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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask what age you would say is no longer dying young

368 replies

Whyohwhy88 · 01/01/2026 19:35

Although hard still I feel from 80 onwards it’s expected

OP posts:
ThePure · 01/01/2026 20:54

I think I apply the AE Houseman test ‘three score years and 10’

FFSToEverythingSince2020 · 01/01/2026 20:55

Chasingsquirrels · 01/01/2026 19:46

Actually, "dying young" and "dying earlier than you'd expect" are really 2 different questions.

The OP was "dying young", but most people (and I) are probably answering "dying earlier than you'd expect".

This is an interesting point. When I hear people lamenting that someone “died so young,” they’re usually talking about someone under 50. Maybe that’s just how we phrase things?

I’m 42 and may not see 43, but it doesn’t feel young to me because I’ve already been ill for a decade. I feel about 110. My bloody skin looks it, too 😂

BettysRoasties · 01/01/2026 20:55

Pension age makes you an old age pensioner so that wouldn’t be a young death.

Young to me is a young person. A child teen young adult.

Just dying earlier than you’d expect hope or wish middle aged which I know again is a hot topic here. But your not middle aged at 45 unless your going to live to 90😅

MustTryHarderAndHarder · 01/01/2026 20:56

80

Harlequi · 01/01/2026 20:56

Very young - before 50
Young - before 70
Too early - before 80
Expected 85+

Muchtoomuchtodo · 01/01/2026 20:58

Anything over 75 is good going I think

rickyrickygrimes · 01/01/2026 20:58

75-80

there’s an oncologist in the US somewhere who he says he doesn’t want medical treatment from age 75. I hope I’m that brave.

Zov · 01/01/2026 20:59

Hedgehogtimeagain · 01/01/2026 20:29

Until you are 80. Then it’s too young.
My dad is 85 and fitter than most 60 year olds. He still cuts the hedges, digs the garden and drives. He painted the entire house recently and still builds things. He has full capacity and is sharper than most people I know.

Any age is too soon for someone you love

No disrepect, and I'm sure your dad is quite active for his age, but he is still 85 years old. His brain is, his heart and internal organs are, his body is, his eyes and ears are.... He will not be 'fitter than most 60 years olds.' Sorry he just won't be.

I know half a dozen people nearby to me in my village who are 82-87, and they present as quite fit and active. They go for 1 to 1.5 mile walks around the village every other day, go to a hobby group, or do crown green bowling in the village, and do bits of gardening and suchlike, and 3 of them still drive, but no way are they/their health/fitness levels anywhere near as good as mine (I am late 50s/nearly 60...)

My DH is just past 60, and the difference between him (and me) and the people 20-25 years older is very noticeable.

I walk 3-4 miles a day, still work 3 days a week, and think nothing of driving anywhere, anytime, and am strong and fit, and if I fall over/trip, I bounce back up and walk on. Someone of 80+ would need an ambulance if they did that. I don't have hearing aids. Most people I know 80+ absolutely do.... Most have to wear glasses. I don't.

DH is much fitter and stronger than them, he still works 30 hours a week, and he thinks nothing of doing 400-600 mile round trip drives/driving around the mountains in Wales... Or up to Scotland and back... No person I know in their 80s - male or female - will drive that distance. Most of them just pootle up and down to the market town - 10 mile round trip... Occasionally they may go to the nearest big town - 25 mile round trip, but that is rare. They usually go with their adult child who is their 40s or 50s. They will often have one of their adult children take them to hospital appointments too. (Hospital is 40 mile round trip...)

DH and I have both had flu, very bad colds and viruses, food poisoning, and covid over the past few years, and we have bounced back really quickly. Many people 80+ will be hospitalised for weeks... Or will die. (From similar things...)

I'm sure you (and/or someone else) will say your 80+ year old dad or uncle or grandad runs marathons every month, and regularly drives to the South of France and back, and could fall from the top of a flight of stairs/steps and get up and walk off, but in reality, the vast majority will not...

.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 01/01/2026 21:00

IMO there’s a difference between ‘young’ and ‘too young’.

The dh of a friend of dd died in his mid 40s. To me that was young.

My lovely MiL died at 68. Too young.

Gingercar · 01/01/2026 21:00

I’d say 70. If you died before that it would seem too young. If you died 70-80 I’d think you were unlucky to not get to a really old age, but it’s not unusual that people do die at that age. Over 80, seems quite expectable really, even if some people do live longer.

Aimtodobetter · 01/01/2026 21:01

60

SummerFeverVenice · 01/01/2026 21:02

Over 50.
But I’ve seen too many children and young people die.
I think if you get to half a century you’ve had a good run and while you’re not old, you’re not young to die.

Miranda65 · 01/01/2026 21:03

I think we should expect it at any time from 60 (my age, as it happens!), but I suppose anything over 70 is standard.

Needspaceforlego · 01/01/2026 21:05

I think if you get to 70-75 you've done ok. Not brilliant but ok, is you get to 80 without too many health issues you've done fab.

UneAnneeSansLumiere · 01/01/2026 21:07

I would say 70. I'm not saying that someone of that age wouldn't be much missed and have many good years of life left, but it could not be said to be 'young' in any sense.

BettysRoasties · 01/01/2026 21:09

Once your old enough to of married had children, had grandchildren maybe even great grandchildren and retired.

Thats not a young death it’s a full life reframe it.

CatBooksWineInThatOrder · 01/01/2026 21:10

My dad was 71 and my mum was 77, I wouldn’t say either of them died young. My aunt was only 59, she was too young.

Hedgehogtimeagain · 01/01/2026 21:11

Zov · 01/01/2026 20:59

No disrepect, and I'm sure your dad is quite active for his age, but he is still 85 years old. His brain is, his heart and internal organs are, his body is, his eyes and ears are.... He will not be 'fitter than most 60 years olds.' Sorry he just won't be.

I know half a dozen people nearby to me in my village who are 82-87, and they present as quite fit and active. They go for 1 to 1.5 mile walks around the village every other day, go to a hobby group, or do crown green bowling in the village, and do bits of gardening and suchlike, and 3 of them still drive, but no way are they/their health/fitness levels anywhere near as good as mine (I am late 50s/nearly 60...)

My DH is just past 60, and the difference between him (and me) and the people 20-25 years older is very noticeable.

I walk 3-4 miles a day, still work 3 days a week, and think nothing of driving anywhere, anytime, and am strong and fit, and if I fall over/trip, I bounce back up and walk on. Someone of 80+ would need an ambulance if they did that. I don't have hearing aids. Most people I know 80+ absolutely do.... Most have to wear glasses. I don't.

DH is much fitter and stronger than them, he still works 30 hours a week, and he thinks nothing of doing 400-600 mile round trip drives/driving around the mountains in Wales... Or up to Scotland and back... No person I know in their 80s - male or female - will drive that distance. Most of them just pootle up and down to the market town - 10 mile round trip... Occasionally they may go to the nearest big town - 25 mile round trip, but that is rare. They usually go with their adult child who is their 40s or 50s. They will often have one of their adult children take them to hospital appointments too. (Hospital is 40 mile round trip...)

DH and I have both had flu, very bad colds and viruses, food poisoning, and covid over the past few years, and we have bounced back really quickly. Many people 80+ will be hospitalised for weeks... Or will die. (From similar things...)

I'm sure you (and/or someone else) will say your 80+ year old dad or uncle or grandad runs marathons every month, and regularly drives to the South of France and back, and could fall from the top of a flight of stairs/steps and get up and walk off, but in reality, the vast majority will not...

.

Edited

Well he must be ‘the exception’ then because he actually does walk between 3-5 miles a day (without an ambulance!)

He also has no hearing aid and takes no medication, as well as having all his own teeth.

Most people, is not all people.

BillieWiper · 01/01/2026 21:12

I guess below 65. But it would depend on how healthy the person seemed. If I saw them declining then I'd probably see them as older. But if I thought they were fairly well and they dropped down dead quite suddenly I'd be more inclined to think they were young. Maybe just because it would be more of a shock.

My dad died at 55 and his dad at 50. So I guess for men I expect them to not live as long as women. In my family some of the women lived to 100 plus.

joeninetey · 01/01/2026 21:16

Look at Liam Neeson at 73. He still jumps from high balconies, escapes from dungeons and fights groups of gangsters less than half his age.

Blarn · 01/01/2026 21:17

Also 80+. I would be surprised if someone died in their early 70s from 'old age', maybe late 70s. My dad is 70 this year and he is no way elderly so that my be skewing my thinking.

scottishgirl69 · 01/01/2026 21:22

Hedgehogtimeagain · 01/01/2026 21:11

Well he must be ‘the exception’ then because he actually does walk between 3-5 miles a day (without an ambulance!)

He also has no hearing aid and takes no medication, as well as having all his own teeth.

Most people, is not all people.

It really annoys me when people think that when folk get older they have to go to hospital appointments.

My mum is 76 and the last time she was in hospital was when she broke her arm 7 years ago.

BettysRoasties · 01/01/2026 21:23

scottishgirl69 · 01/01/2026 21:22

It really annoys me when people think that when folk get older they have to go to hospital appointments.

My mum is 76 and the last time she was in hospital was when she broke her arm 7 years ago.

Yes you can be old and fit just as you can be young and sick.

It doesn’t change your age just your health.

miamo12 · 01/01/2026 21:24

75+ is normal range, 65-75 is a bit younger than average but if they have been very ill you have that “for the best” mentality under 65 too young but even then, if someone has been very ill and has a very poor quality of life our brains deal with the situation quite differently to sudden death, I spend my working life talking to bereaved people and it’s a very diverse attitude situation, you get good at reading the signals

Widowwith2 · 01/01/2026 21:24

Id say 80 plus my wonderful husband passed away suddenly at 37 😢 when people post on sm about someone in there 80s dying and saying gone to soon it really gets to me my poor husband only got 37 years that is far to young 💔

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