In ancient India, human life was caricatured as a fourfold cycle, beginning with Shaishavam (baby – 0 to 5 years), Balyam (child – 5-15 years), Yauvanam (young – 15 to 60), and Vardhkayam (old age). However, in none of the literatures of that period is there mention of an in-between period called midlife, a period of massive change that we all experience as we cross the forty-year mark. Only in Western literature do we find this term called middle age or a crisis associated with it.
The maturity of men and women is doubted as a phase in which there is a marked change in their physiological and psychological structure. It develops from a time when you feel like you have reached a peak in your life path. It is also a time when people introspect what they have accomplished thus far and develop a future course of action.
If you want to think more about this topic, the book MIDDLE AGE – A Natural History by David Bainbridge is worth reading. As a veterinary anatomist at the University of Cambridge, he has provided an in-depth picture of midlife, in the context of modern evolutionary biology and neuropsychiatry.
Bainbridge begins his essay with his passive theory of aging called Antagonistic Pleiotrophy, where genes that promote reproduction among young people will perpetuate degeneration at a later age. This means that the genes that activate sex hormones during the reproductive stage play a role in the degeneration of the body in the post-reproductive age. Your second passive theory is the “disposable soma theory”, in which our bodies (soma) become disposable after the reproductive stage, which means that natural selection promotes body rejuvenation only as long as you are able to reproduce. Such anthropological studies on aging and its genetic nature lead us to argue that middle age is not a modern construct, but has existed among humans for millions of years.
Bainbridge also says that this is a time when there is a shift in the psychological continuity of our lives, giving us a sense of speeding up time and a fragility in our mental outlook on life. Bainbridge argues that changes in our worldview during middle age are attributed to change in sexuality or to the biologically induced play of fundamental reproductive forces in the human body and their adaptation to the newer environment.
Among women, middle age goes to a virtual shutdown in their reproductive capacities and among men there is a general decline in sexual indices such as sperm count and sexual productivity. Middle age in women is a precursor to the next menopause, while in men it results in a condition called andropause that results in a significant reduction in the production of testosterone in their bodies.
However, this book is not only a decadent story of middle-aged people, it also looks at the positive transformation that takes place in a person’s life during the Middle Ages. He says that this period is not the end but the beginning of a new paradigm in the sexual chemistry of individuals beyond the realm of reproduction. Sex becomes much more about self-expression and discovery than it is about a method of reproduction that, according to him, is only seen among human beings. This may explain why young men and women chase bicycles and make a frenzy for bodybuilding and other youth recovery measures.
Consequently, for Bainbridge, natural selection gives men the opportunity to start a new family, while among women it leads to a syndrome called the “Mother Hypothesis.” This syndrome affects near-menopausal women in their early forties, where their sexual energies are most expended in nurturing the young and growing them into mature adults only to reach the empty nest syndrome when the children leave home.
Where does this change in the genetic clock of life lead? The answer is a mix of positives and negatives. During this middle age, the negative effects of divorces, extramarital affairs, and other marital discord coexist alongside a new level of camaraderie between couples who rediscover new meaning in their lives. The trauma of empty nest syndrome among women also leads them to re-enter the workforce, while men begin to withdraw from the daily work routine.
The question is, if this is a universal human syndrome, why was this concept not echoed in any of the oriental, spiritual and psychological discourses? Indian literature mentions “periods of wisdom” in a person’s life in which the fighting Kshatriya warrior becomes a coach for the youth and refrains from fighting. Beyond this, this situation is not mentioned, it may be due to the formidable impact of the patriarchy and the Brahmin traditions of our society.
It is also argued by a section of left sociologists that the so-called crisis of the Middle Ages is a myth and was just a “crisis” created by the western media in the early 1950s. After the great depression of the early 20th century, in the 1950s and 1960s, a wealthy middle-aged population emerged in developed nations. The decline of colonialism and the expansion of the industrial revolution resulted in the growth of a class of healthy middle-aged men and women whose financial independence made them experiment to break conventional notions of contracted sexual relationships. This perhaps created a spike in midlife promiscuity that the Western media caricatured as a midlife crisis.
Regardless of those arguments about whether it is a myth or a reality, midlife is an opportunity for introspection on the path we have taken and building a new paradigm of our growth. For men, it could mean quitting your day job and experiencing your passion or pursuing a new profession, business, or taking a year off. For women it is an opportunity to restart their careers after a parenting period and feel more independent and eager. It is a period of experimentation on our life goals, even redefining our notion of love, relationships, career and we commit ourselves in the search for new pastures.
After all, as Frank Natale wrote in his book The Wisdom of Midlife: Claim Your Passion, Power, and Purpose, “Midlife is not the beginning of decline, but a time to reach our highest selves. It is a pause to recover “. examine what we have done and what we will do in the future.
As this year dawns, I wish all my middle-aged friends in their 40s to 55s a new year in which they discover their power, passion, and purpose.