At what age do we become doddery?

miamee

Reading yet another thread about some 'poor old people' and it makes me so annoyed.

At what age do we assume that people become doddery idiots?

Elderly people have been around for longer than the rest of us, they have decades of life experiences, they should be the least gullible and shockable people on the planet. Yet if anything happens where an older person is being held responsible for themselves, their choices or their actions it's all, oh they didn't know, they are old give them a break. And people trying to sort out their problems for them. And I get it, I have an elderly relative who needs help with some things especially if it's anything online but she is nobody's fool and will sort out most things herself. It's verging on ageist when we start treating healthy, smart older people like helpless kids - obviously with the caveat that some people can, with age, become either physically or mentally incapacitated, that is not what I am talking about. Are we infantilising old people? What age does it start at?

My parents are both in their early 70s and I wouldn't dream of treating them like they are unable to manage their own lives.

Tl;dr: elderly people are fonts of knowledge who I have great respect for, why do some people want to treat them like eejits who can't manage their way out of a paper bag?

HeidiHeidi

Depends on the person, and their luck with the physical/mental health gods..... my mother who is heading well into her 90's is still going strong, living on her own. I play tennis with a lady in her 80's, and I can tell you if I see her coming towards me to whack a short ball, I duck - it's a terrifying sight!

Some are not so luck in the lottery of life though.

But I agree with you that it's very easy to put everyone in the same "old person" box, and must be incredibly frustrating for someone who still has all their wits about them but has just slowed down a bit (will happen us all!).

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058336113/at-what-age-do-we-become-doddery

They have life experience in a different time and draw on the experiences of those times. If that meant doing things in person instead of online, then so be it.

Time also entrenches old attitudes. New ideas like gender equality and gay marriage are easier to accept if you've only lived for a few years with more conservative ideas then if it's decades of it.

lbunnae

Clearly it depends on the person. But 70 plus is old in my head, I’m sure I won’t think that when I’m closer to it.

dxhound2005

Young people won't know what Doddery means.

Wanderer78

asd and adhd here, so i probably entered the world already doddery, so im probably completely fcuked....

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121766544#Comment_121766544

Don't see how there is any connection to being doddery

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121766573#Comment_121766573

...both disorders have complex memory issues, dodderyness in old age is very similar, i suspect its related to similar parts of the brain...

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121766465#Comment_121766465

Ya young wippersnapper, why I oughta....

Atlantic Dawn

I've seen people in their 60's away with the fairies and then seen people in their 80's that are sharp as a knife. Pattern I can see is those engaging with their community and friends regularly along with exercise seem to maintain the brain matter best.

Panrich

It’s mad. I turned 60 last year and I’d have considered 60 as ancient 30 years ago. I don’t feel substantially different now. I do take a little longer to recover from a good night out and I’m not as sprightly as I was. However I still feel the same mentally.

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121766582#Comment_121766582

no, not even close to the definition of doddery. More closely defined to weak movement

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121767089#Comment_121767089

dodderyness in old age is largely psychologically based, such as impaired memory issues, and other psychological issues, its similar to 'impaired executive functioning' with disorders mentioned, similar but different, these can in fact lead to physiological impairments, in both old age and the disorders mentioned....

BraveDonut

I think it is dependent on the person. My father is 82 and my father in law is 84.

My father loves his phone, laptop, streaming services, books, movies, travel. He has always exercised and taken care of himself

My father in law can hardly walk and watches one TV channel only. His only other interest all his life was drinking and he never looked after himself.

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121767245#Comment_121767245

no it is mostly a physical thing

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/doddery

You don't get to redefine the meaning of words

It isn't dementia which is what you seem to think it means

Wanderer78

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121767393#Comment_121767393

thank you, but i actually disagree with the term, a lot of old age issues are in fact psychologically related, as explained, this can induce many complex mental health issues including anxiety and depression

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121767427#Comment_121767427

It really doesn't make any difference what you think you wouldn't accept the definition of a well known word. It is perfectly acceptable to use it correctly but you want to make it mean something it doesn't. I have no idea to the extent of your own issues but you are capable of looking up a definition and I would think you would be particular about correct use of words as other people I know on the spectrum are.

Bobson Dugnutt

Though I am old with wandering

Through hollow lands and hilly lands,

I will find out where she has gone,

And kiss her lips and take her hands;

And walk among long dappled grass,

And pluck till time and times are done,

The silver apples of the moon,

The golden apples of the sun.

Spanish Eyes

Ah good old WB.

I want Dylan Thomas poem at my funeral, cos I will be raging that I'm gone. I'm in the older category for many on this thread I guess, well past 50 anyway. Doing fine (touch wood) and enjoying life thank god. However if anything cognitive or physical should stop my gallop I'd probably decline in a week.

Gregor Samsa

I'm 50. I've a 25 year background as a web developer, and I currently lead a multi-disciplinary team in a multinational ecommerce company. I'm very comfortable with technology.

I was shopping in Dunnes last week. At the till, I was using the Dunnes app to get my vouchers. The app has a quirk that when a voucher is used, it doesn't automatically disappear from your list - you have to manually refresh the screen by swiping down.

So I was doing this to make sure that the voucher I presented hadn't already been used, when the cashier (in her early 20s) literally took the phone from my hands and refreshed it in a "here, let me do that for you, love" kind of way.

So it seems that my perception of my lack of dodderiness doesn't necessarily align with that of others.

Emblematic

There's a physical aspect to it. You can be mentally very agile then an organic disorder can hit you such as Alzheimer's. But I think being generally mentally active and curious can stave off some of the gradual decline the elderly suffer from.

Some people assume they know it all when they've finished formal education or hit 30 and don't really bother after that. Those people, in my experience, start to decline rapidly after they retire from work.

https://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/ss/slideshow-fit-brains

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/northern-ireland/information-advice/health-wellbeing/mind-body/staying-sharp/looking-after-your-thinking-skills/

beachhead

An answer requires a medical assessment as to whether a person is doddery or not.It does not relate to age which is the immediate assumption in this posting.Some people want to write their thesis on it here.

Sunny Disposition

People are holding a lot better than they used to, in the 80s there wouldnt be too many remarks passed on someone dying in their late 60s. There is new medication on the way that'll go a long way to offsetting dementia, so the age people get doddery at is going to go back further. Go easy on the booze as you get older, that's a big help in limiting dodderiness.

miamee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121770260#Comment_121770260

This is very true. I was talking to my mother recently about her own mother and she said she never knew her mother not to be an 'old woman'. She was 40 when my mother was born so was older than all the other mothers of her school friends but even in my lifetime I only every knew her on a walking stick with breathing and mobility issues yet she was 66 when I was born. My mother, now in her early 70s doesn't think of herself as old nor does anyone else, she is very active and has a coupe of hobbies and various friend groups that she'll go out with or on trips with. A far cry from her own mother at that age.

Having said that, my nanny's generation would have had things a lot harder. More manual labour in running a home - washing clothes, cooking for a large family, having 10 kids, lighting fires to heat the house and dry the laundry, mending clothes, etc.

Regarding my father’ & siblings, he died aged 79, being the youngest of the 4 siblings to die, and he would have lived a fair bit longer were it not for his chain-smoking. Two siblings lived to 89, one still alive going on 93. Mother lived to 89, died “unexpectedly” of a hospital acquired infection, she rightfully didnt want to go in there at all, still going on exciting holidays! Her sisters died aged 87 and 88 respectively, in spite of severe heart disease in one case, and little lung left after TB in the other. These people have mostly had quality lives.

I am just going on 63, have been affected with colitis and MS, autoimmune diseases had since when I was young, seems as a result of an outlawed drug my mother was given to allegedly help retain her pregnancy with me following a series of miscarriages. So my compromised mobility and cognitive functioning is not related to aging but to an autoimmune disease attacking my brain. Had I not got MS the likelihood is I’d be a very fit and fit 63 year old going on 33.

It’s looking like an effective disease modifying treatment is in the horizon for Alzheimer’s, which should have a huge benefit for society.

mariaalice

I don't know if people are good judges of themselves, I saw a woman today maybe late 70s she should not have been driving but as she got out of her car she had her shopping bags and a shopping list.

The point is she probably thought of herself as competent after all she remembered the bags and her list.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058336113/at-what-age-do-we-become-doddery

Depends on what exactly you mean. Some cognitive impairment generally begins around 60, proper cognitive decline usually begins around 70, and 80 year olds are generally only going well if you hold them to a totally different standard than your average adult. But everyone is different. Bell curves and all that.

Old people have really interesting memories of a time that I didn't live through. So it can be fun to talk to them. But I wouldn't depend on them for serious insights into modern problems because, in my experience, they haven't a scooby and it takes them forever to get to the point of demonstrating that they haven't a scooby.

There's a reason we don't hold old people to the same standards as the rest of us, and it's because most would fail miserably. Give every 60± year old driving lessons and a driving test and I'll bet almost none would pass because most have given up on learning. But, we know old people having the independence of driving is good for them. So, we wouldn't dream of giving them a test - because we know most wouldn't pass.

Most old people are grand. They're patronised for a good reason, don't think too hard about it or you'll probably find they're not all they're cracked up to be.

I know only one old person who can listen to more than a sentence or two on a topic she isn't already familiar with without getting bored and interrupting. This wonan is class and she's nearly 89

mariaalice

82.20 years (2020) average life expectancy in Ireland.

I don't know if this has become a bit of a joke or what with some people in their 60s they hear of a 75-year-old man dying and they say he was only a young man!!

Hamsterchops

Seventy seven

chrissb8

Barring any disease, or genetics, you don't have to. Yes, you can slow down a bit, but really, use it or lose it. So many people do not continue to stimulate their minds in the right way. Refusing/not wanting to learn new things and not socialising with people are big players in mental degradation.

It's why CEO's or high-end executives still working well into their 80's are as sharp as a tack. My Dad is early 70s and is as sharp as he ever was and I put that down to an endless curiosity to learn new things. He reads a tonne, learns Spanish and if you put a piece of technology in front of him he will determine himself to learn how to use it.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121782634#Comment_121782634

Big fan of your dad's attitude. That's the key. You talk to lots of old people who can't tolerate new ideas or can't face the world as it exists today.

The realy interesting ones are those can tell you about the old days and are curious bout the modern day. I find them few and far between but their class to chat with.