hen it comes to ageing, everyone has an opinion on how you should feel, but who should you actually be paying attention to?
A new report from YouGov, on behalf of online retailer JD Williams, has circumvented all the hearsay and revealed how women aged 50 and older actually feel about the ageing process
The report found that women, generally, feel at least a decade younger than their actual age with 91 per cent saying so, and just five and three per cent saying they felt older or the same age, respectively.
The report also revealed what British women aged 50 or older felt most excited about with regards to ageing.
Nearly half (49 per cent) said they were most looking forward to having more leisure time, followed by 35 per cent who said they were eager to spend more time with family and friends, and 33 per cent who noted they were most excited about having grandchildren.
The prospect of the free bus pass was also particularly exciting for Londoners, (46 per cent).
However, the report did reveal some negative thoughts associated with ageing. 9 in 10 women said they are scared of the health problems that come with growing older, in particular the idea of losing independence and having to rely on others was the greatest concern for 67 per cent, while memory loss scared 59 per cent. Half also said they feared being put into a nursing home.
The report did find that these worries seemed to lessen as the women aged as women in their 50s were more worried about their health deteriorating than women in their 60s and 70s.
Additionally, the report revealed what the most ‘life defining’ moments were for older women.
For the majority, almost 38 per cent, the moment they felt defined them best was related to children in some way (30 per cent having children, and 7 per cent having grandchildren). A further 27 per cent believed their most life defining moment was related to a relationship, with 11 per cent saying it was their marriage or the day they met their partner. Interestingly, 4 per cent said theirs was their divorce.
13 per cent said their moment was either going to university, starting their first job, or retiring.
