The stages of old age are complicated by the fact that people can move forward and sometimes backward among them, something that never happens in earlier phases of life. After an accident, or heart surgery, or chemotherapy, a person might appear “aged,” looking years older than they did just months earlier. They might even skip forward a stage or two of development, requiring a walker or wheelchair and help bathing. But months later, after time for healing and physical therapy, they might get “younger” again. Similarly, if an older adult decides to start exercising or begins an exciting new job or falls in love, they can suddenly seem years younger or as if they “had a new lease on life.” The stages of old age are more fluid than those of childhood and adulthood. They can be skipped and returned to, though overall, in old age as in its predecessor stages, there is a typical progression.

The stages of old age are complicated by the fact that people can move forward and sometimes backward among them, something that never happens in earlier phases of life. After an accident, or heart surgery, or chemotherapy, a person might appear “aged,” looking years older than they did just months earlier. They might even skip forward a stage or two of development, requiring a walker or wheelchair and help bathing. But months later, after time for healing and physical therapy, they might get “younger” again. Similarly, if an older adult decides to start exercising or begins an exciting new job or falls in love, they can suddenly seem years younger or as if they “had a new lease on life.” The stages of old age are more fluid than those of childhood and adulthood. They can be skipped and returned to, though overall, in old age as in its predecessor stages, there is a typical progression.