How Old Do You Feel?

Exploring What Makes Us Feel Younger and Older Than Our Chronological Age

Eight in 10 of us feel younger in our minds than what’s written on our birth certificates

• On average, we feel 12 years younger mentally and four years younger physically

• Having a persistent ache or pain adds eight years to our subjective age

• The thought of losing others makes us feel older than considering our own mortality

• Live events and exploring the outdoors are the top activities for staying young at heart 

When we’re young, our age defines us. We can vote and drink at 18, rent a car at 21, and earn the highest minimum wage at 25. After that, our attention turns to ‘landmark birthdays’ and what they say about us, whether it’s settling down at 30, life beginning at 40, 50 being the new 40, or getting a bus pass when we turn 60.

But not every 30-year-old wants to get married and not every 60-year-old feels ready for free travel. In fact, there’s growing evidence that we’re actually only as old as we feel. And the age we feel – called our subjective age – reflects and affects our physical health, mental wellbeing, attitude to work, and even how long we live.

To explore what makes us feel younger and older than our chronological age, we surveyed over 1,000 people aged 30 to 86.

It could be said that we each have three ages. There’s our chronological age (the number of times the Earth has orbited the sun since the day we were born), our mental age (how old our personalities and mindsets make us feel relative to others) and our physical age (how old the condition of our bodies makes us feel).

When we asked over 1,000 people for these three ages, only 2.5% said their chronological, mental and physical ages were all the same.

Eight in 10 said they feel mentally younger than their actual age and 56% feel physically younger. 

The average difference between our actual age and how old we mentally feel is 12 years, but the gap changes across our lifetime. A 30-year-old typically feels two years younger mentally, while a 40-year-old feels eight years more youthful in their mind than what’s written on their birth certificate. By 50, the gap has widened to 13 years, while a 60-year-old typically thinks their mental age is 42.

The gap isn’t as wide when we’re asked to say how old we feel based on our bodies. People typically said their physical age was four years younger than their actual age, but one in three people said their bodies made them feel older than they really are.

Interestingly, people up to the age of 39 typically said their physical age was higher than their actual age (e.g. 30-year-olds said they felt 33). It’s only post-40 that we begin to shave off a few years from our physical age. When using their physical fitness as a guide, 50-year-olds feel 48, 60-year-olds feel 54, and 65-year-olds feel 57.

We asked people how often various categories of thought cross their minds and how they affect the perception of their age. The thought that’s most likely to make someone feel older is losing their loved ones – 80% of people feel older when this thought crosses their mind. In fact, the thought of losing others is more likely to make us feel older than considering our own mortality (80% vs. 74%).

The death of our peers can be a stark reminder of our own age, and the reminders get more frequent the older we get. On average, a 50-year-old man has a 1 in 294 chance of dying in the next year, rising to 1 in 126 by age 60, and 1 in 53 by age 70. With a ‘back catalogue’ of acquaintances stretching back to our school days, there’s always a chance we’ll be reminded of our mortality by the passing of someone who was born at the same time as us.

In contrast, the two types of thoughts that reinvigorate us and make us feel younger than our actual ages are keeping fit (42%) and romance (36%).

Both fitness and romance produce a cocktail of feel-good brain chemicals, which could explain why they made two in five and one in three people respectively feel younger than they really are.

Certain thoughts can add or subtract a few years from our subjective ages depending on whether we perceive them positively or negatively. For example, 31% of people said thinking about work made them feel older, while 18% said the opposite.

Summary

Only one in 40 of us feels that our mental and physical ages match our chronological age. Most of us feel much younger, and the older we are, the bigger the gap becomes between our real age and our ‘felt age’.

We’ve seen that we don’t pluck our subjective ages out of thin air. A persistent ache or pain, or feeling self-conscious about your weight or some extra wrinkles, can add eight years to how old you feel. On the other hand, focusing your attention on the brighter side of life can keep a spring in your step – staying fit and going on dates are top ways to feel younger than your years.

Read the full article for more on this topic:  https://www.legalandgeneral.com/insurance/over-50-life-insurance/how-old-do-you-feel/

Image by Sabine van Erp from Pixabay