Why are middle class older people so much more healthier than their poorer counterparts?

[Gorzf]

Sorry, if this is obvious to people but I can't help but notice all the well off people I meet in their 50s/ 60s / 70s, they're just healthy, their skin is glowing, they're fit and mobile.

I am a child of immigrants who came with nothing. We were quite poor growing up, the only kid in my friendship group on free school meals. Even as an adult I'm not particularly well off, just getting by. Growing up, most older people in my poor area / community just declined. It was almost a thing I thought was just normal, that's what happens.

It wasn't as I grew older and started meeting people from different socioeconomic status that I realised that wasn't the case.

It can't just be about having more money, surely. What is it that they're doing that the poor folk around me didn't do.

It is basically just down to money (and what you choose to do with it).

Money so that you go for regular dentist appointments.
Money for private health care.
Less likely to smoke
Spend leisure time doing exercise that I outside like cycling, walking in countryside
Access to green spaces/time away from big cities.
Diet and quality of food.

Having no money is incredibly stressful and ageing…

@feralunderclass, I wanted to keep my list short & obvious but was REALLY keen to add things like untreated mental illness, widespread PTSD and no access to support services (for the 'poorer' families). Alongside the massively increased stressors of precarity and lacking control over your own life, these things are almost guaranteed to result in a less affirmative family situation.

There’s a lot to be said for being able to advocate for yourself better too.

I have literally spent most of the day listening to discussion about this at a conference. It’s well known and well understood.

Because they haven't knackered their bodies from doing manual labour all their working life.......I firmly believe that people who have worked physically demanding jobs should be able to tap into their pension earlier, especially the likes of construction workers etc. It takes its toll, a lot are fit for the scrapyard by their 50s.

Smoking and diet are probably the main differences I think.

This is a very strange answer.

I’m 53 and I’m now old? FML

Its food. And more likely to lead an active lifestyle but not manual labour which wears your body out.

I think a lot is diet related.

Read Professor Michael Marmot’s research & you’ll find out about the ‘social determinants of health inequality’. Essentially a child’s lifespan can be accurately estimated based on the postcode where they were born. My husband is expected to live 17 years less than the men who live in a more affluent area a mile away from us.

This is a very old myth.

A job with crap working conditions and no security is stressful.

I think the fact that early deaths are starting to rise again, more in poorer people, but also slightly in wealthier people, is down to smoking and drinking. People in their 50s today often smoked into their 30s and 40s, and 'benefitted' from being able to buy alcohol from supermarkets, thereby bringing it into the weekly shop and from there into the home, nicely available as an evening tipple most nights, if not all.

We've also often sat in traffic for hours on our daily commute to work behind the exhaust of the car in front running on 4* petrol. Very bad for one's health.

People are paying the price for all these things.

1. money
2. education

And the answer is money.

Money for good housing, money for good food, money for heating, money for holidays, money to live on a less polluted street, money for medication, money for the dentist...

Money money money.

There's always some that buck the trend in every group, but the trends exist and are real.

Inequality kills.

Definately mainly diet related, which is enabled by having money of course.

The stats coming out of Scotland and the USA are truly shocking. Life expectancy DECREASING in first world countries.

I don’t think so, there is some truth in it. Albeit I’d say more internal pressure than peer.

I was going to say money and access to a dentist too with regular check ups and preventative work. It makes an individual look younger and healthier. Plus the pain that comes from toothache and poor teeth is a nightmare and adds years.

I’ll always remember the statistic from my deprived outer London borough - that women, on average, would live in ill health for 18 years before their death. So basically, from 60 onwards. Due to poor housing conditions, poor quality food, loneliness / isolation / loss of purpose, poor quality air, lack of access to safe space to walk, fear of using public transport, unequal access to healthcare and challenges advocating for themselves, lack of access to dentistry - I could go on.

I think stress levels are a big factor & also better access to healthcare.

I’m middle class, have in the past experienced illness.

The NHS was good for the one major thing - lifesaving, but useless for depression, nothing ongoing. The NHS offer was counselling a year or can you it pay and go private - we suggest you do because we can see the crisis but you are better than lots of others. I was so lucky to be able to go private- again life saving but only at an up front high cost. That allowed me also to keep working so avoiding stress of loss of income, potential loss of housing.

Couldn’t disagree more with the PP. The difference is that richer people can afford better food and decent housing and do less physically demanding work. This isn’t because of peer pressure. It’s because they can afford it and, given the choice, people choose good quality housing and decent food.

The idea that it’s only peer pressure that keeps richer people from eating crap and living in poor housing is just baffling.

Your change- from peer pressure to internal pressure- is a big one. I agree with you more than I agree with PP but I still think you’re wrong. All the evidence is that when people’s income increases their quality of living increases. No pressure required- most people make better choices when they actually have choices.

This too.

I feel incredibly lucky that despite my disability I can do my professional job . Most people with my disability end up having to give up work.

Smoking , lack of exercise and obesity lead to cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes.