There’s a meme doing the rounds on Instagram which suggests that Geriatric Millennials like me aren’t ageing at the same speed as our parents because we pickled ourselves in an alcoholic marinade in the early 2000s. It’s true that, if you compare pictures of family members at the same age, there’s a distinct difference in what I see in the mirror now. But although those of us in our forties might be benefiting from good clothes, make up or even “tweakments” that can disguise our chronological age, we aren’t statistically in the great shape we think we are. Maybe all those boozy nights really did take their toll?
As I descend deep into my fourth decade, the reality is that I don’t feel particularly well. I’m exhausted by the demands of parenting and working hard in a sector that’s struggling, while simultaneously managing a family home, doing some exercise, trying to provide a decent dinner that keeps us all topped up with vitamins, protein and fibre and tackling the endless school admin. I’ve got some ongoing health issues, too: happily nothing that’s going to shorten my lifespan, but irritating and sometimes painful conditions – one which required surgery late last month – which nag and sap reserves.
I’ve often thought that the best thing I could do right now for my health and wellbeing would be to work less. My own mother suggests it almost weekly, but with the cost of living still spiralling, that’s just not an option for my family.
Lots of us apparently feel the same way. Last week, data analysis released by the Resolution Foundation caused consternation among economists when it suggested that nobody wants to knuckle down to work anymore. According to the study, there has been a sharp decline in the number of people who want a full time, 40-hour a week graft, with the majority of us now ideally looking for flexible or part-time work. The proportion of working-age adults who want to work full-time has fallen from 57 per cent in 2015 to 47 per cent in 2025. Men in mid-life have recorded the fastest drop in interest in the old five-day working week.
These figures were celebrated as a sign of the revolution in parenting. Active dads are now realising their own fathers regretted missing so much time with them when they were young, and are opting to be present for the school run. It all sounds so positive.
But I think there’s something else going on. Research published today by academics at University College London analysed data collected from 8,000 people born in 1970, a group of Gen X people now in their mid-fifties. It found that they did have very different priorities to the previous generation. When asked to rank what aspects of life mattered to them most, they placed having a fulfilling job and having money lower down the list. Also further down that list ranked their children. What came right at the top was health, scoring above marriage, independence and friendships.
Every generation on the cusp of turning 60 starts to turn their thoughts to longevity and wellbeing. But what’s different here is that Generation X is going into later life reporting much worse health than the Boomers did at the same age. Only two in five say their health is “excellent” or “very good”. A third are living with obesity. Lifespans are starting to decrease for the first time in generations.
Those of us coming up behind are worn out and worried too. We know that cancer rates in those aged between 25 and 49 increased by a quarter between 1995 and 2019. According to the Office for National Statistics and NHS statistics, more than three quarters of working age adults over 35 have at least one chronic medical condition, and more than a third have multiple health problems. High rates of poor health continue among younger generations. The UK has 1.2 million people aged 16 to 34 with a work-limiting health condition. In fact, people aged 18 to 24 are now more likely to be out of work due to ill health than individuals in their early forties.
What if the reason that we don’t want to work so hard is that we know it’s doing us no good? Our always-on, constant hustle culture is emotionally exhausting and physically debilitating.
The government is about to head into a big debate about welfare. Ministers will be asking the public to accept less support during a crisis or illness in order to focus taxpayer’s money on building a stronger economy. That’s going to be a tough ask when everyone is feeling so sick and tired. We seem to have already acknowledged what the government hasn’t yet accepted: if work isn’t making us richer, happier and healthier, why are we slogging ourselves only to feel dreadful?
As a burned out self-employed geriatric millennial, as soon as the finances allow it I will drop my working hours to put my health first. If you’re honest, I bet you would too. This isn’t the end of ambition. It’s a rational response to an economy that’s changing faster than we know and a working culture that’s making us all ill.