Asking what age do you consider to be old?

[Teadrinker11]

I was thinking about this and I don't consider 60s that old at all. Even 70s nowadays aren't that old imo. I think a lot of it is down to lifestyle but in general speaking, what age would you consider to be old?

'Old' isn't just age. Its health too. You can be fit and active in your 70s or have heart attacks, strokes, cataracts, osteoporosis etc in your sixties or even 50s.

It depends.

DM just turned 70 & she has suddenly got old. I think she mentally thinks of herself as old so is acting accordingly.

Divorced from DF who is 74 who has, over lockdown, declined mentally and is struggling to look after himself. He’s suddenly gone very frail so definitely would be seen as an old man.

There are 80 year olds who skydive or weight lift. It’s definitely down to state of mind.

I just struggled to get off the floor gracefully at 50 as I was trying to get something from under the chair for the cat, shocked myself really. I do yoga and lots of walking so considered myself youngish. I’m going to be googling flexibility movements and add that in because, 20 years from now, I don’t want to be ‘old’ like my parents!

I can remember stuff that happened almost 50 yrs ago -- I'm definitely old !!

I don't agree that old = bad, worn out, useless, etc.
Old is fine. Something to be proud of.
Assuming old = bad is a problem.

Over 75

20 years older than me! Always

80

My parents are 79 and 84. They are definitely old now.

My parents are 77 and 80 and they're definitely not old. MIL is 78 and is ancient 😂 She's frail and my own parents help her and take her places.

It can vary from person to person. My parents seemed to age a lot after 75.

I wouldn't consider 60s old. My DH is 61 and still has the same outlook he had 20 years ago when we met.

I would say 80

Oh I'm way out, I was going to say 29 as that's when I officially felt 'old'. 😳 A couple of years later and I still do, although in the grand scheme of things I do realise it isn't that old!

Around 70

I read something the other day where someone was talking about older women in their 20s

I'm late 70s and think of people 90+ as old.

Three score and ten, and beyond.

Depends entirely on the person. I know people who haven’t looked after themselves, eg unfit obese drinkers & smokers, who are already old in their 50s. I also know active, healthy, mentally sharp people in their 70s who have looked after themselves, kept fit and are now reaping the benefits.

My parents are 70 & 72 and not OLD, same really for in-laws who are a couple of years older.
But I think FIL(73) is defo suffering from more confusion and brain fog than a year or so ago, he's still of sound mind but has the odd off moment where he just can't seem to understand what you're saying, mostly if you're giving some sort of instruction.

I think it's very subjective based on how the person copes.

My late DM was 61 when she died in January this year, and I didn't realise it at the time, but she had significantly aged over the past 18 months or so because she decided she was old, and acted accordingly i.e stopped looking after her health and essentially self-deteriorated into an early grave.

My FIL on the other hand turns 69 next week and is fit as a flea, I wouldn't class him as old at all.

I think it varies so much. My DM is only 71 but has advanced Alzheimer’s and can’t really do anything for herself anymore.

I think about 78 now.

I can remember my Grandad, well into his 70s, complaining that they’d put him on a geriatric ward in hospital with all the old people - he was so young at heart and didn’t see himself as the same age as them at all

@Cognoscenti

Oh I'm way out, I was going to say 29 as that's when I officially felt 'old'. 😳 A couple of years later and I still do, although in the grand scheme of things I do realise it isn't that old!

So, you think that people are ‘old’ for roughly two thirds of their lives? Just, extreme youth to old age, in one fell swoop with nothing in between? 😂

On average, I’d say over 75. However, as pp have stated, that varies hugely depending on health and how much people have taken care of themselves.

When I was younger I always remember my grandparents looking old, they were only in the 60's but now my parents are that age they don't seem old to me. I wonder if they seem "old" to my dc

In general, I think I start to think of people as being some form of old at about 70ish. Or - that is the decade when people go from not being old but more like late middle age if they have their health, to being old - at 80 even in good health people tend to be clearly old.

While there are plenty of people quite healthy at 70, they are clearly nearer the end than the beginning, and it's also the decade where quite a lot of people start to have some significant health issues, quite possibly the ones which will eventually kill them. And it is also not that unusual for it to happen quite quickly - a person may go from seeming not that different than they were at 65 to being rather frail and elderly.

It's also when I really started to feel my relatives who I'd known for a long time started to look elderly, even in good health. It can be difficult to notice changes in people you see regularly, but sometimes you get a moment when you look at someone like your mum or uncle or whatever, and realize that they look like an old person - maybe how you remember your grandparents, or even great-grandparents, looking. Age spots, a saggy neck, a certain kind of thinness that is particular to older people, a stoop or less sure step.

85