# Hitting the Wall

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitting-the-wall/74275>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 30, 2001, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitting-the-wall/74275 "2001-07-30T22:14:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jonpluc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/fbc32d/32.png) [@jonpluc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonpluc)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2001, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitting-the-wall/74275/1 "2001-07-30T22:14:24Z")

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Is the notion of a woman “hitting the wall” ie rapid and sudden obvious signs of age real? Has it been studied? How could you measure this? If indeed it does exist does it exist for men as well or do they seem to be more likely to "age gracefully"as it seems to be commonly believed. Whats the dope?

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**Author:** ![jonpluc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/fbc32d/32.png) [@jonpluc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonpluc)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2001, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitting-the-wall/74275/2 "2001-07-31T19:54:59Z")

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Have i stumped everyone?? Question to silly or something? Come on dopers SOMEONES gotta know JON L.

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**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2001, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitting-the-wall/74275/3 "2001-07-31T19:59:42Z")

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Well, I’m not really sure what you want to accomplish with this thread, but I heard something interesting about aging the other day from an esthetician. She said that men, by shaving their faces, essentially are exfoliating their faces and necks every day or at least a few times a week, a practice that women don’t really do as much as they should. As a result, men’s faces look younger for longer than women’s.

jarbaby

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**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2001, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitting-the-wall/74275/4 "2001-07-31T20:30:01Z")

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I’ve seen rapid aging phenomena frequently, but always in the context of underlying illness, and anecdotally at least it seems to strike men and women equally. Cancer or AIDS can rapidly ravage a person, and more subtle illnesses can have similar effects. If I see a rapid deterioration as you describe, I look for the pathology that’s causing it.

Qadgop, MD

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**Author:** ![jonpluc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/fbc32d/32.png) [@jonpluc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonpluc)\
**Post date:** [July 31, 2001, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hitting-the-wall/74275/5 "2001-07-31T20:53:07Z")

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I dont think a sickness is what my original intent was…this was based on a conversation with a bunch of my male friends on physical aging of women…we all agree that at some predetermined point the graph of time being the x axis and y being signs of visable age ie wrinkles sagging body parts \<maybe elasticity of the skin measurements?\> or even grey hair … seem to spike at a certian point and that rapid physical degradation point is called hitting the wall…I wonder if this really happens or is it just a false perception? Agreement around the proverbial table is that it seems to happen for most women in late 30s early 40s. Of course there are many exceptions, as always, one way and the other but on average everyone seems to agree…