Survey reveals changing attitudes to health and appearance as we get older


A research study by Benenden Health in England and published in September 2013, has shown that: women put forth the effort on their appearance thirteen years longer,focusing on their appearance and general fitness at least until age 59, before they start to relax their standards.( I believe that it is because society stops valuing them and they seem to disappear from the face of the planet, except for constipation or bladder problems.) On the other hand, men stop trying well before they reach the BIG “5-O”, and are happier to cut out trips to the gym.

The research commissioned by the Health and Wellbeing Benenden Health in England, found women were nearly twice as likely to lack confidence in their image with more than one third unable to claim they were at least content with their appearance. 2,000 men and women were studied and one third blamed lack of happiness in contributing to their low confidence levels in the way they look.  

The study concluded that maintaining our physical well-being into our later years becomes less of a priority, which is influenced in part by wanting to relax in comfort and not wanting to keep up with the trends (How sad is this?). Finally, men appear to “give up” far sooner than women. 

Your comments on this study would be greatly appreciated.  I wonder if this is totally accurate, or if the sample size of the study group was too small or somehow slanted.   Thanks