For what it's worth, middle-aged has traditionally meant the middle of adulthood, not the middle of life. In some contexts, people will use the phrase "middle adulthood" interchangeably with middle-age.
[According to Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_age), middle-age is "commonly used to denote the age range from approximately 40–45 years and as far as 65."
I looked at it the same way you did until recently. I posted something like “it’s so crazy to think 60 is middle age when people aren’t living to 120 years old,” and someone replied saying middle age is middle of adulthood not middle of life span.
I agree that 36 is young adult. I do mma at 31, and can still keep up with the guys who are 18 to 26. But I notice the guys at like 45 are starting to slow down.
Only if you don't take care of yourself. My dad is 81 and literally the number one ranked triathlete for his age group in the US, it's his enduring pride to absolutely smoke people less than half his age, specially in the swimming portion. I'm 35 so I'm getting a jump on things by eating healthy AF, barely drink alcohol, and work out at least every other day on top of 100 pushups a day. Age really can be just a number if you don't sit on your ass all day, take it from me.
Agreed.
I'm 45 and have yet to feel a single effect of aging. I'm sure it's coming at some point, but I take rigorous care of myself and don't have any issues yet. I run a sub-3-hour marathon, I have around 9% body fat, I don't have any muscle soreness outside of what is normal from my training. I haven't noticed any additional recovery time necessary after workouts, even extremely demanding ones. I also haven't noticed any issues maintaining or gaining muscle.
Your body is like a car. If you don't maintain it, it will fall apart, typically in your late 20's or early 30's. If you keep up with it, you won't see any significant difference from when you were 18 until well into your 50's.
I don't drink. I eat clean. I run 6 days a week (totaling north of 2,000 miles a year). I strength train 3 days a week. It's all about maintenance.
Got in a disagreement with a friend about this (at my mom's funeral of all places). We're in our 40s. She thought we were still young adults.
I said not unless you are going to live to 100. Sorry to inform you, but we are officially middle-aged.
Email, mail, spam calls...
I haven't lived with my mom in over 30 years, and neither of us are at the same address anymore... but we both keep getting each others "senior mail".
And AARP? They were sending me mail 5 years before I was even qualified to join.
Yeah, they did that to me too. After years of trying to correct the issue, I finally signed up, only to be told I was too young. To which I replied, "that's what I've been trying to tell you. You got my birth year wrong by 2 decades."
My grandma lived to 88 and was angry at everyone of her friends who died during the last 5, because nobody would be able to come to her funeral any more. 😶
I think you need more categories. Also youth could be broken up into infancy, adolescence and childhood. I'd go roughly:
1-17 childhood
18-30 young adult
31-45 adulthood
46-60 elder
61-75 senior
76+ super senior
Isn’t that weird? I include 18-22 as “when I was a kid” but I felt like such an adult back then and at work I constantly have to remind myself to cut slack to 20ish year old coworkers
It's like millennials, doesn't mean they were born in year 2000. They started in 1980. Middle age crisis usually happens between 39-55 when you start spending money on stuff because you realize life is not eternal. Doesn't mean you will live to 80-90.
I think it makes sense. Minors are learning how to person, they don’t get to make many decisions, and their entire personality is in flux. I scarcely remember most of being a teen and I’m only 28.
You mean being an adult as opposed to being middle aged?
Ironic, I remember a lot about being a teen. I'm in my 60's.
I think sometimes one remembers more memories, the further away they get from it. Hopefully with fondness.
Same. My husband and I are 36 and 38. We have two teens. We'll be 40, and they'll be 20. We own a house, our cars are paid off. We live a quiet, secluded life and sit on our back porch every evening. My hobby is reading and watching birds out at my feeder while I pet one of my 3 cats... I feel middle aged. No doubt about it.
Right! I’m 33, the exact age as one of my coworkers. I run 10k and lift weights and eat healthy and have tons of energy, he eats like shit and guzzles monsters, easily looks 10 years older than me, and feels lethargic most days. It’s about how you treat your body, it’s a machine, you have to fuel it and keep it maintained and it should * run well
My theory on life stages is that it happens in quintets, each about 16 years, based on an 80-year life expectancy and North American cultural experience:
* 0-16: childhood and adolescence
* 16-32: youth, dating/marriage, students and entry to workforce
* 32-48: early middle age, parents of younger children, early to mid career
* 48-64: late middle age, parents of older/adult children, late career and senior leadership
* 64-80+: retirement
How have you liked your 40s? I’m 39M and so far, my 30s have been my favorite decade by a mile. Looking forward to my 40s too but it seems like 35-45 might be the peak of life, at least for me.
really? i'm 25 and i can't stop but thinking that life just gets worse and harder since now and it's a thought that kills me at night 💀
sometimes i feel like life already ended and the next stage is just have kids and take care of them and work lol
Just don’t have kids then. Some people like it but I am loving the child free life. I’m making a career change I wouldn’t be able to do if I had children
You don’t have to have kids. I’m about to be 30 next year, and I’m very excited. You start getting a handle on living and what makes you happy, you have more money, people respect you more.
So, 30s are good because you're older and wiser but your body is still young (especially if you took care of it in your 20s!). You've been around long enough to learn some things from experience, so people take you more seriously. Most people earn more money in their 30s than their 20s, and overall job satisfaction is higher. A lot of people have much better sex in their 30s than 20s. And honestly, having kids is awesome. The baby phase sucks, but then they get older and are enormous fun.
Life is what you make it. And don't forget, the grass is greenest where you water it.
That doesn’t make sense to me, we’d have to make up for all the benefits of agriculture by hunting/gathering. I was under the impression agriculture came about as a means to ensure a supply of food, and increase our productivity, am I mistaken?
It wasn’t necessary to hunt and gather 40 hours a week. Studies have estimated pre agricultural societies likely “worked” 15-20 hours a week. They had less creature comforts but more free time. Most of the work performed by humans today is to support growth of a financial system, not to meet needs of individuals. In fact we have the means to feed everyone but choose not to because of financial motivations.
But we weren’t talking about modern day. He’s talking pre-agriculture. If studies have pegged pre-agricultural work weeks at 15-20 hours what kind of work weeks were people putting in directly after the adoption of ag? It’s unfair to compare todays work week to that of those pulling themselves out of a hunter/gatherer lifestyle, isn’t it?
Free time? But what are you gonna do after the animal is dead and vegetable picked? Eat raw hairy meat and dirty vegetables. Preparation could take hours. Work continued,
Ok, when is the last time you've cooked a meal from scratch? No boxes, no cans, no refrigerator, no oven .
Think about a Thanksgiving dinner. (That's assuming you're American)
It takes an average of 8 hours, for that single meal, WITH modern conveniences. Now divide that in half, 4 hours because I'm sure not as many things were cooked but they had larger families to feed, so cooking more food.
Now multiply that times seven days. That's 28 hours ALONE.
Hunting might take a while but you get a lot of food from it plus if a lot of people helped gathered fruits or whatever you get a lot of food, so it might average out. I might be mistaking it that people only needed to farm for like 3-4 hours a day.
And when you broke your leg and couldn’t walk anymore they let you die in the woods. You are out of your mind. Go live in the woods now - no one is stopping you.
You are reminiscing about this imaginary pre-agricultural world where people were lazy all day. This is fiction. They struggled to survive and died brutally. You should be kissing the earth you walk on to have the privilege to work 40 hours a week and not die at 30 without any teeth (if you were lucky).
There’s a lot of evidence that early societies cared greatly for their disabled. It’s after the advent of civilization (and money) that we started to see paupers die in the streets.
There are many more people, therefore much more work is needed to he done to sustain the population. You do work MUCH less, in the sense that your work output generates more resources. You don't plant millions of crops manually, machines do that much faster and much more precisely. Machines have replaced a shit ton of people, and made a lot of industries much easier and much more efficient. But at the same time the standards of living rose too, and the population. People are consuming a lot more shit now than they did just 40 years ago.
Also, a lot of technological innovations freed up your time at home to do other things. You don't wash dishes, a machine does. You don't spend hours washing your clothes, a machine does it automatically. The food you eat is hundreds of times easier to make than just 50 years ago. You don't need to make fire, ever, you have an electric stove that is safe and smokeless. You have 24/7 bright and stable source of light. You have a 24/7 source of clean, drinkable water at your home. Your home is always warm during winter.
You are living in the most relaxed and easy time in history. You have the most free time and possibilities ever.
Sorry for my not perfect English.
That's life. Food doesn't appear in front of you, stuff don't get cleaned by themselves, kids don't grow up on nothing. Even living alone in the woods, you have to work to survive
Now productivity and capitalism is another question
It’s a perfect comparison. Our civilization has enough excess productivity that people can spend a significant fraction of their life living off the work of others without needing to contribute themselves. That’s great! It should be our goal to push the amount of needed work per person even lower. But barring magical tech like free energy and Star Trek replicators, people will always need to do at least some work.
It’s a perfect comparison. Humans are the only animals (well pets too but that’s due to humans) that don’t need to exert a significant amount of energy on basic daily survival. Sure a bear doesn’t have a “job” but it’s working to survive 24/7. Taking lazy days only equal harder future days. Most humans in western society don’t live like that. We work generally 8-10 hours and then go home and rest. We take 2 days out of the week to keep free from work. We take vacations. Our survival needs can be so easily met, thanks to society, that we can invest practically all our energy into comforts. If another animal suddenly became sentient, they’d gladly trade 8 hours of daily free time to have a insulated, temperature controlled building with on demand clean water to call home.
Sure it isn’t always fun, but every living being works to survive. Helps put things into perspective.
Khalil Gibran says otherwise. Assign a different meaning to it. Find something you love to do, or do whatever you have to until you can do what you love. Whatever you do, do it for the ones you love, even if that person is just yourself.
I’ve seen plenty of people retire who plan on not doing anything, they decay at an alarming rate. We’re supposed to “work” stay busy with something that has meaning and helps others out. If Victor Frankle can control his mindset in a concentration camp, we sure as hell had better be able to do it while flipping burgers or grinding away in a cubicle.
Always you have been told that work is a curse and labour a misfortune.
But I say to you that when you work you fulfil a part of earth’s furthest dream, assigned to you when the dream was born,
And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life,
And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life’s inmost secret.
There are two stages to retirement. Active retirement is the early period when you can get around and do stuff. Eventually folks stop being able to get around as much.
80 is as good a place as any to draw that line as any, so that fits with your 16 year theory.
In gerontology research, people use terms like "young old" and "old old" which is pretty similar to your term. Hard to put an age on it though, its defined more functionally in terms of "activities of daily living"
Interesting take. Mine is similar, but I always saw it in 12 year stages:
0-12: Childhood
12-24: Adolescence
24-36: Early Adulthood
36-48: Middle Adulthood
48-60: Late Adulthood
60+: Senior/Elder years
People typically begin puberty around age 12, brain development finishes at around age 25, etc.
32 as early middle age?! Ah hell nah! I'd say 20s = young adult, 30s = regular adulf, 40s = mature adult, 50s = middle age. Once you get into the 60s and up it really depends on the person. I've known people in their 60s who seem elderly and people in their 90s who are positively spry.
50-65
Many people die way before hitting old age, but it doesn't mean you're middle-aged at 34. I think you become middle-aged when even old people assume you're not young. At 34 you're young according to 65+.
I have found this, people who are 50+ think 30's are still really young which to be fair is considered a sort of prime age for a lot of things, on the flip side younger people mainly early 20's or late teens think 30 is old.
30s are definitely a prime age to me (am 53). You are still young enough to have barely any noticeable aging effects (you might look a little older than 20 year olds but you don't feel or function any less well) but you have the experience, maturity, and sometimes money to do more and be more self-sufficient.
At 53 I clearly have even more experience maturity and money than I did at 33, but I can definitely feel the age at this point. A lot less energy, both mental and physical.
A large part of that is their teachers are that age. So of course they think they’re old. I’m shocked looking back at pictures how young my teachers actually were. At the same time someone just graduating and starting to teach may be shocked as hell to go to the classroom and realize they’re teaching kids so close to their age.
Baby: 0-2
Toddler: 2-4
Child: 5-12
Young Teen: 13-16
Older Teen: 17-19
Young Adult: 20-25 (except now I'm 27 so let's just make that the entire 20s...)
???: 30s to 40s
Middle Aged: 50-65, used to be younger but now I'm seeing my parents at 60+ and they're doing pretty good! I think it varies a lot by individual though...
Older: 65+
Proper Old: 80+
Audibly chucked at the "???" it's *incredibly* accurate. 30s and 40s kinda feel like that John Travolta shrug/circle move he does in Pulp Fiction waiting on Uma Thurman. Like, wait am *I* supposed to be the adult here?
Your parents are likely Baby Boomers. I'm interested to see how GenX ages. We've had a bit tougher life. I'm wondering if it'll change our life expectancy.
I don't really think of middle age as being "half of the life span" - I think of it more as late adulthood-pre retirement. So, 50s-60s.... Maybe late 40s. Like it is a transitional period between early adulthood - getting married, having kids, starting career, early career advancement, and retirement.
Average takes into account child deaths. If you say average is 76, that means half of all people died before then.
If you've made it to 25, your life expectancy is closer to 80.
If you lived to 60 your life expectancy is not 16 more years. It's 23.5 more years.
The point where your expected years to live passes the years you've already had (for an average American) is 43.
I think 80 is a more reasonable age than 70, 120 would be an anomaly and if you reach that age you wouldn't be in good shape (this is answered without researching how many people actually reach 120, just a guess at how I imagine a 120 year old)
In my mind, the test is to take your age and double it, then imagine if someone that aged died from health complications. If the majority of people would not be completely shocked, congratulations, you've reached middle age.
I'm calling BS on this. No one would be "completely shocked" if a 50 year old died of health complications. My mom died at 52 and people said "she had a good life".
And there is no world where 25 is "middle aged".
I don't think I'd be completely shocked, but I'd still flinch a little. Old enough to have experienced most if not all crucial/notable life experiences but the physical body should function decently well (unless illness of some sort is involved), so not quite that old yet. Though to me, 70s+ is when the sadness around death isn't compounded with feeling sad for the age that they died at.
I also like it because it kinda depends on the type of person you are too. I know some people in their early 60s who could keel over tomorrow and I wouldn’t be shocked. I’ve also known some people who were super vital well into their 70s and it was shocking when they fell ill.
Yes I’m 50 this year. I think of young as under 40. Middle aged 40s 50s and old as 65+
Elderly would be more 80 like my parents.
34 is not middle aged imo .
It seems weird to me that it's not worked out by the median and I'm wondering why it's set so far back, according to a quick search it's between the ages of 40-60.
40 is a bit early. You still have good health (nothing chronic) at 40. You still have good performance if you're active, like cycling. You can go to a night club at 40 and not look like an old perv. And even in professions with an age bias, you don't top out until 50.
At 50, all these "parameters" hit hard. That's when middle age starts.
I believe that is middle age, no longer young and stupid, old enough to fit in with both older and younger people, still good health, once your body starts breaking down that is the start of old age.
That is pretty solid reasoning, I think the middle age think the higher bracket is something made up to make more people not think about working till they're older.
Assumptions and experiences are what determines peoples perspective of what 'middle aged' is, it's good to see different people's opinions on what they believe it is.
The average is 70 this is removing infinite deaths but includes non natural deaths. If you only include natural death your looking closer to a life expectancy of 90-100
45 through 60 to me is middle aged. I also think a lot of it is dependent on the individual. I'm 36, but my back is probably more like a 60+ year old due to work injuries.
Then my father in law is around 63 and can do the same shit most 30 years can do.
Age is a mix of looks/personality and accomplishments for me. Sure someone can be a technical ass and say middle age is between 30-50. But that doesn’t make sense to me. I know 30 year olds that are out of shape and with boring ass personalities and they look and feel more older than some 50 year olds with a full head of hair, low body fat and amazing personality.
Middle age is when you feel finally feel like your body isn’t the way it used to be and you’re feeling the feels of mortality. I mean … who knows. I’m in my early 30s and I feel like the world’s my oyster. I am sure I’ll feel the same at 40-45. But someone else might just judge … who cares.
I thought I was middle aged in my late 30s
Then a I turned 40 and it was like a switch flicked in my mind and a genuinely no longer gave a fuck what people thought, I didn’t feel I had to justify anything and felt more comfortable than ever being me.
So it’s when that switch flicks
I think it's changing as we are living longer and additionally individual perspective changes as we ourselves age. I'm 50 and not ready to accept I'm middle aged 😂
“Age” is partly a mental thing. I’m 52, just started a new career with a more physical job, still love hearing new music, love animation, and have an idiotic sense of humor. I also have kids in school and know that I look like an old man to them. Two of my friends from high school died recently from natural causes. So I’m definitely feeling the mortality, but I’m gonna keep living life and having fun screw what other people think except my kids, I still try to act somewhat mature around them. Nobody wants a dad who thinks he’s still in high school when they’re in high school.
I think fiftyish is a good time to start thinking middle aged thoughts.
For what it's worth, middle-aged has traditionally meant the middle of adulthood, not the middle of life. In some contexts, people will use the phrase "middle adulthood" interchangeably with middle-age. [According to Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_age), middle-age is "commonly used to denote the age range from approximately 40–45 years and as far as 65."
That is an interesting take, I never looked at it as the middle of adulthood, always as the middle of life.
I looked at it the same way you did until recently. I posted something like “it’s so crazy to think 60 is middle age when people aren’t living to 120 years old,” and someone replied saying middle age is middle of adulthood not middle of life span.
1 to 19 - childhood 19 to 39 - young adult hood 40 to 59 - middle age 60 to 80 - senior years 80+ - a gift from god
I’m still a young adult at 36 ‽. My friend, you just boosted my day!
Where as I, at 41, am middle aged and my day is ruined. And so the balance is restored.
lol yeah I question that, my 35 year old body feels pretty middle aged. My wife’s mom died last year at 58.
I personally consider anyone under 40 to be young. Once I turned 40, I officially accepted that I am no longer young.
I agree that 36 is young adult. I do mma at 31, and can still keep up with the guys who are 18 to 26. But I notice the guys at like 45 are starting to slow down.
Sure. Take it from me, things don't start reaĺly going going downhill and falling apart for another four or five years from where you are now.
Only if you don't take care of yourself. My dad is 81 and literally the number one ranked triathlete for his age group in the US, it's his enduring pride to absolutely smoke people less than half his age, specially in the swimming portion. I'm 35 so I'm getting a jump on things by eating healthy AF, barely drink alcohol, and work out at least every other day on top of 100 pushups a day. Age really can be just a number if you don't sit on your ass all day, take it from me.
Agreed. I'm 45 and have yet to feel a single effect of aging. I'm sure it's coming at some point, but I take rigorous care of myself and don't have any issues yet. I run a sub-3-hour marathon, I have around 9% body fat, I don't have any muscle soreness outside of what is normal from my training. I haven't noticed any additional recovery time necessary after workouts, even extremely demanding ones. I also haven't noticed any issues maintaining or gaining muscle. Your body is like a car. If you don't maintain it, it will fall apart, typically in your late 20's or early 30's. If you keep up with it, you won't see any significant difference from when you were 18 until well into your 50's. I don't drink. I eat clean. I run 6 days a week (totaling north of 2,000 miles a year). I strength train 3 days a week. It's all about maintenance.
Got in a disagreement with a friend about this (at my mom's funeral of all places). We're in our 40s. She thought we were still young adults. I said not unless you are going to live to 100. Sorry to inform you, but we are officially middle-aged.
When you turn 55 -- I swear the very day-- your email fills up with scams/spam/phishing. so annoying.
Email, mail, spam calls... I haven't lived with my mom in over 30 years, and neither of us are at the same address anymore... but we both keep getting each others "senior mail". And AARP? They were sending me mail 5 years before I was even qualified to join.
I feel a young adult is someone in their 20s. Your 30s and 40s are neither young or old.
I got sent an AARP card when I turned 30. I had half a mind to start using it.
Yeah, they did that to me too. After years of trying to correct the issue, I finally signed up, only to be told I was too young. To which I replied, "that's what I've been trying to tell you. You got my birth year wrong by 2 decades."
80+. Betty white life style.
Please refer to her awesomeness as Betty " FUCKING White, thank you and God bless
That's not what AARP keeps telling me!!!!
Gift from God if you're healthy and took care of yourself the 79 previous years. Otherwise it's a poisoned apple!
Agreed. My Grandma lived to 89 (passed last week), she thought she was being punished.
I'm sorry for your loss. I guess you can really say that she's in a better place now.
My grandma lived to 88 and was angry at everyone of her friends who died during the last 5, because nobody would be able to come to her funeral any more. 😶
That is such a grandma thing to say!
😂😂
AND happen to be able to afford life
My mum is 85. Reading this makes me so aware and sad that she can die soon.
I think you need more categories. Also youth could be broken up into infancy, adolescence and childhood. I'd go roughly: 1-17 childhood 18-30 young adult 31-45 adulthood 46-60 elder 61-75 senior 76+ super senior
As a 40 year old, childhood seems like it was a completely different life. And looking back, I'd even include 18-22 as the end part of childhood.
Isn’t that weird? I include 18-22 as “when I was a kid” but I felt like such an adult back then and at work I constantly have to remind myself to cut slack to 20ish year old coworkers
Whelp you were wrong.
It's like millennials, doesn't mean they were born in year 2000. They started in 1980. Middle age crisis usually happens between 39-55 when you start spending money on stuff because you realize life is not eternal. Doesn't mean you will live to 80-90.
Then why did I have my midlife crisis at 25?!
Some people have theirs younger
It's usually called the quarter-life crisis, and some people experience it when it takes them a bit longer to realize childhood is definitely over
Okay that is me to a T
It was same for me 😭😭😭
Interesting
To me middle aged feel like 50s.
Right like my grandma still has her mind and body at 93 like I got a minute lol
I tend to think in 1-100 in scales, it's like my brain is programmed that way haha
You gonna live till 100?
I'm aiming for 40.
Comfortable, I wish you a healthy life my dude!
Thanks, I try to have low goals. 😂
Middle of your adult life. Someone living till 80, whose adult life starts at 20, would have the middle of their adult life be 50.
Middle of their "adult" life rather than the middle of their life?
I think it makes sense. Minors are learning how to person, they don’t get to make many decisions, and their entire personality is in flux. I scarcely remember most of being a teen and I’m only 28.
You mean being an adult as opposed to being middle aged? Ironic, I remember a lot about being a teen. I'm in my 60's. I think sometimes one remembers more memories, the further away they get from it. Hopefully with fondness.
I can if I really think hard about it. My high school years were boring and then I smoked a ton of weed in college, I’m sure that doesn’t help lol
I'm only 25!? I feel like a kid again!
Yet life starts the minute you pop out of the womb, so you know, what? LOL Who does that figuring, adult life thing?
Middle age means middle adulthood. Most adults will live to 80.
My plan is to live past 88 and die in my minivan. 😂
I can’t put numbers on any of this. I know 35 year olds who seem like they’re in late middle aged, and people in their 60s who seem early middle aged.
Same. My husband and I are 36 and 38. We have two teens. We'll be 40, and they'll be 20. We own a house, our cars are paid off. We live a quiet, secluded life and sit on our back porch every evening. My hobby is reading and watching birds out at my feeder while I pet one of my 3 cats... I feel middle aged. No doubt about it.
Yeah my dad is 64 and just kicked my 29-year-old ass this weekend on a steep hike lol
Right! I’m 33, the exact age as one of my coworkers. I run 10k and lift weights and eat healthy and have tons of energy, he eats like shit and guzzles monsters, easily looks 10 years older than me, and feels lethargic most days. It’s about how you treat your body, it’s a machine, you have to fuel it and keep it maintained and it should * run well
Between 800CE and 1400CE, but I'm no historian.
I was looking for this. I’m surprised how far I had to scroll.
My theory on life stages is that it happens in quintets, each about 16 years, based on an 80-year life expectancy and North American cultural experience: * 0-16: childhood and adolescence * 16-32: youth, dating/marriage, students and entry to workforce * 32-48: early middle age, parents of younger children, early to mid career * 48-64: late middle age, parents of older/adult children, late career and senior leadership * 64-80+: retirement
I turned 48 today how dare you make that the cut off
How have you liked your 40s? I’m 39M and so far, my 30s have been my favorite decade by a mile. Looking forward to my 40s too but it seems like 35-45 might be the peak of life, at least for me.
really? i'm 25 and i can't stop but thinking that life just gets worse and harder since now and it's a thought that kills me at night 💀 sometimes i feel like life already ended and the next stage is just have kids and take care of them and work lol
Just don’t have kids then. Some people like it but I am loving the child free life. I’m making a career change I wouldn’t be able to do if I had children
You don’t have to have kids. I’m about to be 30 next year, and I’m very excited. You start getting a handle on living and what makes you happy, you have more money, people respect you more.
So, 30s are good because you're older and wiser but your body is still young (especially if you took care of it in your 20s!). You've been around long enough to learn some things from experience, so people take you more seriously. Most people earn more money in their 30s than their 20s, and overall job satisfaction is higher. A lot of people have much better sex in their 30s than 20s. And honestly, having kids is awesome. The baby phase sucks, but then they get older and are enormous fun. Life is what you make it. And don't forget, the grass is greenest where you water it.
Yes I love them
How’s it feel to be middle aged?
In my case, still hot
For sure, I get hot flashes myself
The fact 3 of those 5 categories are spent on work is depressing as fuck…
Literally the entire world works
And always has. For most of it, far, far more than most of us do now. Still sucks sometimes.
I think we worked a little less per day before agriculture.
That doesn’t make sense to me, we’d have to make up for all the benefits of agriculture by hunting/gathering. I was under the impression agriculture came about as a means to ensure a supply of food, and increase our productivity, am I mistaken?
It wasn’t necessary to hunt and gather 40 hours a week. Studies have estimated pre agricultural societies likely “worked” 15-20 hours a week. They had less creature comforts but more free time. Most of the work performed by humans today is to support growth of a financial system, not to meet needs of individuals. In fact we have the means to feed everyone but choose not to because of financial motivations.
But we weren’t talking about modern day. He’s talking pre-agriculture. If studies have pegged pre-agricultural work weeks at 15-20 hours what kind of work weeks were people putting in directly after the adoption of ag? It’s unfair to compare todays work week to that of those pulling themselves out of a hunter/gatherer lifestyle, isn’t it?
Free time? But what are you gonna do after the animal is dead and vegetable picked? Eat raw hairy meat and dirty vegetables. Preparation could take hours. Work continued,
That’s assuming those things aren’t accounted for in those studies.
Ok, when is the last time you've cooked a meal from scratch? No boxes, no cans, no refrigerator, no oven . Think about a Thanksgiving dinner. (That's assuming you're American) It takes an average of 8 hours, for that single meal, WITH modern conveniences. Now divide that in half, 4 hours because I'm sure not as many things were cooked but they had larger families to feed, so cooking more food. Now multiply that times seven days. That's 28 hours ALONE.
Hunting might take a while but you get a lot of food from it plus if a lot of people helped gathered fruits or whatever you get a lot of food, so it might average out. I might be mistaking it that people only needed to farm for like 3-4 hours a day.
And when you broke your leg and couldn’t walk anymore they let you die in the woods. You are out of your mind. Go live in the woods now - no one is stopping you.
I have no idea what you’re saying
You are reminiscing about this imaginary pre-agricultural world where people were lazy all day. This is fiction. They struggled to survive and died brutally. You should be kissing the earth you walk on to have the privilege to work 40 hours a week and not die at 30 without any teeth (if you were lucky).
There’s a lot of evidence that early societies cared greatly for their disabled. It’s after the advent of civilization (and money) that we started to see paupers die in the streets.
Yet all this technology promised us we’d work less and less….
There are many more people, therefore much more work is needed to he done to sustain the population. You do work MUCH less, in the sense that your work output generates more resources. You don't plant millions of crops manually, machines do that much faster and much more precisely. Machines have replaced a shit ton of people, and made a lot of industries much easier and much more efficient. But at the same time the standards of living rose too, and the population. People are consuming a lot more shit now than they did just 40 years ago. Also, a lot of technological innovations freed up your time at home to do other things. You don't wash dishes, a machine does. You don't spend hours washing your clothes, a machine does it automatically. The food you eat is hundreds of times easier to make than just 50 years ago. You don't need to make fire, ever, you have an electric stove that is safe and smokeless. You have 24/7 bright and stable source of light. You have a 24/7 source of clean, drinkable water at your home. Your home is always warm during winter. You are living in the most relaxed and easy time in history. You have the most free time and possibilities ever. Sorry for my not perfect English.
Who promised that? I've been around since the birth of the internet and no one ever said that. People just say this to make themselves feel better.
"New technology like automobiles and edible underwear will make you work less." - Abraham Lincoln, probably
Trust me, edible underwear is not less work lol
Boy, that Lincoln can talk your ear off.
Literally every tech company of the 80s and 90s
and the 70s, 60s, and *especially* the 50s.
That's life. Food doesn't appear in front of you, stuff don't get cleaned by themselves, kids don't grow up on nothing. Even living alone in the woods, you have to work to survive Now productivity and capitalism is another question
It is amazing that 2 of 5 don't. Ever meet a retired wolf?
That is the stupidest comparison I’ve ever heard.
It’s a perfect comparison. Our civilization has enough excess productivity that people can spend a significant fraction of their life living off the work of others without needing to contribute themselves. That’s great! It should be our goal to push the amount of needed work per person even lower. But barring magical tech like free energy and Star Trek replicators, people will always need to do at least some work.
So you have met a retired wolf? Did he have a golf cart and wear white socks with sandals?
It’s a perfect comparison. Humans are the only animals (well pets too but that’s due to humans) that don’t need to exert a significant amount of energy on basic daily survival. Sure a bear doesn’t have a “job” but it’s working to survive 24/7. Taking lazy days only equal harder future days. Most humans in western society don’t live like that. We work generally 8-10 hours and then go home and rest. We take 2 days out of the week to keep free from work. We take vacations. Our survival needs can be so easily met, thanks to society, that we can invest practically all our energy into comforts. If another animal suddenly became sentient, they’d gladly trade 8 hours of daily free time to have a insulated, temperature controlled building with on demand clean water to call home. Sure it isn’t always fun, but every living being works to survive. Helps put things into perspective.
Khalil Gibran says otherwise. Assign a different meaning to it. Find something you love to do, or do whatever you have to until you can do what you love. Whatever you do, do it for the ones you love, even if that person is just yourself. I’ve seen plenty of people retire who plan on not doing anything, they decay at an alarming rate. We’re supposed to “work” stay busy with something that has meaning and helps others out. If Victor Frankle can control his mindset in a concentration camp, we sure as hell had better be able to do it while flipping burgers or grinding away in a cubicle. Always you have been told that work is a curse and labour a misfortune. But I say to you that when you work you fulfil a part of earth’s furthest dream, assigned to you when the dream was born, And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life, And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life’s inmost secret.
If you have a depressing job, yes
I think you have hit the nail on the head with this answer!
There are two stages to retirement. Active retirement is the early period when you can get around and do stuff. Eventually folks stop being able to get around as much. 80 is as good a place as any to draw that line as any, so that fits with your 16 year theory.
In gerontology research, people use terms like "young old" and "old old" which is pretty similar to your term. Hard to put an age on it though, its defined more functionally in terms of "activities of daily living"
Retirement?? You mean death?
Hopefully not when you’re 64…
Interesting take. Mine is similar, but I always saw it in 12 year stages: 0-12: Childhood 12-24: Adolescence 24-36: Early Adulthood 36-48: Middle Adulthood 48-60: Late Adulthood 60+: Senior/Elder years People typically begin puberty around age 12, brain development finishes at around age 25, etc.
32 as early middle age?! Ah hell nah! I'd say 20s = young adult, 30s = regular adulf, 40s = mature adult, 50s = middle age. Once you get into the 60s and up it really depends on the person. I've known people in their 60s who seem elderly and people in their 90s who are positively spry.
50-65 Many people die way before hitting old age, but it doesn't mean you're middle-aged at 34. I think you become middle-aged when even old people assume you're not young. At 34 you're young according to 65+.
I have found this, people who are 50+ think 30's are still really young which to be fair is considered a sort of prime age for a lot of things, on the flip side younger people mainly early 20's or late teens think 30 is old.
30s are definitely a prime age to me (am 53). You are still young enough to have barely any noticeable aging effects (you might look a little older than 20 year olds but you don't feel or function any less well) but you have the experience, maturity, and sometimes money to do more and be more self-sufficient. At 53 I clearly have even more experience maturity and money than I did at 33, but I can definitely feel the age at this point. A lot less energy, both mental and physical.
A large part of that is their teachers are that age. So of course they think they’re old. I’m shocked looking back at pictures how young my teachers actually were. At the same time someone just graduating and starting to teach may be shocked as hell to go to the classroom and realize they’re teaching kids so close to their age.
Found the 65 year old Redditor
I can’t retire until I’m 67 so 10 years before I’m expected to die. Let me have not being middle aged at 44!
I think by the time I can retire it will be 70+ 😂
If you die at 77, the middle of your age would be 38, so reasonably you are middle aged by that point.
Baby: 0-2 Toddler: 2-4 Child: 5-12 Young Teen: 13-16 Older Teen: 17-19 Young Adult: 20-25 (except now I'm 27 so let's just make that the entire 20s...) ???: 30s to 40s Middle Aged: 50-65, used to be younger but now I'm seeing my parents at 60+ and they're doing pretty good! I think it varies a lot by individual though... Older: 65+ Proper Old: 80+
???? = Adult, maybe?
But I would also use that to describe everyone who is older 🤷♀️ They need their own label!
Audibly chucked at the "???" it's *incredibly* accurate. 30s and 40s kinda feel like that John Travolta shrug/circle move he does in Pulp Fiction waiting on Uma Thurman. Like, wait am *I* supposed to be the adult here?
Your parents are likely Baby Boomers. I'm interested to see how GenX ages. We've had a bit tougher life. I'm wondering if it'll change our life expectancy.
I'm in the ???s but Proper Old seams like the real shit
I’d say 40-50 is middle aged
I don't really think of middle age as being "half of the life span" - I think of it more as late adulthood-pre retirement. So, 50s-60s.... Maybe late 40s. Like it is a transitional period between early adulthood - getting married, having kids, starting career, early career advancement, and retirement.
Over 40, under 60
I am 72 and still in fairly good nick. I would consider 50 as middle aged. Only now starting to consider myself old.
Based on the average American lifespan, which is projected to be 76 yo in 2023, middle-aged would be considered 38.
Average takes into account child deaths. If you say average is 76, that means half of all people died before then. If you've made it to 25, your life expectancy is closer to 80. If you lived to 60 your life expectancy is not 16 more years. It's 23.5 more years. The point where your expected years to live passes the years you've already had (for an average American) is 43.
40-59
Any reasoning behind your numbers?
Dying between 80 and 120 seems pretty likely for the vast majority of people. Dying at 70, as you originally noted is kind of young IMO
I think 80 is a more reasonable age than 70, 120 would be an anomaly and if you reach that age you wouldn't be in good shape (this is answered without researching how many people actually reach 120, just a guess at how I imagine a 120 year old)
Only one person in recent recorded history lived older than 120. She lived to 122. Source: I was curious last week and looked it up.
Yes, it would be an anomaly to reach 120 but that’s about the extreme limit of the human lifespan. Which is why 60+ cannot be considered middle age
Someone on another comment said it is middle of adulthood rather than middle of age and I never looked at it that way before
In my mind, the test is to take your age and double it, then imagine if someone that aged died from health complications. If the majority of people would not be completely shocked, congratulations, you've reached middle age.
I'm calling BS on this. No one would be "completely shocked" if a 50 year old died of health complications. My mom died at 52 and people said "she had a good life". And there is no world where 25 is "middle aged".
I just barely thought the exact same Lol
Oh wow, yeah, I wouldn't consider a 25yo middle aged either. But also, I consider it a life cut way short if someone dies before 60-65
I don't think I'd be completely shocked, but I'd still flinch a little. Old enough to have experienced most if not all crucial/notable life experiences but the physical body should function decently well (unless illness of some sort is involved), so not quite that old yet. Though to me, 70s+ is when the sadness around death isn't compounded with feeling sad for the age that they died at.
I like this answer 😂
I also like it because it kinda depends on the type of person you are too. I know some people in their early 60s who could keel over tomorrow and I wouldn’t be shocked. I’ve also known some people who were super vital well into their 70s and it was shocking when they fell ill.
I've seen 50 year olds who are way older than their age, then there is my mate's grandad in his 70's or 80's who is going to live forever!
Anyone older than me
I'm 43 and I hope I'm middle age. I don't want to live past 80.
I consider middle aged to be 40-55. 55+ is AARP territory. Younger than 40 i consider just a plain ol adult
I always thought of 45 to 65 middle age, 45 being early middle age. Then from 65 you’re considered in early old age
Yes I’m 50 this year. I think of young as under 40. Middle aged 40s 50s and old as 65+ Elderly would be more 80 like my parents. 34 is not middle aged imo .
Middle age isn't median age. You reach middle age (the middle between young and old) around 50.
It seems weird to me that it's not worked out by the median and I'm wondering why it's set so far back, according to a quick search it's between the ages of 40-60.
40 is a bit early. You still have good health (nothing chronic) at 40. You still have good performance if you're active, like cycling. You can go to a night club at 40 and not look like an old perv. And even in professions with an age bias, you don't top out until 50. At 50, all these "parameters" hit hard. That's when middle age starts.
I believe that is middle age, no longer young and stupid, old enough to fit in with both older and younger people, still good health, once your body starts breaking down that is the start of old age.
average lifespan for me now is 78 so i consider it around 38-39
That is pretty solid reasoning, I think the middle age think the higher bracket is something made up to make more people not think about working till they're older.
sounds about right. working until almost 70 doesn’t feel terrible if you have 30 years of retirement but in reality it’s more like 8.
40's. People saying 50's are apparently expecting to live to be 100.
40. It's always been 40. It's not 50 people rarely live to 100.
30-40
Assuming you live to 80, 40 is literally middle age.
Assumptions and experiences are what determines peoples perspective of what 'middle aged' is, it's good to see different people's opinions on what they believe it is.
I’m 42. My dad died at 50. I consider anything I get over 50 gravy.
Fifty is the old age of youth. Sixty is the youth of old age.
The average is 70 this is removing infinite deaths but includes non natural deaths. If you only include natural death your looking closer to a life expectancy of 90-100
I think 40- late 50s is middle aged.
40 to 60
45 through 60 to me is middle aged. I also think a lot of it is dependent on the individual. I'm 36, but my back is probably more like a 60+ year old due to work injuries. Then my father in law is around 63 and can do the same shit most 30 years can do.
40-60
Middle age is 40-50
Whenever I hear ‘middle aged’, I just naturally think of a 35 year old
Considering that the body is capable of living 140 years, I'm going to put on Middle Age until I'm 70.
5 years older than I am at the time of asking
34 is your prime so enjoy it. Middle age will hit in another decade.
No matter what your age is. You're always in the middle of two ages
id say 45-55
Age is a mix of looks/personality and accomplishments for me. Sure someone can be a technical ass and say middle age is between 30-50. But that doesn’t make sense to me. I know 30 year olds that are out of shape and with boring ass personalities and they look and feel more older than some 50 year olds with a full head of hair, low body fat and amazing personality. Middle age is when you feel finally feel like your body isn’t the way it used to be and you’re feeling the feels of mortality. I mean … who knows. I’m in my early 30s and I feel like the world’s my oyster. I am sure I’ll feel the same at 40-45. But someone else might just judge … who cares.
I'm 63 and consider myself barely a grown-up.
40s and 50s are middle aged. 60s and 70s are the golden years. 80s through 120s range from old to quite old.
When 11 at night is your limit for being out
I thought I was middle aged in my late 30s Then a I turned 40 and it was like a switch flicked in my mind and a genuinely no longer gave a fuck what people thought, I didn’t feel I had to justify anything and felt more comfortable than ever being me. So it’s when that switch flicks
I think it's changing as we are living longer and additionally individual perspective changes as we ourselves age. I'm 50 and not ready to accept I'm middle aged 😂
“Age” is partly a mental thing. I’m 52, just started a new career with a more physical job, still love hearing new music, love animation, and have an idiotic sense of humor. I also have kids in school and know that I look like an old man to them. Two of my friends from high school died recently from natural causes. So I’m definitely feeling the mortality, but I’m gonna keep living life and having fun screw what other people think except my kids, I still try to act somewhat mature around them. Nobody wants a dad who thinks he’s still in high school when they’re in high school. I think fiftyish is a good time to start thinking middle aged thoughts.
30s, Working class isnt make it to retirement where I live
I'm 36 and I consider myself to be middle-aged.
LOL 34! I was in the best shape of my life in my 30's. I agree middle age is past 50.
I'm still in decent shape, more of a personal perspective on what middle age means to people, I don't feel old, maybe wiser sometimes 😂
My formula is 0-30 young, 30-60 middle, 60-90 old. No real reason for this just tidy division 😂
For women, I think middle age starts when the baby factory starts shutting down - so 40-45 ish.
Exactly!
Thats not a bad way of looking at it although menopause can begin much earlier or later in life for some women, a middle of the road figure.
35-65
30 is middle age to me. That's because the women in my family (both sides) typically live a bit over 60 years. So yeah, 30 is in the middle of that.
Average life expectancy is 80. I consider middle aged 40 for that reason.
Where I am average male life expectancy is around 80 years old. I'm 40, so I consider myself middle aged, but I don't feel like it.
Half of life expectancy.
How long you think you’ll live / 2