Working Into Your 80s: What Science Says About Age and Performance

Donald Trump turns 80 this week, and with him comes a question that's becoming harder to ignore in American life: what does it actually mean to keep working when you're old enough to have grandchildren in their sixties?

Arthur Rose, an internist in Michigan, finally stepped away from his practice in February after sixty-five years of seeing patients. He was ninety-five. His retirement was a gift to himself on his birthday, prompted partly by the death of his brother at the same age during the pandemic. "The job was really not pleasing me anymore," Rose said. "I just wasn't getting that same kind of exhilaration." But for decades before that moment, he had simply kept going—seeing patients who had been coming to him since they were teenagers, some for fifty years or more. He stayed because he felt needed. He stayed because he liked the work.

Rose is part of a demographic shift that's reshaping the American workplace. The percentage of people sixty-five and older who are still working has quadrupled since the mid-1980s. Today, about one in five Americans in that age group holds a job. Some of them occupy the highest offices in the land. Trump, now eighty, is the second-oldest sitting president in U.S. history, behind Joe Biden, who left office at eighty-two. In Congress this year, twenty-four members are older than eighty, including Senator Chuck Grassley, who is ninety-two.

The reasons people work longer are practical and personal. More Americans are living into their eighties because healthcare has improved. The cost of living keeps rising, and pensions have become less reliable. A recent survey found that nearly thirty percent of retirees are considering part-time work, and more than sixty percent of those cite the rising cost of living. But something else is happening too. About half of those surveyed say they want the social connection that work provides. And some, like Rose, simply find meaning in it. Gordon Lithgow, a professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, sees a cultural shift. "I hope that people are beginning to think, it's really who's qualified for the job, it's not what age they are," he said. "There's no question that people can function well into their seventies and potentially their eighties as well."

Harriet Newman Cohen is ninety-three and still practices matrimonial law. She's represented celebrities in high-profile divorces, including former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. She just published a memoir. "Working has kept me young, vigorous, energetic, knowledgeable, fun," Cohen said. "I just can't imagine living any other way." She founded a new law firm with her daughter when she was eighty-eight. Her grandmother worked into her eighties too—she died in the hallway of a building she owned, on her way to fix a tenant's plumbing.

But there are real risks. Cognitive decline and loss of stamina are not myths. They're biological facts that can interfere with even the most experienced worker. Biden's withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race was driven partly by concerns about his mental sharpness after a poor debate performance. Some have raised similar questions about Trump. This month, Democrat Ted Lieu presented videos to Congress that he said showed the president dozing off in meetings. Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed the concern as absurd, saying Trump barely sleeps at all. Trump's physician reported after a recent medical exam at Walter Reed that the president is in "excellent health" and that his "demanding daily schedule" continues to support his well-being.

What the science actually shows is more nuanced. Sleep matters enormously. Lithgow explained that chronic stress—including sleepless nights—creates real biological damage that accelerates aging at the cellular level. Sleep activates the molecular processes that repair and recover the body. Cohen sleeps more than eight hours a night. She reads voraciously and maintains active conversations. Her family history of longevity and continued work suggests that purpose itself may be protective. But the strongest predictors of healthy aging, Lithgow said, are not genetics. They're income and access to healthcare. "If you start with an ability to access the best possible healthcare, then you're already having an advantage over the vast majority of people," he said.

Rose, at ninety-five, remains in good health. He doesn't smoke. He has a schnapps occasionally. He says he has no idea why he's made it this far when so many of his peers haven't. His patients often didn't know his age, or didn't seem to care. Some were shocked when they found out. "The reason is I haven't aged," Rose said. "I don't look any different." He felt needed. He liked the work. And for sixty-five years, that was enough to keep him showing up.