Most Older Adults Feel At Least 20 Years Younger Than They Are

Most Older Adults Feel At Least 20 Years Younger Than They Are Research has shown that, on the inside, most people feel younger than their real age. Shutterstock

How old do you feel inside? Not your chronological age (that pesky number on your birthday cake) but how old is the real you, the person inside?

In North America, we generally group people into socially constructed age ranges such as: childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood and old age. Age categories are associated with different rights and privileges and, attached to these age categories are behavioural expectations. For example, old people are expected to be frail and helpless.

However, research has shown that, on the inside, most people’s subjective age — the way they feel inside — is very different from the number of years they have been alive. “Age inside” is the age of the inner self or individual personality. Age inside varies for each individual. A young person often feels older than their age. An older person feels younger.

Some research on subjective age suggests that older people need to be healthy in order to feel younger. However, in my research I have found that even people with multiple illnesses report feeling a younger age inside than their chronological age.


 Get The Latest By Email

Weekly Magazine Daily Inspiration

For my recently published study, I interviewed 66 older adults between 65 to 90 years old from the United States and Canada to find out how old they felt inside. All participants were living with between two to six different illnesses, including cancers, heart disease and stroke, diabetes, kidney disease, arthritis and thyroid diseases. Almost 60 per cent of the participants were living with pain on a regular basis. Participants were asked: “For many people their age in years does not reflect the age that they really identify with, inside. How old are you inside?”

Most of the people I interviewed reported feeling decades younger inside than their chronological age, even though they were living with numerous illnesses. Their average age inside was 51-years-old, with an average difference of two decades between age inside and chronological age. That is, more than half of the participants, despite the presence of illness, felt at least 20 years younger than their age. Some said they felt as young as 17. Only eight per cent of the participants felt the same age inside as their chronological age.

Most Older Adults Feel At Least 20 Years Younger Than They Are Age perception chart. Author provided

The gender of participants had an impact. Participants who described their gender as feminine had a younger age inside than those who identified as masculine.

Do older adults who feel younger age inside engage in more “youthful” activities? That is a question for future research. I am also interested in understanding whether age inside is related to the way we visualize ourselves (which is often different from the way we actually look).

Intergenerational common ground

Age inside, as a concept, may be able to help with inter-generational understanding. Realizing that people who “look old” may not feel old means there may be opportunities to develop intergenerational connections on critical political issues.

Most Older Adults Feel At Least 20 Years Younger Than They Are A variety of activities for seniors is important. Jordan Whitt/Unsplash

Youthful age inside may explain why many older adults want to work past retirement age. It may impact financial planning: if older adults feel young, they may not be saving money. Older people may be more interested in travelling, having fun and getting that motorcycle they always wanted. These active and independent choices may cause confusion and frustration for loved ones and health practitioners.

Age inside could help explain some older adults’ lack of compliance with medical directives. Youthful subjective age is also important for government policy makers and service providers to note, as it means many elders do not perceive themselves as seniors. They may not be interested in activities or programs aimed at the stereotypical senior.The Conversation

About The Author

L.F. Carver, Postdoctoral research fellow, Queen's University, Ontario

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

books_aging

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES

English Afrikaans Arabic Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Danish Dutch Filipino Finnish French German Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Indonesian Italian Japanese Korean Malay Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Romanian Russian Spanish Swahili Swedish Thai Turkish Ukrainian Urdu Vietnamese

follow InnerSelf on

facebook icontwitter iconyoutube iconinstagram iconpintrest iconrss icon

 Get The Latest By Email

Weekly Magazine Daily Inspiration

Wednesday, 19 May 2021 08:07

For many people, the thing they’ve missed most during the pandemic is being able to hug loved ones. Indeed, it wasn’t until we lost our ability to hug friends and family did many realise just how...

Thursday, 13 May 2021 08:34

Iron deficiency is a common nutritional disorder worldwide, and pre-menopausal women are most at risk of being diagnosed with it.

Thursday, 15 April 2021 07:13

As a species, humans are wired to collaborate. That’s why lockdowns and remote work have felt difficult for many of us during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Friday, 14 May 2021 16:24

The chakras set the frequencies that give rise to every aspect of the human experience. The foods we eat have consciousness and provide an energetic blueprint that stabilizes and entrains...

Friday, 28 July 2023 17:45

Respiratory viruses like influenza virus (flu), SARS-CoV-2 (which causes COVID) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) can make us sick by infecting our respiratory system, including the nose, upper...

Sunday, 02 May 2021 08:18

When you think about soil, you probably think of rolling fields of countryside. But what about urban soil? With city dwellers expected to account for 68% of the world’s population by 2050, this oft...

New Attitudes - New Possibilities

InnerSelf.comClimateImpactNews.com | InnerPower.net
MightyNatural.com | WholisticPolitics.com | InnerSelf Market
Copyright ©1985 - 2021 InnerSelf Publications. All Rights Reserved.