Some editor at the Vancouver Sun spotted new national senior health stats and told a reporter, “Hey, go find some geezer to write about.” They found Dan Daniels. What a geezer. As Chad Skelton writes, “Daniels is the kind of senior citizen who makes the rest of us feel really, really guilty. The Sidney resident, aged 78, spends about 10 hours a week training for the decathlon — lifting weights, distance running and practising everything from the javelin to the high jump — despite enduring quadruple bypass surgery two years ago.” The story includes a nice shot of Dan using a practice hurdle — the kind that goes down to 27 inches (his competition height) or lower. Nice write-up.

Here’s the story:

B.C. seniors are Canada’s most active
According to Statistics Canada, 51.2 per cent of those 65 and over in B.C. are either physically active or moderately active
By Chad Skelton
Vancouver Sun; with files from the Ottawa Citizen
Dan Daniels is the kind of senior citizen who makes the rest of us feel really, really guilty.
The Sidney resident, aged 78, spends about 10 hours a week training for the decathlon — lifting weights, distance running and practising everything from the javelin to the high jump — despite enduring quadruple bypass surgery two years ago.
It’s all in preparation for a decathlon Daniels has entered at the World Masters Championship for mature athletes in Italy next September.
His wife Marjorie, 76, a sprinter, will also compete.
“I have to ensure that I’m getting ready for all those events,” said Daniels. “Some of them are basically speed and endurance. Others are strength events.”
Daniels says he trains for the decathlon — 10 separate events, — six days a week, every day except Monday. “That’s when we have our dance lessons. . . . We do flamenco and tap dancing.”
While Daniels and his wife may be a special case, a report from Statistics Canada suggests B.C. seniors are a lot more active than their peers in the rest of the country.
According to the report, 51.2 per cent of those 65 and over in B.C. are either physically active or moderately active.
That makes B.C. the only province in the country where a majority of seniors get regular exercise.
That’s well above the national average of 41.4 per cent and far ahead of places like Manitoba (34.7 per cent) and Newfoundland (28.9 per cent).
B.C. seniors are also more likely to eat five or more servings of fruit and vegetables a day.
Andrew Wister, chair of the Gerontology Department at Simon Fraser University, said B.C.’s mild climate is partly to thank for encouraging B.C. seniors exercise.
But he said B.C. has also developed a culture that encourages people to get active.
“There’s this whole culture of healthy lifestyles out here,” he said.
Dr. Ken Madden, a geriatric specialist at the University of B.C., has studied the effect of exercise on the elderly.
He said research shows even extremely frail people in nursing homes can get some benefit from physical activity.
“Exercise in old adults tends to reduce the stiffness of their arteries, and that’s related to strokes and heart attacks,” he said. “It’s been shown to increase their bone density [and] to reduce falls.”
Exercise helps seniors live longer, said Madden.
But, just as important for many seniors, it improves their ability to take care of themselves — allowing them to live longer on their own.
The Statistics Canada report looked at many other trends affecting Canada’s 4.3 million seniors, many of them women.
The report concludes seniors are living longer, are active, better off financially than their counterparts were 25 years ago, and Internet savvy.
Statistics show the average 65-year-old could expect to live another 19.2 years in 2003, three years longer than they could have in 1903, the report said. In the relatively short span between 1991 and 2003, the life expectancy of a 65-year-old increased 1.2 years.
But seniors are also getting fatter.
Between 1978 and 2004, the rate of obesity among individuals age 75 and over more than doubled to 24 per cent from 11 per cent.
In 2003, 27 per cent of men aged 65 to 74 were considered physically active in their leisure time, almost identical to the proportion of men aged 25 to 54.
The record for senior women wasn’t as good. A slightly greater proportion of women aged 25 to 54 (22 per cent) were active, compared to those aged 65 to 74 (17 per cent).
Between 2000 and 2003, the share of seniors aged 65 to 74 using the Internet more than doubled to 28 per cent from 11 per cent. Usage also increased among seniors age 75 and older, albeit not at as rapid a rate as with younger seniors.
The report makes clear many seniors aren’t enjoying good economic or physical health.
The incidence of low income, for example, remains highest among senior women who live alone.
Cancer and heart disease remain the leading causes of death among seniors, and arthritis, rheumatism, and high blood pressure remain the most prevalent chronic conditions.
Overall, however, seniors are less likely than those under 65 to smoke and use alcohol regularly.
Only twelve per cent of men aged 65 to 74, and three per cent of women qualified as heavy drinkers, meaning downing five or more drinks on one occasion at least once a month.
That compared to a rate of 32 per cent among their younger male counterparts, and 11 per cent of their younger female counterparts.
The report, titled A Portrait of Seniors in Canada, said the ranks of seniors will swell in the coming years.
Between 2006 and 2026, the number of seniors is projected to more than double to 9.8 million from 4.3 million. Their share of the population is expected to climb to more than one in five persons from about one in eight.
The number of Canadians aged 85 and older will nearly double as well, rising from about 500,000 in 2006 to about 900,000 in 2026.
The agency suggested the retirement years of most baby boomers could hold more promise than those already in their golden years, primarily because they are better educated.
“Generally speaking, the higher the level of education, the lower the likelihood of smoking, being physically inactive, not eating enough fruit and vegetables, and being a heavy drinker,” the report said.
It said seniors with a university degree were almost five times as likely in 2004 to participate in the labour force than those with lower level education.
The report speculates the participation rate will pick up as the generation of “near seniors” turns 65. People aged 55 to 64 are about twice as likely to have a university degree than the current generation of seniors.