Forget comfy slippers and Saturday nights in front of the TV, our 50s are all about having fun.
JUST as the 1950s were all about rock and roll, so too, it appears, are the current generation of 50-year-olds.
Far from resigning themselves to gardening and golf like the similar-aged generations of yesteryear, today’s set of 50-plussers are busy having unprotected sex, taking drugs, and happily spending away the entirety of their children's inheritance.
“Everywhere I go there seem to be more examples of the 50 and 60 somethings having the time of their lives,” says Judith Holder, 59, organiser of last month’s Old Is The New Young Festival in Oxford.
There’s more too, according to the new 50+ Project by High50 (high50.co.uk, a global community and media hub designed for people in their 50s), 53 per cent of those polled say they take more than three holidays a year; 19 per cent have a better social life than their children, and half are reaching for the alcohol at least three times a week.
Impressed? Yes. Inspired? Of course. Surprised? Maybe not.
* Happiness The 50+ Project shows that more than two fifths (41 per cent) feel they are happier now than they have ever been before in their life, including their teens, 20s, 30s and 40s. A thought perfectly echoed this summer when the eternally gorgeous Elle Macpherson said: “I feel better now than I’ve ever felt, because I’m older, wiser and believe that being strong, inspired and capable is just as important as our body shape. That’s why I truly didn't have a problem with becoming 50, and I wanted to go into it with grace, rather than fighting it.” Easy to say if you look like Elle!
* Sex In a not entirely unpredictable turn of events, the project revealed 50-plus men are more promiscuous than their female peers: 29 per cent said they’d enter into a sexual relationship with someone after meeting them once, compared to three per cent of women. Trouble is, they’re not just carefree, they’re a little careless too: 76 per cent of the group confessed to not using protection.
* Lifestyle Nearly half (46 per cent) of those questioned say they take more holidays now than in any other stage in their life. And they’re not holding back on the sundowner cocktails either: half the demographic admit to drinking three or more times a week, and 20 per cent have taken drugs.
* Wealth And how are they paying for this extravagant lifestyle? By spending all their savings, of course. A quarter of the not-so-thrifty 50s plan to leave little or none of their wealth to their children, and 67 per cent believe in spending their wealth over saving it. And why not? They earned it.
Age is no barrier to a happy life
Mariella Frostrup (who will be 52 on November 12), editor at large of High50, says: “This research really goes a long way to shatter the misconceptions of the 50-plus demographic; they’re affluent, have great sex lives and are ultimately happier than we might think. We need to start looking at this demographic differently and recognise that far from marking the beginning of the end, reaching 50 is an exciting milestone and a great time to make positive changes and embark on new challenges.
“Generation X has always been a pioneering one, having brought women fully into the forefront of society, we’re now set to redefine the terms of contemporary ‘middle age’!”
It’s something that Oxfordshire book shop owner Rachel Phipps would agree with.
“I haven’t started taking drugs and I certainly don’t have a better social life than my children,” she says. “But I am very happy running The Woodstock Bookshop, which I opened the year I turned 50 – there’s nothing like being half a century old to make you concentrate more on the present and on fulfilling some of the dreams and ambitions you had when you were younger.
“And once you start doing those things you realise how many other things you can do.”
Another happy over-50 is Shirley Hook-Pattison (“I was 60 in March, but who's counting”) who wrote her first novel, under the pen name Antonia Abbott, aged 58.
Married to former publican Karl, she says: “I believe that things have definitely changed since our parents’ generation.
“Life is much less formal for a start. My mother would never have gone out wearing patent shoes and carrying a suede bag for instance; they would have had to be the same.
“Women expected to be kept. I juggle two high-profile jobs, as an author and an independent financial adviser.
“Being over 50 gave me the confidence to try my hand at writing, because it doesn’t matter what people think. It would have at 22.
“I have also given up stress, realising it is totally pointless.
“We have at least three holidays a year, enjoy alcohol, but I did promise not to mention sex...”
Shattering misonceptions: Mariella Frostrup
Live like an oldie to be happy
GROWING old might actually be the key to happiness, according to research by the friendship organisation, Oddfellows.
It revealed that how people rate their happiness seems to increase with age; while only one sixth of those in their sixties said they felt “very happy”, for those who had passed the 70 milestone, a third boasted the same.
Why? Well one of the reasons is that they’ve learnt to appreciate the simple things in life.
So perhaps the rest of us should do the same.
Perhaps we should all tear ourselves away from our Twitter feeds/therapy sessions/whatever fancy new-fangled thing we think we need to feel happy, and embrace the basics instead.
* CHERISH FRIENDSHIPS
Nearly two-thirds of people in their seventies said spending time with friends was what they most enjoyed about being retired.
It’s hardly surprising. If you need science, people with good friends have been proven to recover from heart attacks quicker, to catch fewer colds, and to suffer less depression.
But you probably don’t need science, do you? Because everyone with a friend will already know how spending time with them is a life-improving, life-affirming and often life-changing joy (most of the time).
* LOOK AFTER YOUR HEALTH
Of course, there are some elements of ill-health that can’t be avoided, that will strike you no matter how healthily you eat or how much you avoid that second glass of wine, or how often you do a press-up. But still, do all these things; eat a balanced diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables, don’t drink more than the recommended daily units (two to three for women, three to four for men), stay physically active. Not only will your risk of heart disease/cancer/diabetes be lower, your happiness levels will too (on the very simple argument that feeling well will make you smile more than feeling unwell).
* SAVE YOURSELF SOME TIME
The pensioners in the survey noted that another thing keeping them smiling was the fact they could shop whenever they liked, and didn’t have to leave the household chores until the weekend. Easy for the retired to say, of course; but a little harder when you’re working five days a week, 10 hours a day. You can still enjoy some freedom though; do your supermarket shop online and get it delivered, share the chores out with everyone else in your house, then use the time saved to do something you actually want to do. Even if it’s just one additional spare hour, that’s a few chapters read/a run ran/a bath soaked in, and a happiness level ramped up.
* HELP OTHERS
Being part of a community is something that’s increasingly being lost, as people move countries or cities more and/or house prices soar and shove older residents away from their neighbourhoods.
Yet, community is crucial for our contentment levels; a huge number of the over-70s questioned said feeling part of their local community was yet another spur for their good spirits, and volunteering is repeatedly shown to be a huge boost to happiness.
A survey from the Citizens Advice Bureau a few months ago revealed that volunteering can help make you less stressed, increase your self-esteem and even enhance your job prospects.
* STAY SHARP
Wisdom really does come with age; the Oddfellows report showed that older people are now more clever than ever before. It’s a chicken and egg question, of whether they’re more clever because they’re happier, or they’re happier because they’re more clever but either way, being smart is clearly a good thing. So do a puzzle, go to a gallery, take a course, read the longer feature behind the news story; a busy brain is a happy brain.
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