The Old Man of Today and Tomorrow

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Some people say that old age is merely a state of mind. That’s great, but many people associate old guys with grumbles, aches and pains. So what can we really expect of old age in men?

When Do We Become Old Men?

Officially it’s when we reach retirement age but as we all know this is a fairly blunt tool for assessing age. As life expectancy increases so retirement planning needs to adjust itself to the realisation that being an old man today, or senior if you prefer, is very different from what it was a generation or so ago. We now legislate against age discrimination. Some companies actively recruit older people and the older man is particularly handy when it comes to knowing the ins and outs of DIY and a host of other skills.

At the age of sixty five men are really just settling into middle age. These days people are talking about the young-old, that is ages 70-75, and those over 75 as the old-old. The categories are only useful in the sense that they act as a guide as to what might be expected from men who fall into them. The young-old, for example, frequently continue in good health and maintain strong links with friends and family. The old-old have a much higher chance of poor health and social isolation.

Health & Wellbeing

Despite the fact that men live longer than ever before there are still two old ladies to every old man. Relatively little is actually known about why this is case or for that matter about the experiences of the older man in terms of social isolation, role change since retirement and so on. Research is also pretty vague on the old man who is gay. Are they happier or sadder than straight guys? Do they live longer or shorter lives? We know that the old man can experience anxiety, financial problems, loneliness, and issues with intimacy and sexuality, but these are just descriptions, we need to know which if any of these, in isolation or combination, shorten the lives of men compared with women, and why.