To be surprised that 65+ is deemed ‘elderly’

I’d see old as being 70yrs+ in this day and age

@Yazoop 84 is the median age for women to die. So mid 40s clearly is middle of your life however you spend it.

We all do. My mum said she still felt the same in her head when she was well into her 80s.

I'm 60 and I really don't like the idea of being classed as 'elderly' in 5 years time. In my head,I feel like I'm still 18.

Medically, 65 IS classed as elderly (my GP told me). I'm going to be 65 next month - it's no big deal. What would be the alternative - death?

I do find it is getting increasingly blurred - most of my peers (who have had kids) will have babies or young children heading into their 40s (including me!). Which doesn't seem particularly middle aged in terms of what you expect middle aged to look like! And my parents definitely don't act "elderly" in their 70s in the way their parents did.

So definitely think a bit of generational shift going on, with key milestones being hit later in life due to a mixture of changing desires and economic realities changing. So marriage, kids, home ownership (where that is even possible nowadays!), retirement being hit later - and people continuing to do "younger" things like fitness, adventurous travel, fashion, until much later in life. But realise this might be a very specific experience of it, where people are fortunate enough to even have those types of options available to them.

Met mil at 50 she acted elderly then

Dh and I are both 70. We often say we dread being killed in an accident and being described in the news as 'an elderly couple' We are both pretty fit, have had a few medical issues, but nothing serious yet. However we have friends at the same age who can't walk more than a few yards without puffing and blowing. All of the ones with breathing problems smoked when they were younger or are very overweight So if you smoke, pack it up, if you are weighty try to lose some. for your own sake.

@BenefitWaffle that's not what I meant and sorry if you construed it that way. I was talking about categorisations that are based on the average across a population. And medically things like increased frailty, likelihood/frequency common issues like heart disease and stroke etc are indicators of what age category you are likely to be in.

But I think you've got a point that stage of life is not just purely physical (which I also tried to get across in my post earlier, but may not have been very clear) - it is also about "life stage" - e.g. someone in their fifties is likely these days to be working, paying off their mortgage, and so on, which I would see as more "middle aged" in terms of their stage of life than elderly.

Like all of these markers, they are just generalisations by their nature and don't take into account every individual circumstance. I wouldn't say your friend is necessarily elderly at 61 as I don't see disability as a lone indicator of age (it can come with age, but that's slightly different). Though some do see over 60 as old/elderly, regardless of disabilities, as outlined on this thread - I don't as it happens.

@Yazoop so disabled teenagers are elderly?
What you can do is partly affected my age and partly affected by other things. I was out with a friend last night who is 61, uses a wheelchair and has carers as a result of a car crash last year. Is she elderly?

It depends on how you choose to define things. I tend to see middle age and old as being defined on what you are (on average) expected to be able to physically do. Therefore, someone in their 50s being considered old these days seems a bit daft to me. I'm in my late thirties so don't think I'm projecting (much)!

I always thought of middle age as the mid point of your adult life (rather than literally the mid point of your entire life) and a general marker of a certain stage of life. So 40ish to 60ish seems about right to me. I think often the "middle age" tag is taken a bit too literally in these types of discussions. You are also generally considered medically "young" if below 50 - in terms of onset of common illnesses, risks etc.

There is also interesting debate on the meaning of recent research regarding whether middle age could start as late as around 65 if you consider "old or elderly" to be as in the last 15 years of your life (which is later for more of us nowadays) and the expanding median age of the population: https://www.nicswell.co.uk/health-news/middle-age-starts-at-60-claims-media. But I think that might be taking things a bit too far at present!

For a few lucky people perhaps.

Meanwhile the vast majority of us have at least another decade in work.

55 isn't old age by any stretch of the imagination. There's knocking on 3 decades left of average life expectancy.

You’ll probably feel the same at 80. Does that mean 80 is not old?

Well it’s not young! 😂 you can be old for many years. It doesn’t mean you’re about to die. What do you think menopause means?

Saying 55 is old is ridiculous 😂

Judging by people I know of my age I think a lot has to do with your mental age. Some of my friends are much 'older' than me, not chronologically but certainly with their attitude to most things in life. This also seems to affect the way they are perceived.

I'm 68 and certainly don't consider myself old.

47% of over 65's are disabled.

The white collar bias of MN is to the fore on this thread.

65 elderly?
Someone should tell the government quick. They clearly don't see 65 as elderly as they expect you to continue working until 67 and beyond.
65 isn't elderly as far as I'm concerned, 75 maybe.

I think appearance, lifestyle and stage of life can distort the perspective of age.

My mum retired at 60, was fairly unfit, had a grandchild and was the oldest generation of the family. She seemed older than DH at 60 who had 2 teens at home, still working, playing sport and had parents still alive. But reality is they were both still 60.

In the 1980s formal dress fashion, and bouffant hairstyles made it difficult to gauge womens age, or made them seem older. Some of Princess Diana's outfits seemed pretty "old" when she was barely out of her teens! Sophie Raworthfor example is about the age that Maggie Thatcher was when she became prime minister, but imo seems younger merely from hairstyle and fashion

At 55 you can access 25% of your pension, I don't understand how anyone can be old enough to access their pension and not admit they're old? People denying that they are in fact old just adds to societal views that being old is a bad thing.

I don’t see how anyone can be called “old” when they can’t claim any age-related benefits (bus pass, free prescriptions, pension etc)

Those who define 50+ as “old” - I suspect all of you are under 40.

Are you priming us for a rise in the pension age? 71 came as a shock so you're softening the blow for the real age!