section_path: Perspectives/Middle age
section_name: Middle age
paragraph_text: Middle age
  
  Many books written by authors in middle adulthood depict a few common perceptions on old age. One writer notices the change in his parents: They move slowly, they have less strength, they repeat stories, their minds wander, and they fret. Another writer sees her aged parents and is bewildered: They refuse to follow her advice, they are obsessed with the past, they avoid risk, and they live at a "glacial pace".
  
  In her The Denial of Aging, Dr. Muriel R. Gillick, a baby boomer, accuses her contemporaries of believing that by proper exercise and diet they can avoid the scourges of old age and proceed from middle age to death. Studies find that many people in the 65–84 range can postpone morbidity by practicing healthy lifestyles. However, at about age 85, most people experience similar morbidity. Even with healthy lifestyles, most 85+ people will undergo extended "frailty and disability".