By Annette Arceneaux
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
On a typical weekday, Paloma Pechenik, 30, wakes at 5 a.m. to prepare for her daily health regimen. At 6 a.m. she will walk a mile to her neighborhood yoga studio where she practices for 90 minutes. She will reward herself with an iced coffee from the Starbucks next before returning home for a nutritious vegan breakfast of organic and sustainable fruits and vegetables, fruit or boiled sweet potato, depending on what she’s craving. Then as vice president of client relations for a marketing company in the Baltimore area, her workday begins.
“I practice yoga every single day with few exceptions, walk 15,000 or more steps a day, attend different types of dance classes from aerial yoga, to hip hop, to pole fitness,” Pechnenik said. “I enjoy being active and I just want a body that performs at its highest capability for as long as possible.”
Pechenik’s lifestyle is typical of health-conscious millennials who are choosing to pursue healthier options and more varied and vital exercise than their older counterparts.
According to Brookings Institute, Millennials– those born between 1980 and 2000– make up 72 million of America’s population. A 2015 Nielsen Global Health and Wellness Report states that 33 percent of that generation considers making healthy choices a very important part of their lifestyle.
According to Goldman Sachs, Millennials consider the term healthy to mean eating well and exercising regularly whereas earlier generations define the term to mean weighing the proper weight for body height and not falling sick.
When it comes to healthy eating, Millennials are mindful about what foods they purchase and consume.
While organics are important to millennials, Business Insider reports that 47 percent of Millennials consider a company’s sustainability practices when purchasing food.
“I don’t always think organic is the most important thing,” Pechnenik said. “I think the most important thing to support is the option that is sustainable.”
Millennials are the first generation to grow up from an early age using computers and like technology. As digital natives, millennials are looking to the internet more which influences their health-conscious decisions.
Rachel Newman, a certified pediatric nurse practitioner with a Masters in nursing, notices that Millennials are more health conscious than earlier generations. About 70 percent of Newman’s patients are Millennials.
Newman said that they are usually well educated due to their easy access to information.
“I think there’s more information produced about healthy ways to live,” Carol Dunn, a Baby Boomer, said. “Things are done differently, telecommuting, work styles, the options for lifestyle are different.”
Dunn said that there are many more exercises today and because of the constant use of social media, these new forms of exercise are a good way for people to socialize.
Millennials’ health conscious lifestyles are having an impact on the world. Exercise is more technology based through the use of apps. Millennials are choosing sustainable foods over others.
“I think their consciousness will drive the pendulum in the best way possible,” said Newman, the certified pediatric nurse practitioner.
“I am hoping that the Millennial trend will grow a healthier generation and that it will trickle down and continue for the rest of us,” Dunn added.