What is middle aged?

[Kanfuzed123]

What age do we define as middle age?

i always thought it was around the 45 mark?

but today at work, someone described 35 as middle aged. I wanted to cry into my decaf tea (decaf because it was 3pm and if I have caffeine after 2 I can’t sleep, because I’m ’middle Aged’ (read 35))

*note for context, the crying into my tea, whilst I was drinking tea, the crying bit is lighthearted, I wasn’t actually triggered to the point of tears

Five years older than I am now.

I would say about 45 to 65

3t is still young!

It’s a state of mind.

Well it's halfway, so if life expectancy is three score year and ten, it's 35, today closer to 45, but in my mind it's about when menopause hits, so 50ish.

45 to 59.
Over 60 elderly

I don't feel elderly at 60.

It comes from elder or older
It's not an insult.

I now see middle aged as half way through life to elderly? so maybe from 40… elderly maybe over 70/75

Probably depends on health, fitness, lifestyle, outlook, bring active etc too

Middle aged: I agree with a pp, it’s five years older than me, and has been since I reached 35 (more than a decade ago!) Definitely a shifting goalpost! 60-65: ‘older’; 65-80: ‘old’; 80+: ‘elderly’.

However according to my 10 year old 40 is practically dead of old age..

I'm not insulted, just think that these days over 70 is elderly, people are living longer and more healthily. I'm still at work, very active, years to go to retirement.

45-60 I think

45-70 these days I'd say. 20 to 100 is 80. A third of 80 (rounding a bit) is 25. Childhood is a separate thing imo. However, 'middle age' is one of those things that is still heavily stigmatised in this progressive day and age. I've seen 92 year olds with brains and alertness that rivals any 35 yr old and 100 yr olds with determination and tenacity associated with stubborn 5 yr olds. I've also seen 25 yr olds who couldn't run up a flight of stairs or possibly consider a viewpoint but beyond that which they inherited from their parents.

I always thought that 40 is the age at which you stop being young. With 40-60 being middle age, and over 60 being old age.

However, now that I'm the wrong side of 35, I prefer the idea that middle age starts at 45, so I'm willing to support that!

However according to my 10 year old 40 is practically dead of old age..

LOL. I thought that 40 was old until I reached my 30s, and then I suddenly decided that it wasn't. Funny how that happens!

50 its half a 100 bang in the middle.

According to the teens I know, 50 is old.

If we're looking at middle aged as the middle of your natural age, then it's probably between about 35 and maybe 50, based on a lifespan between 70 and 100. But I think when people say middle aged, they really mean not young but not old.. which is probably more like 40-60.

I'm mid 40s. I know we all feel 17 in our heads, blah blah, but my body is definitely not young anymore. I'm fairly fit, but have to think about when and how much I bend my knees. My joints hurt in the damp. I get tired more easily. People in my gym classes are better than me at some things, which never used to happen. I don't have the best body in the room anymore.

18 -24 - Young adult
25 - 40 - Adult
40 - 60 - Middle age
60 - 75 - Golden years
75 + - Senior

But not many people live to 100. Average life expectancy is about 80, which puts 40 in the middle.

I'm very literal so I think most of these ranges are too high as they're not the middle of typical age ranges.

I'd say 35-55 for middle age (doubling gives 70-110)

55-65 I don't have a snappy name for - older? Approaching retirement?

65-80 = old

80+ = elderly (although elderly is also a bit more individual - my PIL are both 80, and one is definitely elderly and the other definitely isn't)

I think any definition of middle aged that starts after 40 or ends after 60 is just wishful thinking.

So 40 should be the middle of middle age... 30-50?

So many great points. I totally agree.

Middle age starts at mid 40s to mid 60s.

I think a lot depends on health and circumstances.

A 45 year old in good health, maybe single is probably going to feel and look better than a mid 40s parent of two or more kids who has suffered years of sleep deprivation (for example).

I'm 41 and I'm pretty much there, I'd say. I'll meet up with high school friends who looked more or less the same in 20s and 30s but we're all looking a bit more wrinkled now.
For lots of people age groups are people older than them. My parents are 73 and I asked my mother how old someone who died was and she said, "Not very old: my age". I just nodded.

You're not middle aged at 65 unless you're going to live until 130 😂

About 40 I reckon. 60 is old. 75+ is elderly.