Most of the pensioners I know are healthier than my own age group

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I married DH in my early thirties, he is 15 yrs older, so through him, I am familiar with quite a few older people, his family, etc. I also have my own peer group to compare. It isn't 'science', but it does intrigue me!

I am now 50, so he is retired, just, and has quite a few friends and relatives who are older than him to some extent. In this circle, counting my own 50+ friends, I have definitely noticed a difference.

Many in my own age cohort are suffering various illnesses, from auto immune, diabetes, allergies, etc. My DH's cohort is seemingly much healthier. And when I say that, I mean hiking up mountains, not using cars, zipping about to folk festivals at 70, hanging out in coffee shops or going on holiday.

Not all are fully retired, and a good few still work or volunteer, so they're not sat at home all day.

In my own age group there are a few who work hard, some who work from home, and a few who don't work. My own age group seem to suffer far more issues generally, and it got me wondering (we are generation x).

I did notice that my DH's group had more money, even in retirement, although to be honest, the ones who zip about more and are fitter are just on the basic pension without savings. So I don't know what to conclude.

Just wondered if anyone else had noticed a discrepancy, or if this is just an isolated case. Could be! I did notice that the older ones consume less processed foods, but this might be a very limited viewpoint.

Not something I recognise at all.

Just wanted to add: the older ones are not doing better merely because they are retired. They dod not have health issues leading up to that, whereas many of my generation do.

That's fair enough, would love to know why?

You have to remember that lots of the people his age with unhealthy / less healthy lifestyles are dead. In your 50s they’re mostly suffering / starting to see the effects but most aren’t dead from it yet. Whereas people who are climbing mountains at 70 are unlikely to have lead a life of heavy drinking, smoking or obesity.

Well I'm 65, still working a complex job albeit part-time now.

I have auto-immune thyroid
High cholesterol
Osteoporosis (quite badly)
Bit of osteo arthritis

I still go for long walks (ones that need walking boots), dug in 400L of horse manure last week, have elderlies to keep an eye on (90 miles away), and am more than capable of driving from the SE to the Languedoc solo.

Why would I discuss my "ailments"? DH is a year younger - sans ailments.

Clearly it isn't reproduceable on a population level - we know that age is a factor in a&e attendances, hospital admissions and requirement for social care.

The trend you notice may be linked to other factors such as employment history, income, access to and engagement with preventative healthcare etc.

We do know however that babies being born today are most likely to have a life expectancy that is less than that of their parents and grandparents. Really sad.

Yeh, it's very much my own small sample!

A couple in particular were post office worker and health receptionist, not a high income, now zooming up fells in their late 70's, no health issues apart from removal of a cataract and temporary blood pressure.
Some of them are always out and about, always walking which does stand out as potentially positive. These are all mixed financial backgrounds too.

My own generation are often more well off, but more sedentary.

I did notice that they eat less ultra processed foods, but did drink lots of cafe drinks such as mocha, etc. So lots of sugar!

I’m your DH’s generation- I think it’s a feature of that friendship group of his, not of my generation, sadly. I am fit and healthy, on no medications, healthy BMI, walk the dog for an hour daily, have a very good, unprocessed, diet etc. I am an outlier among my old friends. Everyone seems to be on multiple meds, have had, or are awaiting, surgery (knees and hips) and struggle with their weight.

I went to a Uni reunion last summer where I was pretty shocked at a room full of old people 🥴. The only couple I recognised instantly- they really hadn’t changed - were telling me that their passion in life was walking, they belong to various rambling clubs, they used to go on walking holidays when their kids were young…. It really does seem to be a case of use it or lose it.

That’s a very good point!

I would be looking at the sample group and where they’re derived from. People you know obviously but how do you know them. I’m 55 and have been retired from my “ big” job since last August. I now have much more time to spend at the gym and playing tennis. My mums in her 80’s and still fit and well and out and about and up and down ladders decorating. She puts it down to her lifestyle 15 years ago when she had a PT and worked out with weights for a number of years. If your older friends were active all their life it may have helped keep them fit and well. The older people I know are all from my tennis club so similar to my mum in that regard. The ones who are ill / unfit aren’t really in my orbit.

There’s a vertiginous hill a short drive from us in the countryside, that me and my family often walk up at weekends. It’s quite challenging for us and we always feel great on the descent, like we’ve achieved something.

But we’ve noticed recently that a few couples who look like they’re in their 70s are literally jogging up that hill. It’s very sobering - we consider ourselves as pretty healthy but these people are next level. Very affluent area though.

Got to admit we know lots of people who are dead.
In my world these were almost all male, and drank a lot.
I think it will obviously vary very much.
Most of the women I know over 70 are still doing very well.
One has Rheumatoid arthritis and is never still, always out and about and has a very good life.

Stress is known to be a key cause of physical and mental problems. On average, careers were far less stressful. People generally worked their contracted hours. They used landline phones and paper, rather than email with smartphones reaching us at all times of the day and night. People would have been more selective in the communications they made at work, as sending memos around the department or documents to clients would have taken time. Very different to nowadays where everyone is copied into everything ‘for awareness’. Slower word processing meant fewer amendments to documents - that contract wouldn’t go through hundreds of iterations and back and forth to various parties as it would have to be produced on a typewriter etc. We live in an increasingly connected and globalised world - everything seems to be becoming more complex.

our area is not affluent.

I also think this is down to sampling. It could be that your husband has a healthier lifestyle and many of his friends are the same. I imagine you wouldn't have been attracted to and married a much older man who wasn't taking care of himself and who came with myriad health issues.

FWIW from my own very small sample. The older generation have lived through their own ‘snipers alley of death’ - in other words the ill ones have died already. Survival of the fittest writ large. Those left realise that this is it so live their life doing whatever makes them happy (within financial and physical limitations)
The younger generation tend to still be working and still have all sorts of responsibilities - caring for parents/children/grand kids duties etc, and seem to have a higher proportion of illness that have yet to kill them - they are pre snipers alley range. So it just seems like they are sicker, yet nature just hasn’t yet wrecked the same death penalty on their generation, as it already has on the older generation. So there’s a natural imbalance between the two groups.
The older retired generation also has more time to spend on doing why they want and looking after whatever health they do have. The younger generation are time poor in this regard.
it may well be that one the younger generation become the older generation the same cycle is repeated.
there may well be other factors, as I said it’s just my observations on my own small circle.

Waaay back in the day we were hippies, didn't care about money, etc.
We have always been moderate and never high income, but had a good, healthy life.
He was a musical engineer, I am a designer, so not wealthy at all.
Not everyone chooses a man on his wealth potential, surely?

I married him because he was a beautiful person, a live mind, and we shared similar ideals. we had a lot in common and can laugh till the house falls down. Can't think of a better reason really.

I didn't say anything about wealth, though. I said he might be healthier than others his age, and that if he wasn't healthy and intellectually engaging he may have been less attractive. I wasn't trying to offend you.

I’m in a similar situation to you age gap wise with DH, and I see the same thing with that generation being in better health that my generation. All the 60+ people my DH knows who are healthy are drinkers, have poor diets, drive every where and are slightly overweight. I find it puzzling. The generation above him in the family all seem to live forever in good health too and the ones we know in their 80/s/90s live on ready meals for convenience! I’m starting to believe that health is due to luck and genes more than anything else.

Also infant mortality was higher when they were children. A lot of younger people living in with health conditions now might have just died if they were born decades earlier.

Think about how much more we know about allergies and diabetes etc

I’m 35 and I have PCOS & Hashimoto’s (autoimmune condition). I don’t drink alcohol. I rarely have time to climb mountains, hike etc as I work full time. I work from home as well which is not good from a health perspective as very sedentary.

I think lifestyle makes a huge difference.

At nearly 66 I'm physically fitter than I was—touch wood—in my 50s.

However, that's because I'm no longer working and caring for adults and now have time to sort myself out. Admittedly, it's taken a while to get myself into the right mindset and I still have a way to go.

I didn't have time to deal with my on health issues before and I'd had to give up going to the gym etc in my 40s.

Survival of the fittest. The weakest links are all gone.

Successive generations are now getting less healthy through a mixture of walking less and eating a much worse diet

this is well known. Life expectancy is falling and years of healthy life also falling

and I suspect your DH is around the peak - smoking and alcohol use dropping perhaps in his generation in some socio-economic groups ( and you tend to mix only with a few such groups )