How old is elderly?

Just been walking with some friends. We had stopped for coffee then went to get bus back. Realised we were waiting on a bench outside nursing home We wondered if passing motorists thought we were escaping

I think I’m elderly now that I’m 78. Definitely that’s how I would be described if I were to have an accident. I feel a bit less strong my wrists are weaker and my balance is less good. Yes I do those balance exercises but not sure they really help. Y skin is thin and bruises easily. So I’m elderly. I think I accepted it when I was 70.

Pretty lass Debbi58. I reckon as how elderly is 10 years older than you currently are so for me it would be mid 80 s and for my husband 90 +! I have a friend who is 89 and she says 89 is the new 49, good on her !

Debbi58 - you are a spring chicken. You look like Penny Lancaster

I think it different for everyone, I would say 90's is elderly.
I had my 60th birthday today
This is me

TerriS

Henetha - totally agree! I’m only a few years behind you, but definitely feel the best is yet to come! X

How do you find these old threads?

😂🤣🤣

Henetha - totally agree! I’m only a few years behind you, but definitely feel the best is yet to come! X

Several members of my family, and the very brave and wonderful lady, who saved my life when I was two, were over 100 years old when they died.

You know you're elderly when they discontinue your blood group!

It's not your age which determines your fraility, it is the journey you have had in your life. Trauma mentally and physically age you quickly.

Possibly as people are living longer , the definition of elderly has changed . I’m 64 , fit and healthy and consider myself middle aged . My DM is 87 frail with mobility issues and possibly early dementia, I consider elderly.

Back in 1966, I was in an amateur production of Dick Whittington, and the opening number included the memorable lines: -

What you see on stage is
The later Middle Ages.

I have decided that I am now "later middle-aged".

I’m 73 and classed as a “moderately frail elder “according to my GP records!! I wasn’t happy with the phrase but apparently it’s my blood pressure medication and my hip replacement surgery .
My SiL said he forgets I’m old, when the other day we were talking about upcoming holidays , and I mentioned insurance being astronomical for over 70’s
But today having spent 3 hours in my much neglected garden I feel very old 😐

I opened this thread and saw i had posted on the first page and had no recollection of posting on it but was about to post the same as I did....I can't tell you how relieved I was to learn it was an old thread and not me losing my mind!

I'm elderly. Or our children are sure I'm elderly.

Their latest is to call me 'boomer' (I'm wrong age, apparently that is not important) because I'm out of touch with tech.

Oh well, elderly boomer on this side of Heaven. Good enough.

In many societies an "elder" is a person who is respected for their wisdom and revered. It's only in youth obsessed cultures that the inevitable "ageing" that we all will experience (unless we are already dead) is seen in such a negative way.

I'm in late middle age (68) 😉. I suppose when I hit 70 I might feel old but at the minute, I can't imagine that that will feel elderly which, as others have said, has a frailness component in it somehow.

Marydoll

BTW, I am 68 😱 in a few weeks, so not far behind you, Maddy.

But at least you’re still in your sixties Marydoll. Turning seventy last month was the worst birthday I’ve ever had in terms of age. Being seventy makes me feel old. It’s the number, I just don’t like it, but it’s better than the alternative at least.
I had some lovely celebrations. We all went out for afternoon tea in New Zealand, my husband and daughter and the grandchildren, and I had a gorgeous cake made. I was going to be seventy in March, and my daughter was forty in March, so we celebrated early, in January, and we celebrated 110 together. We took pictures and a lady I used to work with said I looked fifty, not seventy. That was very kind of her, but as foxie says, we are whatever age we are, however we look. Then we did it all again on the actual date of my birthday. Out again to a nice hotel for afternoon tea and this time with my husband and sons and families. It’s all been lovely, but I’m still seventy!

We are the same age regardless of whether we dress in a modern style or not, have grey hair or colour it, have our own teeth or not. Surely "elderly" is a description of our "age" not how we look or feel. We don't use this way of describing people who are young, children or babies, we only seem to want to hide the fact that we are in the later stage of our life and it's a charade. If you are in your 70's like it or not you are elderly, if you look and feel younger than your years, that's great but you are still in your 70's.

My mind's still about 21 when I wake up, full of plans for what I'm going to do today.

My knees are about 103 and shout "Whoa" when I get out of bed.

As DGD told me a few years ago "perhaps you'll be able to skip like me when you're a bit older" 😁

It’s an interesting thread. My grandparents were born between 1905 and 1916. They were elderly by fifty and old by sixty. This was a mindset shared by most people of their generation. They always dressed very smartly but in an old people’s style. They had false teeth from an early age, my grandmothers had a curly perm and weekly shampoo and set. They behaved very differently from my generation and were very staid. They were picture book grandparents and I loved them dearly. There was a seismic shift with the next generation and people are much younger in attitude well into their sixties and even seventies. My mother is 81 and I would definitely class her as elderly as l would many people over seventy. I am 58 and middle aged.

I am 78 but not elderly

BTW, I am 68 😱 in a few weeks, so not far behind you, Maddy.

Maddyone, it was about four years ago and I has suffered a heart attack. I noticed a new drug in my stash, so I questioned it. The nurse responed with: "Oh we give it to all our geriatric patients.".