Life more ‘volatile’ during COVID for those in their 50s and 60s

If you’re in your 50s or 60s, health and economic factors during COVID are creating more volatility and uncertainty in your life.

Online fitness instructor Jill Healy-Quintard with he handyman husband, Didier, and their musician daughter, Elodie, at their northern beaches home in Sydney’s Manly Vale. Picture: Britta Campion

COVID life is creating more volatility and uncertainty for those in their 50s and 60s than it is for those older and more physically at risk from the coronavirus, new ­research shows.

A significantly higher proportion of older Gen Xers aged 50 to 54 say their physical and mental health has been affected, for better or worse, than the pre-boomers who are aged 75 and over, the study finds.

Around three in four people aged over 75 say the “new normal” of iso life under COVID-19 has had no impact on their mental health, while for those aged 50-54, less than half say they are unaffected, with 37 per cent rating their mental health worse and 13 per cent better.

The survey of more than 5000 people aged over 50, commissioned by the Australian Seniors insurance company, also finds a lot more over-75s rate their phy­sical health as unchanged (70 per cent) than the Gen Xers (50 per cent), with 30 per cent of the 50-54s saying it was worse.

The numbers for baby boomers sit in the middle, indicating that the older a person is the less physically and emotionally affected they are by the pandemic.

Overall, the survey finds that 90 per cent of over-50s have surprised themselves by how well they have coped with COVID-19, but the numbers reveal a deeper story about how complex life can be for the younger cohort of older Australians.

For Jill Healy-Quintard, 65, a fitness and wellness business owner for four decades, the past few months have been volatile, for better and worse.

Her 27 year-old daughter ­Elodie, a musician, lost her paid gigs in venues and at private functions and moved back into the family home in March with her partner. This meant some income from the Airbnb in a separate area of the house was gone, although her parents were more than happy to have her home.

Ms Healy-Quintard’s fitness classes moved online, and even though restrictions have now been lifted in her home state of NSW, she has developed a solid new market of people dialling into her Zoom classes from across the country.

Husband Didier left the corporate world in 2018 and what started as a bit of handyman work here and there, something he really enjoyed, is now keeping him busier than ever as more people discover projects that need to be done around their homes.

“It’s definitely an anxious time, and recently it looks like things are getting worse again, so the hope we had for things going back to normal is evaporating,” Ms Healy-Quintard said.

“I do worry about Elodie because there is not much out there for musicians. I like them being here, but they aren’t children anymore and they need to find their own path. But how they do that isn’t really clear.”

Yvonne Wells, Professor of Aged Care Research at La Trobe University, said it wasn’t surprising the survey shows an increase in anxiety among senior Australians over the past three months.

“They are still at an age where they are working or wanting to work but COVID-19 means many jobs are more insecure,” she said.