Add new comment

When Does Middle Age Begin?

Submitted by Adriana Rae on May 23, 2008 - 07:40.


A friend of mine just turned 40 and was searching online for ideas for 'middle-age hairstyle makeovers'.

I thought she was joking, I was sure middle-age didn't begin until at least age 45. So I did some digging on this.

As expected, Wikipedia has the most authoritative answer to this question as to 'what is middle age'. Here are some excerpts;

Middle age is the period of life beyond young adulthood but before the onset of old age. Various attempts have been made to define this age, which is around the third quarter of the average life span of human beings.

According to Collins Dictionary, this is "... usually considered to occur approximately between the ages of 40 and 60".

The OED gives a similar definition but with a later start point "... the period between youth and old age, about 45 to 60".

The US Census lists middle age as including both the age categories 35 to 44 and 45 to 54, while Erik Erikson sees it ending a little later and defines middle adulthood as between 40 and 65.

Middle-aged adults often show visible signs of aging such as loss of skin elasticity and graying of the hair. Physical fitness usually wanes, with a 10-20 pound accumulation of body fat, reduction in aerobic performance and a decrease in maximal heart rate. Strength and flexibility also decrease throughout middle age. However, people age at different rates and there can be large differences between individuals of the same age

Photo by extranoise


Story Source | add new comment
( categories: Odd Beauty Stories )

Reply



The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.


*

  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
More information about formatting options
Non-spam comments will show up within 24 hours