One benefit of ageing, according to the actor Adrian Edmondson, 66, is that he has been able to ditch the spectacles he has worn since the age of eight. Age, it seems, has compensated for a myopic youth.
“The short-sightedness I had can be seen, if you like, on an increasing graph over time. But as I got this ancient, the long-sightedness of old age has been creeping up from the opposite direction,” he told the MailOnline on Wednesday.
In a society that puts a premium on youth, ageing is widely seen “purely as decline, all downhill from 35-40 years, where you lose intellectual capacity, lose interest, lose sexual allure, lose money, lose status,” says Dr Dana Rosenfeld, a social gerontologist at the University of Westminster. “But that’s an invention.”
Studies have shown some things, just like a fine wine and aged whisky, can improve as the years roll by.
“We only started having what we know as old people 150 years ago, as previously life expectancy was low,” she said. Improved healthcare, nutrition, housing and education that many of today’s older people have enjoyed means “you can’t aggregate the body from history”.
Myopia, allergies, sexual fulfilment and general contentment could all improve, she said.
The Centre for Ageing Better, while acknowledging health issues become more prevalent or functional abilities change, also points to studies claiming enhanced physical endurance, pain threshold, mathematical ability and capacity for joy all peak as people hit middle-age or beyond.
“Society’s ageism is so persistent and pernicious, it is all too easy for many to accept the false narrative of ageing being a time of decline. And this can have serious consequences for an individual’s health as individuals become restricted by self-directed ageism,” said Dr Aideen Young, the senior evidence manager at the centre.
Some Good News on Ageing
Brain function
We may think differently and at different speeds but we have more to remember. And this does not make thinking less keen, deep, creative, productive or meaningful, says Rosenfeld. Peter Roget’s thesaurus was published when he was 73 and Michelangelo designed the Basilica of St Mary and the Angels and the Martyrs at 88, she added. It is widely reported that general, fluid intelligence (the ability to solve unfamiliar problems) begins to decline at 30 and crystallised intelligence (the ability to use existing knowledge or skills) more slowly from 40. But the amygdala, a critical brain structure for emotional recognition and processing, remains relatively stable with age.
Problem-solving
The ability to solve mathematical problems does not peak until 50, according to a 2015 study by Dr Joshua Hartshorne and Dr Laura Germine at Boston College. Another, in Frontiers of Psychology, found ageing to have a positive impact on mathematical ability and basic symbolic numerical processing. In 2020, the results of a 125-year study of 24,000 chess games found players made the most optimal moves at about 40.
Physical endurance
Female ultramarathon runners peak between 40 and 45, and males at 45-49, according to a 2020 study. Older runners exhibit better pain tolerance, according to a paper in the journal Pain Medicine, and have better technique and experience in utilising efficiency.
Capacity for joy
Older generations are much more cheerful than younger ones, according to World Health Organization data from 60 countries showing that our capacity to feel joy and contentment does not peak until the age of 82. The Centre for Ageing Better said mindfulness was also considered to improve through the life course from 40.
Viruses and allergies
Exposure to specific viruses over several years can strengthen immunity in some cases, says Rosenfeld. “That’s what happened in the great flu epidemic. It killed younger people because they had healthy immune systems, which took the virus and used it to run rampant through their bodies. Their parents and grandparents had been exposed to it 20 or 30 years previously.” New diseases and viruses are a different matter and general immunity does dramatically weaken, typically in the sixth decade, according to medical studies. Hormone changes can also sometimes lessen the symptoms of allergies, such as hay fever.
Sexual and romantic fulfilment
Some women report increased libido after the menopause, according to studies, says Rosenfeld, adding that sexual fulfilment “depends how you define libido”. If, in your 20s and 30s, you had “alley-cat” libido, which has been replaced by long-term relationships, “maybe it doesn’t feel that same libido”. And while there are physical changes with age, “libido doesn’t lower so much as change. It’s satisfying because it’s more likely to be sexual and romantic.” Having a sexual partner is a factor in reports of decreased sexual activity, along with chronic illness. With women tending to marry older men, reduced sexual activity is largely due to widowhood. So it’s not ageing per se that lowers libido, rather circumstances, she says.
Hair
While hair may be more slow-growing for many, with age and hormone fluctuation, the good news is money saved in hair and beauty salons.