Top 40 signs of a mid-life crisis

The 40 signs of a mid-life crisis have been a revealed in a new poll.

The most popular answer is the desire for a simpler life.

In second place is still going to outdoor music festivals like Glastonbury.

Another key signal is when you starting looking up old boyfriends and girlfriends on social network sites like Facebook.

Fears over the future feature in a lot of the top 40 entries - particularly job insecurities.

It's why so many 40 and 50somethings are going on sites like Twitter - in the hope that their employers will think they are digitally savvy.

Another theme from the survey is worries over appearance.

The findings come in a poll of 1,000 people by Crown Clinic in Manchester, Britain's leading hair transplant centre.

It found the most popular age for men to reach their mid-life crisis was 43.

This is the same age as the Labour leader Ed Miliband. David Cameron was 43 when he became Prime Minister.

The phase typically lasts between three and ten years in men - twice as long as women.

Women hit their mid-life crisis at 44 - the same age as Hollywood beauty Jennifer Aniston.

It typically lasts for between two and five years in women and is linked to the onset of the menopause.

The term mid-life crisis was first coined in 1965.

It described the time when adults come to realise their own mortality and how they have less time left in their life than they have lived.

Early analysis suggested a mid-life crisis could happen anywhere between the ages of 40 and 60.

But its onset has been going down in age over the years.

This is linked to heightened career prospects for younger people and the increased pressure on all of us to succeed.

The average age of company chief executives has gone down from 59 to 48 in the last generation.

Body insecurities are a big part of the mid-life crisis for men and women.

The average age when men seek a hair transplant is 45.

Surgeon Asim Shahmalak from the Crown Clinic said: "As people get older they worry increasingly about their appearance and want to recapture their youth.

"At Crown Clinic, we have found that people are far less shy about making quite radical changes to their appearance as they get older.

"Men are less embarrassed to seek a transplant to combat baldness.

"They worry about losing their jobs and know that a more youthful appearance will make their more attractive not just to the opposite sex but employers as well.

"It is interesting that David Cameron was 43 when he became Prime Minister - the typical age men's mid-life crisis starts.

"His hair has thinned noticeably since he came to power and stress is likely to have been a contributing factor.

"It is my so many male executives in their 40s come to clinics like ours for help."

Crown Clinic has seen a 25% rise in bookings in the last five years as more men and women seek transplants for thinning hair.

It is a big favourite with celebrities like Embarrassing Body star Christian Jessen, 36, who has had two hair transplants there because he has felt under pressure to look good on TV.

Other stars such as actor James Nesbitt, 48, have told how having hair transplants have breathed new life into their careers.

1 Desiring a simpler life

2 Still going to music festivals like Glastonbury

3 Start looking up old boyfriends or girlfriends on Facebook

4 Realise you will never afford to pay off your mortgage

5 Joining Twitter so your bosses will think you 'get' digital

6 Excessively reminisce about your childhood

7 Take no pleasure in your friends’ successes

8 Splashing out on a very expensive bicycle

9 Sudden desire to play an instrument

10 Worry over thinning hair

11 Take up a new hobby

12 Want to make the world a better place

13 Longingly look at old pictures of yourself

14 Dread calls at unexpected times from your parents (fearing the worst)

15 Go to reunion tours of your favourite bands from the 70s and 80s

16 Switch from Radio 2 to indie stations like 6 Music

17 Revisit holiday destinations you visited as a child

18 Cannot envisage a time when you will be able to afford to retire

19 Read obituaries in the newspapers with far greater interest - and always check how people die

20 Obsessively compare your appearance with others the same age

21 Start dying your hair when it goes grey

22 Stop telling people your age

23 Dream about being able to quit work but know you'll never be able to afford to

24 Start taking vitamin pills

25 Worry about being worse off in your retirement than your parents

26 Want to change your friends but don't meet anyone new that you like

27 Think about quitting your job and buying a bed & breakfast or a pub

28 Flirt embarrassingly with people 20 years your junior

29 Look up your medical symptoms on the internet

30 Start thinking about going to church but never act on it

31 Always note when politicians or business leaders are younger than you

32 Contemplate having a hair transplant or plastic surgery

33 Take out a direct debit for a charity

34 Can't sleep because of work worries

35 Hangovers get worse and last more than day on occasions

36 Constantly compare your career success with your friends

37 Worry about a younger person taking your job

38 Take up triathlons or another extreme sport

39 You are very easily distracted

40 The only time you read books is when you are on holiday

Jules Stenson - 0207 267 4011 jules@aobpr.co.uk 
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