Thirty years ago turning fifty meant your butt was flat, your arm flab made for quick jabs, and the party your closest most loving friends held for you was decorated in a sombre black motif. Today, women in said age bracket idolize a healthy, actively vain lifestyle idealized by mega icons such as the all-time great marathoner Joan Benoit Samuelson, the music mogul Madonna, screen goddess Michelle Pfeiffer, CNN’s Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanapour, and Sex and the City’s Kim Cattral among many others. All of whom, consider a healthy fit life, the good life, and it shows.

From my view here on the west coast age is in the eye of the beholder, literally. It is, interestingly enough, a proven fact that the coastal states consist of an all-over healthier population due to education, health trends, and wealth which lends itself to more maintained recreational facilities (in and out of doors), healthier food choices, and investment in preventive health care. Having been raised in Oklahoma, I was blown away by how beautiful and young Californians look and live. We are not talking plastic surgery and the like as that can only mask age. A healthy active lifestyle, however, keeps you young,..forever.

With life expectancy at an all time high, white males averaging 78 and white females 81 (numbers are slightly lower for ethnic Americans 70-76) people are beginning to take health at a younger age more seriously.

The trend in Hollywood, in the business world, and in media has always leant itself to favoring young women for their unwrinkled beauty, prowess, and their sex….to sell. Using the over 30s to sell prescription medications and retirement time shares to viewers/listeners.

It remains a push, in the media market, to take a woman at 50 seriously for appeal, but what we are seeing, with our icons at the forefront, is that 50 can be very fulfilling and rewarding physically, mentally, and socially. Women runners create a high standard for their current health thus increasing their quality of life over time. The younger a woman realizes her potential for optimal living the more likely she will continue to maintain and/or exceed her own expectations.

If the health nut trend that has cradled coasts for the last 30 years creates enough of an impact across the girth of the states it may be that in another 30 years 70 will be the new 40.

According to the CDC, in 2007 at least 31% of adults engaged in regular leisure-time physical activity with 66% of adults 20 years and older weighing in as overweight. Lets flip the statistics; get your girlfriends, mothers, daughters, neighbors running. If we are living longer, lets feel good doing it!

 image: Joan Benoit Samuelson

 

 

 

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Tags: women celebrating 50, women's running, health, active lifestyle

As one who has just turned 51 I can tell you - I am glad I made that decision 20 years ago not to "go quietly into that good night." A five miler a day keeps the doctor away! Posted by: bmoore on Jul 10, 2010 at 10:49 AM

BRAVO!!!! Posted by: Laurie on Jul 10, 2010 at 10:34 AM

Well, I won't be turning 50 for a while but I must say, aging gracefully does not go unnoticed. I always am caught dead in my tracks when you see them, these glorious women...50+ at the market or in a crowd and they just radiate health and happiness. That is where I want to be. I run for the future :) Posted by: KDface on Oct 01, 2008 at 03:09 PM

A recent visit to the doctor, and the concept that overweight, innactivity and obesity truly are the "silent killers." Women literally half my age carrying around excess weight...most of them on medication of some kind or another. It's not easy to change one's lifestyle, but the consequences of not changing are dire. Well put! Posted by: bmoore on Sep 26, 2008 at 10:29 AM