What do you consider to be 'middle age'?

[ToadRage]

This is a question my mother-in-law has caused me to wonder. When I was younger I guess I always considered 'middle age' to be those over 50 however this would only be practical if most people lived to 100, this is not the case. So now I am pushing 40 I am wondering 'Am I middle aged?' My husband is 44 and considers himself to be middle aged. How old are you and at what age did you or will you consider yourself to be middle aged?

I meant 55! 😂

I don't think 56 is old age, but it def seems older than middle age to me

40+. 79-83 is the average life expectancy… half of that is around 40-42. Then I’d say you become an older adult at 60 and elderly at 70.

I’m 38 and suddenly feel old at work and am having a minor mid life crisis

Oh god so I have just 2 months left of my youth and then I am middle aged. I see.

It's nothing to do with life expectancy. It's the part of your life between child-bearing age and retirement.
I'd say 45-67

42 - I have no desire to live beyond 84 as I'm pretty sure I'll be decrepit and incontinent by then!

I think my ranges would be
0-17 child/teenage years
18-39 early adulthood
40-55 - middle aged
56-69- late adulthood
70+ - old

It’s an odd one because people use “middle age” as though it means “older but not elderly yet” so maybe 45 to 65? But if it was really the middle it would be more like 30-50.

Agree with this. Obviously doesn't mean that someone aged 31 is indistinguishable from someone aged 59.

I'm 62 and I just won't give myself a label!
As long as I'm not doing that I feel quite young still.
My 80+ MIL refers to some of her peers as "old fogies" 😆

0-20 as “child “
20-40 young adult
40-60 middle aged adult
60-80 older adult
80+ elderly

It doesn’t make sense to put adults in a middle aged category with people twice their age, such as the quoted post with 30 & 60 in the same band.

By being too broad, you miss out the very middle aged generation that you’re trying to detect. It’s fairly ridiculous to see a 30 year old as middle aged alongside their 59 year old parents. Surely there needs to be some distinction of the huge variance in life between the two when assessing “middle aged”.

I would class ages as:
0-18= child/tween/teen/late teen
19-25=young adult
26-45=adult
46-65=middle aged adult
65-75=older adult
75 plus= getting on a bit

I'm 44 and have a just 3 year old. I am horrified reading this ha ha. I thought middle aged was 50?

I am almost 55 and I would say middle age starts over 45, my sibling is 42 and I don't think they are quite middle aged yet,

55-60

I just read 30 as middle aged my god have a word with yourself 😂

It's like 'What is middle class?', half the answers will be bonkers.

45-60 I think. After that I am afraid you are old!

There was somebody on a thread the other day arguing that her 84 year old dad was not old because he could still walk. There is no universe in which an 84 year old person is not an old person!

Sure, 30-40 is younger middle aged, 50-60 is older. They are all middle aged though. No longer just starting out, not yet winding down. In the middle.

45 to 70ish. Or at least until state retirement age!! I don't think people in their 60s are old.

But 30 though ! 😳

40 because that's when your body starts rapid aging

Yep my aunty called herself and her friends “the old biddies”. In retrospect she was in her 60s at the time.

40-55, but maybe a few years before 40 and a few before 55, I'm not sure.

I've felt older than I am all my life though, so perhaps not the best judge!