Everyone knows that an elderly person is someone who is no longer young, who is starting to age. Then irreversible changes occur in the human body. However, graying hair, wrinkles and shortness of breath do not always indicate the onset of old age. But how to determine the very age when a person can be classified as elderly?
Different times - different opinions?
It used to be that old age was when a person exceeded 20. We remember many vivid historical examples when young people entered into marriage, barely reaching the age of 12-13 years. By the standards of the Middle Ages, a woman at age 20 was considered an old woman. However, today is not the Middle Ages. A lot has changed.
Later this figure changed several times and twenty-year-old people began to be considered young. It is this age that symbolizes the beginning of an independent life, which means prosperity, youth.
Modern views on age
In modern society, everything is somehow changing again. And today, most of the young people, without hesitation, rank among the elderly those who have barely crossed the thirty-year milestone. Proof of this is the fact that employers are quite wary of applicants over 35. What can we say about those who have stepped over 40?
But, it would seem, by this age a person gains a certain confidence in himself, life experience, including professional one. At this age, he has a solid life position, clear goals. This is the age when a person is able to really evaluate his strength and be responsible for his own actions. And suddenly, as the verdict sounds: "Elderly." From what age an individual can be considered elderly, we will try to figure it out.
Age limits
Representatives of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences say that recently there have been noticeable changes in determining the biological age of a person. To study such and many other changes occurring with a person, there is the World Health Organization - WHO. Thus, the WHO classification of human age says the following:
- in the range from 25 to 44 years old - the person is young;
- in the range from 44 to 60 - has an average age;
- from 60 to 75 - people are considered older people;
- from 75 to 90 - these are already representatives of the old age.
All who are fortunate enough to cross this bar are considered long-livers. Unfortunately, few survive to 90, and even more so to 100. The reason for this is the various diseases to which a person is exposed, the environmental situation, as well as living conditions.
So what happens? What old age according to the WHO classification significantly younger?
What sociological studies show
According to opinion polls conducted annually in different countries, people themselves are not going to age. And they are ready to classify themselves as elderly only when they reach the age of 60-65 years. Apparently, bills on increasing the retirement age come from here.
Older people, however, need to devote more time to their health. In addition, a decrease in attention and the speed of perception of information does not always allow people after 60 years to quickly adapt to changing situations. This takes on particular relevance in the context of scientific and technological progress. It is sometimes difficult for people who have reached a certain age to master innovative technologies. But few people think that for many people this is a severe psychological trauma. They suddenly begin to feel their worthlessness, uselessness. This exacerbates an already exacerbated situation of reassessment of age.
My years are my wealth
The WHO classification of age is not an absolute criterion for classifying a person in a certain age category. After all, not only the number of years characterizes the state of a person. It is appropriate to recall a famous proverb that says that a person is as old as he feels. Probably, this expression more characterizes the age of a person than the age classification of WHO. This is connected not only with the psychoemotional state of a person and with the degree of deterioration of the body.
Unfortunately, diseases that overcome and exhaust people do not ask for age. Both old people and children are equally affected. It depends on many factors, including the state of the body, immunity, living conditions. And, of course, on how the person himself relates to his health. Once the illnesses were not completely cured, the lack of normal rest, poor nutrition - all this and much more pretty much wear out the body.
Old age is for many a grunt, a bad memory, a whole bunch of chronic diseases. However, all of the above disadvantages can characterize a relatively young person. Today, this is far from a criterion for ranking a person in a certain age category.
Middle age crisis. What is his threshold today?
Everyone knows the concept of a midlife crisis. And who can answer the question of the age at which he often occurs? Before determining this age, let's deal with the concept itself.
Here, a crisis is understood as such a moment when a person begins to rethink values, beliefs, assesses his life and his actions. Probably, such a period in life begins precisely when the person has lived the years, experience, mistakes and disappointments. Therefore, this life period is often accompanied by emotional instability, even deep and prolonged depression.
The onset of such a crisis is inevitable; it can last from several months to several years. And its duration depends not only on the individual characteristics of the person and on his life, but also on the profession, the situation in the family and other factors. Many come out victorious from this life collision. And then the average age does not give way to aging. But it also happens that people who have not yet reached 50 years of age come out of this battle.
What the World Health Organization says
As we discussed above, the old age according to the WHO classification falls in the range from 60 to 75 years. According to the results of sociological studies, representatives of this age category are young in soul and are not at all going to record themselves as old people. By the way, according to the same studies conducted a dozen years ago, the elderly included all those over 50 years old. The current WHO age classification shows that these are middle-aged people. And it is completely possible that this category will only grow younger.
Few in their youth think about what age is considered old. And only over the years, crossing one line after another, people understand that at any age, "life is just beginning." Only after accumulating a huge life experience, people begin to think about how to prolong youth. Sometimes it turns into a real fight with age.
Signs of aging
Old age according to WHO is characterized by the fact that people have a decrease in vital activity. What does this mean? Elderly people become inactive, acquire a lot of chronic diseases, their attentiveness decreases, their memory worsens.
However, old age according to the WHO classification is not just an age framework. Researchers have long come to the conclusion that the aging process occurs as if in two directions: physiological and psychological.
Physiological aging
As for physiological aging, it is most understandable and noticeable to others. Since the human body undergoes certain irreversible changes that are noticeable to himself and to others. Everything changes in the body. The skin becomes dry and flabby, which leads to wrinkles. The bones become brittle and because of this, the probability of fractures increases. Hair bleaches, breaks, and often falls out. Of course, for people trying to maintain their youth, many of these problems are solvable. There are various cosmetic preparations and procedures that, when used correctly and regularly, can mask visible changes. But these changes will sooner or later become noticeable.
Psychological aging
Psychological aging may not be so noticeable to others, but this is not always the case. In older people, the character often changes greatly. They become inattentive, irritable, quickly tired. And this often happens precisely because they observe a manifestation of physiological aging. They are not able to influence irreversible processes in the body and because of this they often experience deep emotional drama.
So what age is considered old?
Due to the fact that the body of each person has its own characteristics, similar changes occur in everyone in different ways. And physiological and psychological aging sets in not always simultaneously. Strong-willed people, optimists are able to accept their age and maintain an active lifestyle, thereby slowing down physiological aging. Therefore, it is sometimes difficult to answer the question of what age is considered older. After all, the number of years lived is not always an indicator of the state of the person’s inner world .
Often people who monitor their health, feel the first changes in their body and try to adapt to them, reduce their negative manifestation. If you regularly engage in your health, then it is possible to delay the approach of old age. Therefore, those people who fall into the category of "old age" according to the WHO classification, far from always can feel that way. Or, on the contrary, those who overcome the 65-year milestone consider themselves ancient old people.
Therefore, it will be useful to once again recall what the popular wisdom says: "A person is as old as he feels."