Middle age is the period of life between youth and before old age. There is no fixed age, but most people think it begins when someone is about 45 years old, until the person is about 65 years old.
- For the time in history, see Middle Ages.
In most countries, people that think that by middle age, people should be mature, perhaps with a good, steady job and a family. Due to promotion, middle age is sometimes a time when adults have greater wealth and influence than earlier in their careers, although they may have less disposable income due to having children. However, it is also common for some adults to suffer from mid-life crisis, helped moslty by widespread and socially accepted ageism, when they are unsure about their life and sometimes become depressed because of it. Women and men often have different experiences of middle age partly depending on whether they choose to work or care for their family full-time.
Middle-aged people begin to look older, with more wrinkles in their skin, and start to have grey hair. They become less fit and usually gain more weight.
Middle-aged females find it harder to become pregnant. If they do have a baby, there is a higher chance that it will have a genetic disease (Down syndrome, for example). Females usually have their menopause in middle age, when they stop bleeding every month. When that happens, they cannot have children anymore.
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