How Old Would You Say Someone “ Elderly “ Is?

[RabbitsRock]

I was shocked to read a review online that described ladies in their 50s or 60s as elderly! It wasn’t possible to comment otherwise I would have posted a stiff objection! I would say late 70s or into the 80s is more like it! I’m 58 & definitely wouldn’t describe myself as elderly!

55-60

I'm 47 next month and still have a DD in primary school. My dad is becoming much more frail and cognitively challenged at 77, and other than being massively deaf my DM is pretty sprightly at the same age.
I have trouble accepting that I'm middle aged, but I definitely am!

Yes, agree. It's biological age vs chronological age, I think.

A 60 year old, size 8, who eats well, can get up from the floor using no hands, runs and lifts weights, takes no medication, has blood pressure of 110/70, good cholesterol and good bone density, lives in SW3, has regular access to high quality medical and dental care, maintains an active professional and social life, and has parents who are physically and mentally able into their nineties might be chronologically older but biologically younger than a lot of people in their 40s, surely?

Don't you find it bizarre with that definition that there could be staff working on geriatric wards that would themselves be classed as elderly?

No you are elderly. You really are.
I’m assuming you are a grandmother (you should be) or a great grandmother.
You claim your pension.
It’s not an insult it’s a fact.
Just like I’m middle aged it’s not an insult it’s a fact.

Over 80.

Over 70 if in very poor health

80 plus

It depends on the person. My DM and MiL are both in their mid 70s but are very fit and active (physically and mentally) - I wouldn't consider either of them as 'elderly'.
My next door neighbour on the other hand has felt elderly for years (takes a shopping trolley to the shops, always wears a pinny for pegging out the washing and dresses like my late nan etc). I was shocked to discover she's actually younger than my mum when she told me she'd just celebrated a big number birthday - I assumed she was 80 but nope, 70.

80 or older.

I think it's around the age at which, no matter how fit or active or "with it" you were when only a bit younger, you find yourself finding walking slightly more difficult (slower, knee or hip problems, balance) and if you go to somewhere like the Lake District you have to start conceding that you can only really manage sitting looking at nice views or a short gentle stroll rather than actively climbing up hills and going on 10 mile day hikes. Not as a result of obesity or general lack of fitness because you don't make the effort to be active. But because of simple wear and tear on the body and the effect of age on muscles, joints and things like balance. Your gait starts to be noticeably different from a few years earlier.

For the majority that will be by around the mid 70s. THere will always be the exception, like the 80 year old who still has a cleaning job and walks everywhere and is fit as a flea.

All this it’s when your body is x,y,z is when you are frail. Frail and elderly are different.

You can be young and frail and elderly and spritely. You don’t have to be frail to be elderly or fit as a fiddle to be young.

Personally to me it's from mid 70s.

In the NHS health board I work it's 65. I work in an acute admissions unit and that's the age from which people come in with "falls" or a delirium on top of urinary infections etc. We have a special frailty team that screens anybody over that age on admission for whether they need specialist frailty input.

I think it’s a bit harsh if someone is defined as elderly before they have even retired.

So as retirement age rises so too may our perception of what constitutes “elderly”.

For me it would be someone of at least 70 as a minimum.

Yeah there is! Some of our best experienced hca’s are in their 60s or have retired and work lower hours to keep their pension

I refuse the word. Old I might be but I will never accept the description of "elderly"

I can't hill walk. i trashed my knees going hip deep in a bog walking my dogs. For the same reason, I can't get up from the ground without using hands and swearing. Yes it affected my gait and my sbility to walk but it was all tear and no wear. Same with my back from working in the NHS before mechanical hoists.

My parents are 63.

They've just retired (inheritance). They go on massive long dog walks, go clubbing in Ibiza, shop at ASOS and boohoo, listen to house music and are 'younger' than me! I can't imagine them being 'elderly' for another ten years or more

It varies enormously. Some of it is genetics. Some of it is lifestyle. Some of it is down to the attitudes around you and in society generally. A lot of it is mental outlook and personality.

Oh yes - leads us into the territory of "identity as" and choosing how to be categorised 😜

Seriously though I do think there's a difference between being old and being elderly, and that "old" refers to chronological age but no matter how one NHS trust or the next might choose to set arbitrary age brackets "elderly" does imply frailty, not just year of birth.

I work with a client group who are sadly often elderly in their 50s or even earlier (in a non acute healthcare service) and have two parr time colleagues who are not elderly in their 70s, and several others similarly not elderly working full time in the second half of their 60s.

I don't think of elderly as an age, more a condition. An 80 year old fit cyclist would be less 'elderly' to me than a 70 year old shuffling along the pavement..

As I get older so do the elderly 😄. I’m now 66 and would probably have described my age as elderly when I was in my 20’s, 30’s, 40’s but now I consider over 80 as being elderly although it depends on outlook on life and physical health. I’ve met a lot of over 80 year olds who are amazingly fit and have an optimistic outlook.
It’s hard to specifically define the ‘elderly, these days.

Youthful.
Or a young whippersnapper, depending on your mood.

Late 70s, early 80s+

Me and my 50 something cohort are still working and spend our leisure time mountain biking, hiking, scuba diving, going to gigs, mini breaks, open water swimming etc.

I identify as 65 give me my pension and free prescription and dentist and what not oh and bus pass 🤣🤣

My late mum, when she was in her early 80,s before she gave up driving used to take some "elderly ladies" to church. I'm sure some of them were younger than her. I think no-one wants to be referred to as elderly as mentally most of us don't feel we are. Although as DD frequently reminds me "I am old". I am in my 60s and she does have SN and told her consultant that I was 75!