What 72 looks like

January 16, 2024 12:18 PM

The global median life expectancy is 72 years old. As part of a photographic project looking at the global community of over 60s we take a look at the lives of a diverse group of people in later life. A photo essay by Ed Kashi, Ilvy Njiokiktjien, and Sara Terry in The Guardian.
posted by Bella Donna (18 comments total)

Lovely post.
posted by Czjewel at 2:32 PM on January 16 [3 favorites]

What an interesting bunch of people and also how can the global life expectancy be 72? In the past, if that's any indication, it had a lot more to do with infant mortality than actual life span.
posted by Peach at 5:55 PM on January 16 [2 favorites]

Mr hippybear is 72, will be 73 in a few months. He's in really good health overall.

My parents are both still alive and in their eighties. They are both doing really well for their age, living independently in a lot of ways.

It feels to me like when I was a kid in the Seventies, being in your Sixties was really old. Not just in an "I'm young and you're old" kind of way, but that the social presentation of people being 60 or 65 was much more like what we think of maybe 80 being now. We've really lengthened the span of life in which it is expected to live a healthy, active life a lot within my own lifetime.

A lot of this has to do with good medical attention so it won't apply broadly, but a lot if it does apply broadly with various diseases being more widely understood and advice about their prevention being more widely disseminated across the globe.

I remember when I was 10, seeing a lot of people who are 60 being really old and infirm in a lot of ways. I don't see that anymore much at all. And that seems to have improved around the world.
posted by hippybear at 6:28 PM on January 16 [16 favorites]

Mr hippybear is 72, will be 73 in a few months.

You've crossed the line after which when asked your age, you say not what age you currently are, but what age you'll [presumably] be next year. It's universal.

I work with and study the elderly for the last 30 years. What I wish everyone knew about the elderly is that they are the most diverse age group. There are no two of them remotely similar. You cannot guess what one of them is thinking.
posted by neuron at 9:09 PM on January 16 [12 favorites]

I am 68ish.

People lose their minds on the water, or on the trails, pump tracks, or terrain parks when I reveal this.

This is a sparkling gem of a post.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 10:13 PM on January 16 [4 favorites]

Flagged as fantastic, neuron. Thanks for that wonderful insight.
posted by Bella Donna at 1:43 AM on January 17

This is what 93 looks like. He’s in really good shape for someone who started training at 73.
posted by autopilot at 2:39 AM on January 17 [1 favorite]

It's good to know I'm above average.
Of course if I was below average I wouldn't / couldn't tell you..
Hanging on in there.
posted by adamvasco at 3:26 AM on January 17 [2 favorites]

> What I wish everyone knew about the elderly is that they are the most diverse age group. There are no two of them remotely similar.

I feel like it's in the 40s where people really start to diverge, and it gets more marked as time go by. I've had several jobs recently working with the public where I ask people their age, and the range of what a 70-year-old can look like is amazing. Some of it is traits out of their control (genetics, injuries, etc) and some is decisions people have made along the way. I see the people in their 90s who can drive, get out of chairs, and walk up stairs unassisted, and they're role models.
posted by The corpse in the library at 6:05 AM on January 17 [5 favorites]

Thanks so much for this. My parents are close to this age, and it's important for me to see how other people are living. Although they do well in general, the past few years have shaken my perspective on their health and how much help they may need in the near future. Then, too, it helps me understand what I can expect -- if, of course, I am lucky.

A couple of weeks ago, I was idly watching a Youtube cooking channel by a cheerful, busy lady in her 80s or so. For no reason at all, it suddenly struck me: I am going to look like that someday. It was like the first time I looked in a mirror and saw a grown woman. And like that, it was neither pleasant nor unpleasant -- just important.

It feels to me like when I was a kid in the Seventies, being in your Sixties was really old. Not just in an "I'm young and you're old" kind of way, but that the social presentation of people being 60 or 65 was much more like what we think of maybe 80 being now.

Every so often I see an amazed remark about how comparatively young the Golden Girls actresses and characters were. The big flowery prints didn't help. I like this video: Did People Use to Look Older?
posted by Countess Elena at 6:41 AM on January 17 [2 favorites]

“Aging is an extraordinary process whereby you become the person you always should have been.”

― David Bowie
posted by Ayn Marx at 7:48 AM on January 17 [6 favorites]

Great post! I have a coworker who is 71 and could easily pass for 50s, amazing - she may or may not retire next year.

Both my folks managed to continue living on their own (separately) until 88 when they needed more care. Dad made it to 89. Mom is still going pretty strong at 90 but has been bedridden for nearly 3 years. She recently started to show more serious cognitive decline, but still reads 2-3 books per week! (Oh yeah, and her 107-yr old roommate was still walking with a walker until recently - but has more serious cognitive problems.) It's unbelievable to say to mom - you know, your roommate has SEVENTEEN years on you. :O
posted by Glinn at 8:19 AM on January 17 [1 favorite]

this is a really great photo set, its very interesting to hear these stories from around the world.

I think one reason we see older people as less old than we used to, in addition to just general improvements in our understanding of the importance of nutrition and exercise, is things like (gasp!) VACCINES. I talk with my mom (77) about this type of thing. there used to be a bunch of people around who'd had polio and other diseases we've mostly vanquished. illness can be aging. we were (were) getting sick less, in the "first world" certainly and increasingly in the rest of the world. it really makes me crazy about the various flavors of antivax when the good is so clear if you just look at the last century and relative health outcomes.

I agree that the 40s is where the divergence begins, which I think, re my anecdata, the 40s is when the health/genetics/lifestyle chickens start coming home to roost. like, you can sorta glide right up to 40 looking and feeling pretty great, but by 50 you will know 1) do my genetics just suck? 2) did I party a bit too hard? 3) did all that yoga help? I'm fast approaching 56 (weee!) and have a lot of answers to those questions now (no, maybe, yes) that I did not have 10-15 years ago.

aging is probably one of the most interesting processes in human life (now that so many of us get to experience it). I mean, yeah, some of it sucks! I just had a back spasm picking up my chubby cat. ugh. but I'm wiser, and more confident, and I have let go of a lot of the stupid stuff that use to seem important.
posted by supermedusa at 8:30 AM on January 17 [4 favorites]

Johnny Mathis is 88 and still performing, and not from a chair. I saw him when he was 86 and he was still absolutely fantastic. Forgot a few lyrics, but hey, I did that in my 20s.

My mom turns 80 this year and she's still doing yoga and going to continuing education classes. When she came to visit in 2022 we did a bunch of walking and she tired me, a guy who runs 3 times a week, out! I really hope I have her longevity genes.

So much of this, beyond improvements in medicine and living conditions, comes down to the genetic lottery.
posted by grumpybear69 at 9:23 AM on January 17 [1 favorite]

Wayne Newton is wrapping up his never-ending Vegas career this year at the age of 81, and his shows are entirely high energy with him learning new instruments even recently to keep the shows interesting. I've seen some footage and he's amazing.
posted by hippybear at 9:55 AM on January 17 [1 favorite]

My parents are also close to this age (71 and 68 later this year), and they might be in better shape than me. They went partial vegetarian about 10 years ago, and my dad is an obsessive step-counter - he tries to do 15,000 a day. My mom gardens and has a more modest daily 'heart point' goal.

They're also both retired or semi-retired and in a good financial position, which is probably the biggest thing, because stress really ages you.

I'm glad they're both in good shape, because I just had a kid at 38 and it's really nice having that parental support, but it's really a lot of work to watch a baby. He's getting pretty heavy, it's work to pick him up.
posted by subdee at 10:15 AM on January 17 [2 favorites]

My granddad is only slowing down now that he's in his 90s. He helped me with a cross-country move in his 70s -- not that I had him doing heavy lifting! I always put it down to a lifetime of exercise and diet without smoking or alcohol, although I never heard him brag about it or suggest it where it wasn't wanted.

That's him, though; he has always liked a quiet life. I have never heard of him going through a phase where he'd clearly rather have been at the club.
posted by Countess Elena at 10:44 AM on January 17 [1 favorite]

I'm extremely proud to have seen this lady playing sax in Humphrey Lyttleton's band in the late 90s, when she would have been in her 70s. The band stood for the whole gig - standing with a tenor/baritone sax for that length of time is no joke! And she was giving it full welly.
posted by quacks like a duck at 11:38 AM on January 17 [3 favorites]