Is 60 Really The New 40?

We’ve all heard that 40 is the new 30 and now as people are living longer and healthier lives, 60 may be the new 40 and 80 the new retirement age.

But all this talk is not just speculation and wishful thinking. Researchers in Austria and New York have published a study which demonstrates that the faster life expectancy increases, the slower we are to reach middle age.   The study, led by Professor Warren Sanderson of Stony Brook University in the the United States, proposes that what is considered middle age should reflect how we live our lives.

Instead of specifying old age by a set number, conventionally 65, the study introduces the idea of an alternative marker based on the expected time remaining in a person’s life until death.  The perception of old age is shifting based on our ability to remain healthy and active well into our 60’s, 70’s and beyond.  Just 100 years ago 60 would have been an advanced age but now the retirement age is scheduled to rise to 67.

The average life expectancy in Canada is 80 for males and 84 for females born in 2012, according to World Health Statistics 2014.   This is a significant rise in numbers from just 50 years ago when the men were expected to live to just 68 and women to 74.

We on the frontier of reshaping what aging looks like in North America and if 60 is the new 40, we’ve all got a lot more quality life left to enjoy.

To read the full study and its findings, visit http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0121922#sec003 .