healthy and free are all terms used to describe people from the ages of 18 to 24. The insurance industry refers to this demographic as “young invincibles,” but no one can escape human mortality.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), young adults have their fair share of health woes. The CDC reported that one-third of 18 to 29-year-olds are cigarette smokers, 25 percent are obese and nearly two-thirds admitted to not having regular exercise or physical activity.
With this in consideration, it seems that “invincibility” has some long-term effects that many should worry about as young adults.
Matt Laut, a 21-year-old freshman at Western State College in Colorado, embraces the freedom of surpassing the legal drinking age and has put any long-term concerns on the backburner until real consequences surface.
“The best part about turning 21 is being able to buy booze on your own,” he said. “I know what I’m doing to myself, so I don’t really worry about it. Once the doctor tells me something is wrong, that’s when I’ll start worrying. “
His sentiments are shared by 19 year old Kris Sields, a sophomore football player at NCAA Div. I Texas Tech University in Lubbock.
“Hell yeah, I’m excited to turn 21,” he shared. “I don’t have too many health concerns right now. I do worry about the Raider Rash, since STDs are everywhere.”
While “Raider Rash” might be a common term for sexually transmitted diseases on the campus of Texas Tech, cigarette smoking is a threat to college students’ health everywhere.
“I’ve been a smoker for a little over a year and I’d like to quit because I do worry about the long term effects it will have on my health,” said Kelly Ozyp, a 20 year old resident of Gunnison, Colo. “Other than that, I don’t think about (my health) too much. If I gain weight, then I will work out, but I’m on my feet eight hours a day at work and that is pretty much my exercise.”
Health concerns can be a little more troubling for “young invincibles” that have already had their run-ins with major illness. Shannon Cunningham, a 19 year old student at Western State, was diagnosed with Lupus — an auto-immune disease — in March of 2008.
“Unlike a lot of people my age, I have a lot of health concerns that I deal with daily,” she said. “I was told that Lupus decreases life expectancy by half, so I try to do the best I can to take precautions to extend my life.”
Snowboarding, yoga and weight-lifting are some of the things Cunningham has taken up in order to stay healthy. Nevertheless, she still wants to be able to enjoy her youth while it’s still around.
“I know life is short no matter what and I want to enjoy it,” she said. “I know that there are long term consequences for drinking and partying, especially with my disease, but I don’t want to live in a bubble and let Lupus control the way I live my life.”
Without any serious threat to their well-being, it seems that many young adults in the United States will continue to live relatively carefree lives.
According to Young Adult Health Online, having a healthy diet can help to avoid diet-related diseases such as heart disease and some cancers. Although these are diseases that don’t develop until people are over the age of 40, healthy eating now can reduce the risks of developing these diseases later on.
Routine check-ups with your doctor, knowing your family history, and daily decisions about exercise and intake are all important aspects to pay attention to, even as a “young invincible”.
Western State Writers Spring 2009 