A brief description and discussion on the concept of old age, as it applies to an individual reaching the age of 65.

1. ON OLD AGE Dennis D. Gooler June 2009 I think we pay particular attention to our 65th birthday because, unlike the birthdates we have experienced before this one, the 65th carries with it an historically ascribed assumption of old age A couple of months ago, I turned 65. The rational part of me argued that this birthday was no different from any other day. The condition of the world the day before I reached this milestone was qualitatively the same as the day after my 65th birthday. And yet: Is there any significance to reaching age 65? Some things do change on that birth date. You qualify for senior discounts in the fast-food restaurant, on public transportation, at the movies. You get to sit in the Disabled and Senior Citizens seats in the subway, train, or bus. You qualify for Medicare. Little things, yes, but you notice. And something tells you things are different now. My thesis is this: Reaching age 65 is indeed significant, but much of the significance is symbolic or inferential, established more by societal norms than by the individual’s experience of turning 65.. Historically, there is some public policy significance to Age 65. For many generations, 65 was the age at which it became possible to collect social security payments. How was this age determined to be the “normal” retirement age? The idea of social insurance got its start in Germany in 1935; the Germans selected age 65 as the eligible age for Germans to receive their form of social security. Some believed the American social security system settled on age 65 because of the European precedent set in Germany. The Social Security Administration, however, denies this assertion. In truth, the SSA argues, 65 became the magic age for much more pragmatic reasons: This decision was not based on any philosophical principle or European precedent. It was, in fact, primarily pragmatic, and stemmed from two sources. One was a general observation about prevailing retirement ages in the few private pension systems in existence at the time and, more importantly, the 30 state old-age pension systems then in operation. Roughly half of the state pension systems used age 65 as the retirement age and half used age 70. The new federal Railroad Retirement System passed by Congress earlier in 1934, also used age 65 as its retirement age. Taking all this into account, the CES planners made a rough judgment that age 65 was probably more reasonable than age 70. This judgment was then confirmed by the actuarial studies. The studies showed that using age 65 produced a manageable system that could easily be made self-sustaining with only modest levels of payroll taxation. So these two factors, a kind of pragmatic judgment about prevailing retirement standards and the favorable actuarial outcome of using age 65, combined to be the real basis on which age 65 was chosen as the age for retirement under Social Security. I think we pay particular attention to our 65th birthday because, unlike the birthdates we have experienced before this one, the 65th carries with it an historically ascribed assumption of old age. Age 65, arbitrary or not, figures into our social consciousness as a portal of some kind, a dividing line. A short-hand expression of this social assumption is that at age 65 we become a “senior citizen.” Let’s come back to the issue of age 65 being seen as synonymous with old age. My personal issue with the Age 65 designator is not that it is false (for, indeed, I am undeniably Age 65), but with the correlation of this birth date with the onset of a social phenomenon labeled “old age.” More precisely, I am concerned about the connotations that attach themselves to the category old age. Even a cursory review of contemporary writing exposes what are felt to be the characteristics of old age: About 30 percent of people age 65 and older experience some loss of bladder control. Over age 65, sleep tends to be more fragmented and achieving dream sleep or deep sleep is more difficult ... A study made by pioneering sexologist Alfred Kinsey showed that about one quarter of males is impotent by age 65, one half at 75, and three quarters at 80. By the age of 65, an estimated 35 percent of us produce no hydrochloric acid at all. Not to say there aren’t some good things about what we might expect when we reach 65: About two thirds of migraineurs stop having attacks altogether by age 65. Patients over 65 who still have migraines report drastically decreased severity, duration, and frequency in their attacks.
Self-employment among American workers increases with age, with the most dramatic jump occurring at age 65.
These results suggest that regular exercise is associated with a delay in onset of dementia and Alzheimer disease, further supporting its value for elderly persons. I may be making too big a deal about an issue no one cares about. So what possible difference could it make in our day-to-day lives if we are thought by some socially-derived normative measure to be a manifestation of old age? Does our age dictate what we feel, or do, or think? And is “old” age qualitatively different from “middle age,” or any other marked period of our lives? The right answer is NO, it makes no difference that we have lived 65 years. No, we don’t think old age, we don’t act old age, we don’t feel old age. NO may be the ‘right’ answer, but not, at least in my case, precisely the correct answer. We may object, strenuously even, that 65 is no portal to old age in today’s world. The age may have held some importance in the past, but not today. The moniker of old age was coined at a time when people faced a relatively limited lifespan and 65 was indeed very old in relation to that expected lifespan. The associations which append to the traditional image of Age 65, the preponderance of which are negative, no longer have validity. There are days when I will champion this point of view, but other days when I know 65 means something, and I am not sure I like what it means. Before leaving the point of the significance of Age 65, it may be well to understand our choice of words and meanings here. Our attitudes towards this age may turn on what we think we are talking about. The 65 part of this discussion seems unambiguous, at least for most people. You either are or are not at least 65 years of age. All the records you had to produce to get a passport, a driver’s license, registration for your collie: these documents testify to the facts of the case, namely, that it has been at least 65 years since you were born. The circumstances of your birth, the precise accuracy of the day on which you were born, may be in question or possibly even suspect, but nonetheless, society has decided on a given date for your birth. And that is that. The thornier issue concerns our definition of old age, not least the issue of when, in general, that epoch in our life begins. I like to start my search for definition by going to The Source: The Oxford English Dictionary. The definition given in that masterpiece of compilation is this: Old age: The later part of life; the period of life after youth and middle age; the state of having existed for a relatively long time, usually with reference to deterioration The earliest recorded use of the term old age, in English, is cited as approximately 1450, So the idea , indeed, the designation of old age as a definable concept has been with us for a very long time. Note, however, the OED is silent on when “the later part of life” actually begins. Other definitions: Old age: The latter part of (human) life. Old age begins with the deterioration of physical abilities such as sight, hearing, walking (stick required), etc. or by definition at a certain age (eg. 65 in present times), and ends in death. Many North Americans think of 65 as the beginning of old age because United States workers become eligible at this age to retire with full Social Security benefits. People in the 65-and-over age group are often called senior citizens. In 2003, the age at which a US citizen becomes eligible for full Social Security benefits began to increase gradually until it reaches 67 in 2027. In her engaging work, The Coming of Age, Simone de Beauvoir writes of old age: The time at which old age begins is ill-defined; it varies according to the era and the place, and nowhere do we find any initiation ceremonies that confirm the fresh status. (p. 2) Except, perhaps, for the Age 65 birthday party. There is abundant evidence for the claim that 65 is a demarcation in life: The pilot program will make network retail and mail order pharmacy benefits available to DoD beneficiaries in the demonstration areas who are Medicare-eligible, age 65 and older, and who have Medicare Part B. Found at: http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=2173. Retrieved September 2, 2008 For those qualifying as seniors ODB benefits begin on the first day of the month following their 65th birthday. Found at: http://www.health.gov.on.ca/english/public/pub/drugs/turning65.html. Retrieved September 2, 2008. Customers of Georgia Power Company who are 65 years of age or older with a total household income of $14,355.00 or less per year qualify to receive the senior citizen's discount. Found at: http://www.psc.state.ga.us/consumer_corner/cc_advisory/seniordiscount.asp. Retrieved September 2, 2008. A discount on trash service is available for senior citizens age 65 and older who have service in their name at their residence. Found at: http://www.springhillks.com/index.asp?NID=149. Retrieved September 2, 2008. For the sake of argument, let’s accept the definition of old age as time following the passing of one’s 65th birthday. What kind of issues must we deal with, if we suspend our incredulity at the thought of being of old age, and think about our future? These are the questions I take up in this series of essays On Being 65. So what difference does a day make? What happened to me on that day, and for the days following, was a dawning realization that somehow, I had slipped into old age. I don’t know where the thought came from, nor why. But with some conviction, I started to think about myself differently. I can articulate no coherent justification for this feeling. I should know better. I have read fairly widely in the literature of adult development, and should recognize that no single day in one’s life, barring some catastrophic event, should change one’s sense of himself, yet I felt it happen.