The term “generational wealth” gets thrown around a lot. It’s a goal we aspire to throughout our lives as we work, build nest eggs, retire, and eventually, leave a legacy for our children and loved ones. But just as important is growing generational health: tracking different factors that may impact our health at every life stage and educating ourselves about our unique genetic and family histories, all to anticipate and address health risks and potential issues down the line.
Working hard throughout our lives to increase our lifespan has become an increasingly trendy topic, but health practitioners are beginning to use a different term: healthspan. The idea is that our goal shouldn’t just be to increase how many years we live, but the quality of our lives, and our health, as years pass.
Dr. Adam Myers, President of TELUS Health Care Centres, says that we ought to be “adding to our health accounts” throughout our lives, in preparation for the natural decline that our bodies experience as we age. The good news is, building generational health can be easier than building generational wealth. And it’s never too late to start. All it requires is attention, education and a little bit of forethought.
Here are a few ways to start thinking proactively about building your own generational health.
Most of us assume that risks to our health only start cropping up in our later years, but that may not necessarily be thedoesn’t have to be the case. In fact, recent research shows that serious chronic diseases and heart attacks are becoming more and more common among adults in their 20s and 30s. One in five heart attacks happen to people under 40, and according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are both increasing among younger adults.
Cancers are also rising fastest among people under 50 globally, according to one major 2025 international study. Colorectal cancer, particularly, is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among young adults; cases are predicted to rise by as much as 90% among the 20-to-34-year-old demographic in North America, Europe and Australia. According to the National Cancer Institute a generational shift in chronic disease can often be attributed to changes in environmental factors as well as cultural shifts, like an increasingly sedentary lifestyle and diets high in processed foods.
Not even young adults can afford to take their health for granted. Regular screenings, annual testing and personalised clinical support can help you be proactive about preventive health.
Where to start: Prioritize your annual check ups with your primary care provider to get an understanding of your overall health and how it may be changing. If you’d like to get additional data about your wellbeing, consider the TELUS Foundational Health Assessment for a view of your baseline health.
By the time you hit your 40s, your responsibilities have started to pile up. Maybe you’re an entrepreneur, a business owner or you’ve climbed the corporate ladder and are now managing a team of people, and your boss, and all the pressure that comes with juggling all those things.
You’re not alone: stress, anxiety and burnout are common symptoms as expectations and performance benchmarks grow at work. Pressure at work can have a very real impact on physical health, as well, in both the short and long term. Among the TELUS Mental Health Index findings in Q3 of 2025, 34 per cent of Canadian workers reported that work stress is affecting their sleep habits; something as simple as sleep disruption or insomnia can snowball quickly into symptoms like chronic fatigue, concentration and memory issues, headaches and digestive problems and many more.
Addressing these issues is never as simple as just committing to a better sleep schedule, either. Over time, anxiety and stress can become ingrained (to say nothing of toxic workplace cultures that reinforce them), making it difficult to break free of unhealthy cycles and build better ones on your own. We believe that Clinical support can offer the expertise, accountability and relief needed to create healthier habits and build lasting resilience that can pay dividends for the rest of your life.
Where to start: When it comes to your health, you are your own best advocate.Think about your health goals and what kind of support or education you need to level up your healthspan at this time in your life. Maintaining your regular check-ins with your primary care provider will continue to be key. You can also learn about potential health risks, and receive clinical support on how to mitigate them, by adding a Preventive Health Assessment into the mix.
“The majority of women have quit or considered quitting [their jobs] due to menopause symptoms.”– Andrea Berchowitz, co-founder and CEO of Vira Health, a TELUS Health partner.
There’s an inextricable link between our financial, mental and physical wellbeing, and these three elements come to a head for women professionals, in particular. In the U.S., women comprise about 48% of entry-level employees, but just 29% of C-suite positions, indicating a lack of talent retention and support around the time that perimenopause and menopause become factors.
Physical health changes like perimenopause and menopause can severely limit women’s ability to be fully present at work (or even present, period) without adequate accommodations from their employers. A lack of structured clinical support means women are probably losing out on opportunities to build both generational health and generational wealth, which can have deleterious downstream effects.
“The majority of women have quit or considered quitting [their jobs] due to menopause symptoms,” says Andrea Berchowitz, co-founder and CEO of Vira Health, a TELUS Health partner. “Without proper support, women reduce hours, miss advancement opportunities and sometimes leave the workforce entirely.”
Nearly all cisgender women in the workplace will experience menopause; and a lack of adequate support from employers (things like additional health options, EAPs and flexible working conditions) will shrink opportunities for women. A lack of support can seriously hamper women’s ability to grow in their careers, so advocating for personalized and flexible health benefits that are geared especially towards women’s health is paramount.
Whatever your age or generation, there are some health risks that will require a little more effort beyond healthy habits to identify and proactively address.
Genetic testing can be used to determine how predisposed you and your family are to common illnesses like cancer, heart disease and diabetes. It can help catch any unique gene mutations that may be associated with specific kinds of diseases, allowing you to make more informed decisions about how frequently you go in for screenings and testing.
And with the fast-growing study of epigenetics demonstrating just how influential our environments can be on not just our own health but that of our children and grandchildren, the more you know about your own genes, the better equipped you can be to make informed decisions that set both you and your descendants up for long, healthy lives.
In other words, your lifestyle choices and the preventive healthcare you seek out aren’t just about you; they have an impact on every generation that comes after you, too.
Where to start: Understanding where your health sits now and how your genetics could influence health risks for future generations may require a deeply integrated, comprehensive assessment. If this is a priority for you, consider the TELUS Precision Health assessment, which includes genetic testing and continued year-over-year support from a dedicated team of specialists.
While so many health hazards listed here have grown more prevalent in recent years, so too has modern medicine advanced to ensure people actually can proactively manage and ideally improve their healthspan (your functional health as you age) in increasingly personalised ways.
Dr. Myers affirms "the beauty is that healthspan is actually easier to impact than longevity. We're not passive recipients in this journey called health." So while diet, exercise and managing stress are all vital parts of our lifelong preventive health journeys, they only paint one part of your overall health picture.
As you diligently work at building generational wealth throughout your career, saving money and allocating it for a better future, save some thought for your generational health, too. With a preventive assessment, which can include everything from screenings to bloodwork and advanced genetic testing, you can identify your own potential risks and work with a clinician to map out your individual health journey.
Disclaimers:
*This information is provided for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment by a medical professional. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
*TELUS Health assessments and genetic test results are strictly confidential and protected by the Genetic Non-Discrimination Act (GNDA)
*TELUS Health assessments and test results are strictly confidential. Individual health outcomes may vary.