What is middle age?

[Satyrquaze]

I mentioned to my (50-something) chiropractor recently that I've been feeling somewhat old. I added that I guess that's something that happens when you enter middle age. He asked me how old I was and I told him I was 35. He looked at me like I had just slapped him in the face.

I said I was in middle age as the average male lives to be 70ish in this country... and since I'm 35 I would quite literally be middle-aged.

 

[Star Wolf]

The kids are off and self sufficient and we are not at the point where we need help from people to be self sufficient

 

[Gaseous Anomaly]

I always thought somewhere between 40-60.

I agree on 40 to 60.

Why does middle age have to be bad? I consider it the beginning of wisdom.

Exactly, you are past the mistakes of your youth and hopefully learned from them, time to make a whole new batch of mistakes to learn from.

 

[Amaris]

I'll be 32 next month, and I consider myself at middle age. Life's tricky for us male Allens.

 

[T'Baio]

Statistically, it's 35-58.

At least according to academic social sciences.

 

[M'Sharak]

^ I'm closer to "old" than I thought.

 

[Lord Garth]

Personally I think that middle age begins sometime between 35-39 and ends in the mid-sixties.

This sounds about right to me. People in their late-30s don't seem that young and people in their early-60s don't seem that old.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I think middle age is 40-60, but that it does vary from person to person. There are people who are younger than they look, but they've lived a hard life which have aged them prematurely. Conversely, you have some folks who are older than they look because life's been good to them or it's simply in their genes.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Older than me, but younger than my parents.

 

[An Officer]

I'll be 32 next month, and I consider myself at middle age. Life's tricky for us male Allens.

I'm with you on this one. I am going through middle-age/mid-life crisis now... I expect to have a boisterous youth when I am actually middle-aged. I've always been upside down though, nothing new there.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I can't imagine the idea of middle age starting anywhere in the 30s. That's the decade in your life when you're old enough to take someone over your knee and still young enough for someone else to take you over theirs (okay, that last part might be too much information, but you get the point).

 

[An Officer]

^ Chance would be a fine thing!

 

[Amaris]

I'll be 32 next month, and I consider myself at middle age. Life's tricky for us male Allens.

I'm with you on this one. I am going through middle-age/mid-life crisis now... I expect to have a boisterous youth when I am actually middle-aged. I've always been upside down though, nothing new there.

Agreed. I was old when I was young. Responsibility started very early for me. I'm hoping to have a boisterous something soon, that's for sure!

 

[Lord Garth]

I'm not saying there aren't exceptions but it seems like things are changing.

My father is 60 and he's definitely middle-aged. I wouldn't call him old at all. When my grandfather was 60 (in 1976), he looked old.

 

[Gaseous Anomaly]

I'm not saying there aren't exceptions but it seems like things are changing.

My father is 60 and he's definitely middle-aged. I wouldn't call him old at all. When my grandfather was 60 (in 1976), he looked old.

I think ones perspective changes as they get older. I know that mine has, and some has to do with how one physically feels. I know it does for me.

 

[Lord Garth]

I'm not saying there aren't exceptions but it seems like things are changing.

My father is 60 and he's definitely middle-aged. I wouldn't call him old at all. When my grandfather was 60 (in 1976), he looked old.

I think ones perspective changes as they get older. I know that mine has, and some has to do with how one physically feels. I know it does for me.

I'm not arguing with that, but I don't think I had any perspective at all when I was -3.

I'm going by pictures (by the time I was old enough to remember my grandfather, he was frail). Granted this was my maternal grandfather. He left high school to become a carpenter during the Depression (and made more money than my great-grandfather), stayed in that profession until he retired, had to deal with a traumatic loss (my aunt died before I was born)... and there was WWII... so it was a different, harder type of life, completely.

Well, that and my grandfather always wore a hat outside and never dyed his hair. The opposite of my father. People weren't actively trying to fight their age back then. That makes a difference too.

 

[RJDiogenes]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FUGzwUTN80[/yt]

 

[jack sparrow]

I would say there is no middle ages, when you are energetic and active you are always a youth.

 

[SPOCKED]

27 to 34

then you're old forever

 

[RandyS]

27 to 34

then you're old forever

You're 20, aren't you?