What is Middle Age and What Age is Officially Old?
The ‘official‘ definitions of middle age are all over the map — or at least very open to interpretation.
No one can avoid aging, but aging well and with purpose is something else.
But first things first: Who gets to decide when you’re officially old? We’ve all heard that age is just a number — I’ll plus-one that — but I’m also open-minded about medical research and data.
Not surprisingly, the answer to this age-old age question seems to be “it depends on who you ask.” A 2017 study by U.S. Trust reports that American millennials defined old starting at age 59. Gen Xers said old age begins at 65, while baby boomers and the silent generation agreed that you’re not really old until you hit age 73.
But that was several years go. According to a 2020 survey of 2,000 Americans conducted by Let’s Get Checked, 57 is commonly thought of as “officially old.”
Looking back, when I was 20 I probably would have agreed with the numbers in both of these studies. I realize this is cliche, but now that I’m in my 40s and 57 isn’t that far off, 57 seems like middle age to me.
