When Paul McCartney wrote the song When I’m sixty-four more than half a century ago, hitting 60 was considered as being old. It was still acceptable to call 60-year-olds old people rather than the more politically correct senior citizens or older adults. Times have changed, of course.
Stereotypes about older people started centuries ago. I remember distinctly our English literature teacher explaining to us teenagers Shakespeare’s poem The Seven Ages of Man from the play As You Like It. We never bothered much about old age as it was decades away from where we were.
For the Bard, old age had two linked stages. The early-stage represents a man who is old and nothing like his former self – physically or mentally. He looks and behaves like an old man, dresses like one and he has a thin piping voice. His influence slips away. The final stage was even more morbid. The old man loses his mind in senility. His hair and teeth fall out and his sight goes. Then he loses everything as he sinks into the oblivion of death.
Improvement in medical care, statins, hypertension pills and better sanitation have extended people’s lives in the past few decades. The medical journal The Lancet predicts that those born in 2007 will live to the age of 103. I would add as long as they keep away from junk food and excessive alcohol.
Louise Ansari is the director of communications of the UK’s Centre for Ageing Better. She has just published a fascinating book entitled When We’re 64: Your Guide to A Great Later Life. I recommend this book to anyone who is knocking on the door of retirement and also to marketing executives who want to understand the evolving lifestyles of their clients who form part of the grey brigade.
Among the daunting challenges that the housing market faces is addressing the needs of older people, who gradually lose their mobility and often become prisoners in their own homes
Ansari tries to dismantle the stereotype of an older person. She rightly argues that there are at least six different ‘tribes’ of older people. At one extreme, there are the ‘thriving boomers’. Those who form this tribe are financially secure with a good pension and savings, healthy and fit, and with strong social connections with friends and family. They are happy and positive and more likely to enjoy cultural outings.
At the other end, one finds the ‘struggling and alone’ tribe. Those in this tribe are frequently or always short of money, living alone with few social connections. They may experience depression and unhappiness. Some may have been ill or disabled for many years and unable to save money for retirement.
The ‘squeezed middle’ tribe consists of older people still working beyond retirement age but under pressure, with multiple demands on time and money, often looking after parents and financially dependent children. These are anxious, with little time for themselves and unable to save for retirement.
Talk about keeping active in retirement is very much accepted today. Gone are the days when older people spent hours in church preparing for the Day of Judgement. Today you are more likely to find them enjoying days out organised by their local council or some charity or travelling several times every year to see the world and meet new people. Of course, this is just another stereotype of older people. As Ansari rightly points out in her book, not all older people enjoy good health or are affluent enough to enjoy rather exotic pastimes.
The spread of dementia may soon take epidemic proportions and I fear that not enough is being done to cope with this oncoming crisis. It is good to advise ageing people to keep mentally active to delay or prevent the onset of dementia. However, our health authorities need to plan long term to address the problem of older people who suffer from debilitating diseases that cause enormous distress on them and their relatives.
Among the daunting challenges that the housing market faces is addressing the needs of older people, who gradually lose their mobility and often become prisoners in their own homes. These are usually not equipped to help such people keep their independence. It takes at least a decade to provide sufficient accommodation for older people who have mobility issues.
Pottering in the garden with a sun hat on, enjoying the songs of birds and admiring dahlias is an idyllic aspiration of some older people.
For many others, the realities of old age offer only very mundane alternatives like frequent medical appointments, caring for the grandchildren and watching some garbage telenovela on TV.