Retirement Life
8 perks of getting older you might not know about
I think most of us will agree, ageing can be scary to come to terms with. But, it’s not all doom and gloom. In fact, your golden years should be your best yet. Here are 10 great things you may not have realised about getting older.
- Better immunity against colds – if you were one of those people who got sick every flu season, you may have noticed it’s no longer the case. This is because after 60-odd years, your body has well and truly learnt to identify nasty germs and knows how to attack them, as it remembers exactly how it dealt with the cold last time and the time before, and on and on.
- Better immunity against virus outbreaks – a whopping 50 million people were killed by the 1918 flu pandemic, but the age range with the highest death toll was surprisingly those between 20 and 40. Likewise, when the swine flu shook the world in 2009, most deaths struck those under the age of 65.
- Fewer allergies – while it’s still not known why certain people get allergies, we do know that as we enter our 50s and 60s, allergy symptoms are much less common.
- Smarter – OK, so this one mightn’t come as a surprise to most of us, but given the declining ability of our brains in areas such as memory and abstract thinking with age, our intelligence and problem-solving abilities actually increase.
- Better sex – a recent survey found that 74 per cent and 70 per cent of women over 60 reported sex was more satisfying than in their 40s. In fact, research has shown that women in their 80s still achieved orgasm “always” or “most of the time” during intercourse.
- Less migraines – sufferer of the dreaded super headache? Swedish researchers found that migraines became less frequent, less painful and shorter the older sufferers got.
- Less perspiration – our sweat glands tend to shrink as we age, so people in their 50s and older will perspire much less than those in their 20s.
- Better life expectancy – now that you’ve made it to this age, you’re more likely than ever before to see your 90s. These days, 80-year-old women actually have an incredible 95 per cent chance of living another year!
Tell us in the comments below, what do you think is the best part of growing older?
Related links:
Can we really take old age one day at a time?
Over-60s fitness gurus prove it’s never too late to get fit
You’re not getting older, you’re getting more complex