Good news for all of us who have accepted that we are getting older: Saga reports that new European research shows that 60 is the new 40! The research reveals that people are now reaching middle age at the tender age of 60, instead of the previously expected figure of 40 years old.
Saga’s Head of Communications, Lisa Harris, commented:
“Middle age is most certainly a state of mind. In today’s society we are living longer, healthier lives and the face of later life is changing beyond all recognition. Retirement is no longer a cliff edge decision where we stop working purely because we’ve celebrated a birthday. Instead we change the way we work – often with the goal of achieving a more rewarding work life balance that allows us to feel both valued in the workforce for the skills and experience we have to offer and also gives us the opportunity to travel, take part in hobbies, volunteer and generally have a bit of fun too. It’s not just about living longer – it’s about ageing well!”
One is tempted to ask, what now happens at 40 then? If no longer the threshold of ‘middle-age’, what significance does passing one’s birthday at 40 now have? It used to be an important marker of ageing – passing into middle-age with a feeling of old age creeping up on us, just around the corner. It used to feel like the beginning of the end – time to stop playing sport, stop thinking we are young and let ‘middle-age spread’ take over. Perhaps today’s perception of our life at 40, and for those that will follow us into this new idea of age, will now be marked by similar previously unrecognisable thoughts. Will 40 become the age we finally manage to buy our first house, or see us looking sceptically forward at another thirty years of employment, before we can afford to retire?
To balance this, at 60 we are now constantly reminded to develop a healthy lifestyle and exercise to keep fit – we have a new lifetime ahead of us – time to start playing sport again. So old-age is off the agenda, until we are at least 85, when we might have to finally consider giving up running marathons!
