Millennials have become a popular cultural punching bag in recent years, with the below-34 generation blamed for being entitled, having less sex and even helping bring about the demise of breakfast cereal.
Now, millennials can add “being weaker than their dads” to that list.
A new American study published in the Journal of Hand Therapy found that Millennial men may have significantly weaker hands and arms than men their age 30 years ago.
Researchers studied 237 healthy, fulltime university students from North Carolina and tested their grip strength (the ability to squeeze something) and their pinch strength (the ability to pinch something using two fingers.)
The findings showed a significant gap between the strength of modern men versus those in the mid-1980s. The typical 20-to-34-year old man was able to apply 98 lbs of force when squeezing something with their right hand, while an average man in 1985 could grip with 117 pounds of force.
That 19-pound difference may be surprising, and it could be a warning sign for underlying health problems. But the findings aren’t necessarily an accurate reflection of the U.S. population at large. Researchers only studied men enrolled in university in a large urban centre, who may not be as physically fit as men working in physical labour or those living in rural areas.
As for women, researchers found their grip strength went nearly unchanged from the mid-1980s until today, with average right-hand grip hovering around 75 lbs.
Older millennial women (between ages 30 to 34) actually showed an increase of about 20 lbs in grip strength compared to the earlier generation, but weaker results among younger Millennial women dragged that median number down.
Researchers often consider grip strength an important indicator of overall health and life expectancy. A large-scale 2015 study of more than 140,000 participants found connections between grip strength and cardiovascular health, including the risk of a heart-related death.
