Time in The Sims 4 is a fickle beast. One minute you’re teaching a toddler how to use a nesting block, and literally three days later, they’re a moody teenager demanding a private space to write in their journal. It’s chaotic. If you’ve ever felt like your Sims are rushing toward the grave, you aren’t alone. The Sims 4 life spans are a core mechanic that dictates every single beat of your gameplay, yet most players just stick to the default settings without realizing how much they’re actually missing out on.
Maxis has changed these numbers over the years. Especially after the High School Years expansion pack, things got... weird.
The game essentially offers three main speeds: Short, Normal, and Long. But what the UI doesn’t tell you is the exact day-count for every life stage, or how specific packs like Growing Together fundamentally shift the "feel" of these durations. If you play on Normal, a Young Adult Sim has about 24 days to find a career, get married, and maybe have a kid before the wrinkles start appearing. That’s not a lot of time. Honestly, it’s a sprint.
The Math Behind Sims 4 Life Spans
Let's get into the weeds.
In a standard "Normal" life span setting, a Sim lives for roughly 90 to 100 days total. This isn't an exact science because traits like "Active" or the "Long-Lived" aspiration reward can tack on extra days at the end. An Elder Sim might linger for a week, or they might stick around for twenty days if they spent their youth jogging around Willow Creek.
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Here is the breakdown of how the days usually fall on the Normal setting:
Newborns are the shortest, lasting only about 1 day (unless you age them up manually, which most people do because, let’s be real, newborns are basically living furniture). Infants stay in that cute-but-destructive phase for about 5 days. Toddlers get 7 days. Children and Teens both get around 14 days each.
Then you hit the big ones.
Young Adults and Adults used to have shorter durations, but Maxis bumped them up. Now, you’re looking at roughly 28 days for Young Adulthood and another 28 for Adulthood. Elders are the wild card. They usually get about 10 days minimum, but as mentioned, fitness levels change the math.
Short life spans cut these numbers by half, or sometimes more. It is a frantic, legacy-style challenge where you barely have time to reach level 5 of a career before your Sim is a ghost. Conversely, the Long life span multiplies everything by four. A Long life span gives a Young Adult over 100 days. It’s a marathon. You will get bored. You’ll have maxed out every skill and still have 40 days left before your Sim turns into an Adult.
Why the 2022 Update Broke Everything (And Fixed It)
Back when the High School Years expansion dropped, a massive bug hit the Sims 4 life spans logic. It was a disaster. Sims were aging up automatically the moment you hit the travel screen or entered Create-A-Sim. You’d have a Child Sim go to the park and come home as a Senior Citizen.
Maxis eventually patched it, but they also used that moment to rebalance the days. They realized that with all the new content—infants, high school, university—Sims needed more time to actually do stuff.
University is a great example of the problem. A degree takes about 3 weeks if you’re taking a full course load. On a Normal life span, that is almost your entire Young Adult phase. You finish school, get your diploma, and—poof—you’re middle-aged. It’s depressing. That’s why a lot of the community (and expert builders like LilSimsie or James Turner) often suggest playing on Long or, better yet, turning aging off entirely while your Sim is in college.
The Life Stage Breakdown
- Infants (5 Days): This was added in 2023. It’s the "milestone" phase. If you’re playing on Short, you’ll never see half the animations.
- Toddlers (7 Days): The most intense week of your Sim-parent’s life. You need to max Movement, Communication, and Potty training or they’ll get bad traits later.
- Teens (14 Days): If you have the High School Years pack, this feels like forever. If you don't, they're just shorter Adults who can't woohoo.
- Young Adult/Adult (28 Days each): This is the "gameplay" sweet spot.
Customizing Your Experience
You don't have to stick to what Maxis gives you. If you’re on PC or Mac, MCCC (MC Command Center) is the gold standard. Deaderpool’s mod allows you to set specific day counts for every single stage. Want a Sim to be a Toddler for 300 days? You can do that. It’s weird, but you can do it.
For console players, you’re stuck with the three presets, but there’s a workaround. You can toggle "Auto Age" off in the gameplay settings. This lets you manually trigger birthdays using a cake. It’s the only way to play if you’re a "rotational player" who manages ten different families in one save file. If you leave aging on while playing rotationally, your favorite Sims will die while you’re busy teaching a different family how to bake brownies.
Hidden Modifiers to Longevity
Some things aren't just about the settings menu.
The "Bodybuilder" aspiration reward is the most famous. Once completed, your Sim won't die of old age as easily. They basically become the Jack LaLanne of Sims. Then there is the Potion of Youth, which costs 1,500 Satisfaction Points. It doesn’t move you back a life stage; it just resets your current stage to day zero.
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Cowplants are another story. If your Cowplant eats a neighbor, your Sim can milk it to get an "Essence of Life." Drinking that adds days to your life. It’s a bit dark, sure, but effective.
What Most People Get Wrong About Long Life Spans
The common trap is thinking "Long" is better because you have more time. It isn't.
The Sims 4 doesn't have enough unique autonomy to keep a Sim interesting for 400 days. By day 200, you’ve reached the top of your career, your house is a mansion, and you’ve romanced everyone in San Myshuno. The game starts to feel stagnant.
The real sweet spot for most veteran players is playing on Normal life span but using the Potion of Youth once per life stage. It gives you that extra week you need to finish a degree or reach a promotion without making the game feel like a never-ending slog.
Actionable Strategy for Your Save File
If you want the most "realistic" feeling in your game, stop looking at the settings menu and start managing the calendar.
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- Use the "Auto-Age (Active Household Only)" setting. This ensures the rest of the world grows up around you, but your current family doesn't die while you aren't looking.
- Sync your seasons. If you have the Seasons expansion, set your seasons to 14 or 28 days. Having a 7-day season with a 28-day life stage feels disjointed. A Sim shouldn't experience four winters before they hit puberty.
- Manual Aging for Infants. Unless you love the chaos of milestones, the 5-day Infant stage on Normal can be repetitive. Don't feel guilty about blowing out the candles early once you’ve unlocked the "Top Notch Infant" trait.
- The University Trick. Always turn aging OFF in the pack settings the moment your Sim enrolls in University. Turn it back on the day they graduate. This preserves their Young Adult years for actual "adulting" rather than just studying.
The Sims 4 life spans are a tool, not a rule. Whether you want a frantic legacy challenge where every second counts or a slow-burn story that spans real-world months, adjusting these numbers is the first step to actually enjoying the simulation. Focus on the goals you want to achieve; if the clock is ticking too fast, grab a Potion of Youth and keep going.