Forget 30, a recent poll reveals that 50 may be America's new favorite age, TODAY reports, regardless of one's gender, geographical location or political leaning.
The online poll by Harris Interactive surveyed 2,252 Americans on which age they would choose to remain stuck at if they could live forever and always be in good health. On average, those polled picked 50, roughly the age of actors Jodie Foster, George Clooney and Johnny Depp.
So why was 50 the magic number?
"You have almost every opportunity," Barbara Becker Holstein, a psychologist with a private practice in Long Branch, N.J., told TODAY. "You're young enough to be famous or start an organic farm and still have the muscle tone to work eight hours a day. You're old enough to have wisdom but young enough that your parents are still alive so you have a generational experience. If you're tired, you can ask the young man on the bus to get out of his seat for you. Or you can date the young man. The more I think about it, the more appealing it is."
Holstein added that as we age, we are less likely to feel depressed and anxious and more likely to be optimistic about our future as we become comfortable with ourselves and our lives, calling it a kind of "hiatus age."
On average, men surveyed choose 47 as the ideal age, while women chose 53, an interesting result considering our cultural obsession with females looking and feeling younger, though with current cosmetics and facelifts, perhaps women now feel it's possible to achieve the goal of eternal youth.
"I really think 50 is the new 30 to 35," said Holstein."For a woman, you can stay stylish and fit and maybe get your hair dyed or just do a little [cosmetic] tune-up and feel, 'Wow, this is great.' In terms of childbearing, you can basically say forget it or if you want a baby at 50 or 53, you can get your hormones juiced up and go for it."
However, having children also contributed to people's desire to be younger, as those with kids on average favored staying 45 forever, while those without children in their household opted for age 53.
"Lots of people don't have grandchildren by 50 so you're not necessarily tied down babysitting," Holstein said. "Of course, given how slowly young people mature now, you may still be dealing with someone in their 20s who loves living at home."
Notably, younger people surveyed chose younger ages to be stuck at, echo boomers (age 18-36) choosing 36, while baby boomers (age 49-67) picked 55. Mature adults (68 and older) were happy to stay at 67, fitting in with Holstein's theory that with age comes contentment.
