Gen X Less Interested In Trendy Wellness, More Stressed Than Boomers

Members of Generation X are less interested in trendy wellness practices than the generation that came before them, indicating that senior living operators should consider some new approaches when they seek to attract them years into the future.

That’s according to The Mather Institute, which recently updated a five-year study aimed at learning more about what Generation X wants out of senior living providers, including their perceptions of wellness trends and wellness technology. The first study phase, released last year, found that the so-called “MTV Generation” were more concerned than the boomers about their finances, cognitive decline and social isolation, among other findings.

According to the newly updated study, Gen X-ers “don’t feel there’s enough credibility” in certain wellness trends that have emerged in recent years. They are also more stressed than the previous generation – Gen X has better physical health, while the boomers have better mental health, according to the study’s latest findings.

Although senior living operators do not yet serve Gen X, the cohort defined as people born between 1965 and 1980, a growing number of them are beginning to study the generation’s wants and needs to plan their next moves. Gen X-ers also are playing a larger role in helping their aging parents find senior living communities to move into, and they make up an outsized part of the current senior living workforce.

“We’re definitely seeing generational differences, but at the same time, we’re trying to take this individualized, person-centric approach according to our wellness model,” Mather Institute Senior Vice President Catherine O’Brien told Senior Housing News. “The study is providing us with some signals of things we should be looking at while we remember that people are individuals.”

For the study, researchers focused on a nationally representative sample of just over 2,500 adults ages 44 to 59 and compared their responses to those of more than 2,500 Baby Boomer older adults ages 68 to 78.

Gen X respondents told Mather Institute researchers they are mostly not interested in trendy wellness practices including IV therapy (6%), microdosing (5%), biohacking (6%). A total of 35% of respondents reported participating in intermittent fasting and 31% said they use telehealth services, the two most-commonly desired wellness practices by the cohort.

Approximately two-thirds of Gen X respondents said they hold moderate or extreme interest in personalized wellness services, including nutrition plans, fitness plans, vitamins and skin care routines. Respondents viewed personal medical history data and blood tests for determining these personalized wellness plans as trustworthy, the researchers found.

“We were looking at types of wellness behaviors that were mainstream enough that people heard about them but not widely adopted,” said Mather Institute Assistant Vice President and Director Jenny Smith.

More than three-quarters of Gen X respondents, 80%, said that scientific evidence of benefits was moderately or very important in their decision when mulling participating in health or wellness programs.

A similar share of Gen X respondents, 79%, said they believe that a new health or wellness experience could contribute to a longer lifespan. More than three-quarters, 77%, said recommendations from a doctor or medical advisor was important in influencing their decisions on health and wellness programming.

Heart rate and physical activity were the two most commonly tracked health and wellness data by Gen X, and the demographic reported using technology with more frequency than their baby boomer counterparts.

A total of 18% of Gen X residents said they used technology to track their fitness habits compared to 8% of boomers. Gen X more commonly tracked their nutrition and food in-take with technology compared to boomers, with 27% of Gen X residents and 13% of boomers tracking food habits.

Gen X also reported dealing with more extreme stress than the Baby Boomer cohort. Almost one-third of respondents, 31%, reported feeling experiencing extreme stress in the last three months, compared to 17% of boomers. Fewer than three-quarters of Gen X respondents, 69%, experienced moderate to extreme stress, over things like finances, family issues and their careers.

These findings around stress come as 15% of Gen X residents reported having access to some sort of stress management or resilience program.

“You see this kind of stress and the importance of a work life balance going through in different parts of our report,” Smith said. “We do see this really high need to help reduce stress among Gen Xer’s but that resource isn’t available at work so that’s one area that senior living providers could support.”

A total of 71% of Gen X respondents listed air quality as being very important to health and wellness. Some senior living operators have updated HVAC systems in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, and O’Brien said more should consider making these types of infrastructure changes while also adapting new technologies that could improve the overall wellness experience for senior living residents.

“We’re wanting to be very proactive and I know the industry does try to look ahead so I hope that [operators] continue to evolve and look far ahead down the road because they will be here before you know it,” O’Brien said.

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