London - Men lose interest in fashion trends and being “cool” at 46, a survey has revealed. But women try for 13 years longer – focusing on their appearance and fitness until at least 59.
The research also found women were nearly twice as likely to lack confidence in their image, with more than one third unable to claim they were at least content with their appearance.
One third of the 2 000 men and women who took part in the study blamed a lack of happiness for contributing to their low confidence in the way they looked.
More than half said they weren’t in great shape physically, while a third admitted they had never been the type to bother with exercise. Another third stopped caring about the food they ate and how much alcohol they drank.
Seven in 10 men didn’t worry regularly about the way they looked, while more than half said they didn’t really take any pride in their appearance.
One in three said they ate and drank what they liked and didn’t consider health implications.
Two thirds of people thought it normal to stop worrying about appearances once they landed a serious partner.
In fact, it took just 26 months after a wedding before the average person said they stopped bothering about their looks.
It is not only appearances that suffer. Nearly half have a constant health nag they’ve been burdened with for a long time and have given up trying to heal.
Other factors contributing to letting health and appearance take a downward spiral were a preference for comfort over style and an increasing reluctance to keep up with anything deemed trendy or fashionable.
One in four people thought that keeping healthy and looking good cost too much money and was too big a commitment.
A spokesman for Benenden Health, who commissioned the research, said: “Our survey suggests that maintaining our physical wellbeing into our later years simply becomes a lesser priority – influenced by wanting to relax in comfort and not have to keep up with trends. And men appear to ‘give up’ far sooner than women.” – Daily Mail