How is your physical health? How do you feel about your overall bodily health?

In My Humble Opinion
21

Well, I’ve been better. I had a bad fall last year and I’ve been diagnosed with osteoarthritis. So, I haven’t been able to walk like I used to. I can’t seem to get my food regulated to my new level of activity, so I’ve put on 15 pounds and I’m feeling every ounce.

But, I just had some blood work done and those numbers all look good. I’m 62, BTW.

If I can take off at least 10 of these 15 pounds in the next few months, I’ll be a happy girl. I’ve got a plan, so that’s a start.

I’m still better off than a lot of folks, so no real complaints presently. :crosses fingers:

22

52 and generally healthy. Family history and blood chemistry indicates I should be dead from a clogged artery any day now, but my doc isn’t concerned and a carotid ultrasound says I got the arteries of a 54 y/o. I do take an aspirin a day to keep the coroner away–apparently some new study says that’s unwise, but I suspect it was done by coroners and out of work heart surgeons. I should lose 25 or so pounds, but it’s not going to be a problem if I don’t. Borked my arm a few months back and the ortho seemed impressed with how quickly it healed up so apparently stuff is still working fine. Considering how I broke it (15 foot fall) I’m impressed I didn’t also blow out some ribs or a leg or something. I feel like I could do pretty much any physical thing I need to, and could still train up for something grueling and athletic if that was my thing. Which it’s not. It’s a pity, really, that my body works well but isn’t used more. I take a lot for granted.

23

Terrible. Heart disease, diabetes, atrial fib, high blood pressure. But none of that interferes with my life as much as balance problems, general weakness, and slowing down. I cannot walk a mile in under 30 minutes (I once did 15 minute mile walks) and it has been a year since I walked 4 miles to my office. Still, I am working on a math research paper, so it is not all bad, not mentally anyway.

When I had a heart attack 54 years ago, I certainly never expected to make it to 82, so I am not complaining.

24

Thanks for sharing, everybody! And best wishes to everyone to recover from (and/or manage!) any difficulties. Especially Hari!

25

I’m 62. I’m really healthy for the most part. I don’t take any regular medications. When I get a physical and check the results, not only is everything in the normal range, most of it is smack dab in the middle of the normal range.

I do have some minor knee, lower back, and shoulder issues. But they do not impact my normal day life. Once an acquaintance overheard me informing a yoga teacher about these issues and asked me why I didn’t get them “checked out”. I explained that while these issues may interfere with my ability to do 50 deep squats or stand on my head, I do not consider those normal daily activities that impact my quality of life. So my solution to my inability to do these things is to not do them.

A few years ago, I had a mystery ailment that defied diagnosis for a while. It ultimately turned out to be a gum infection, deep under a lower tooth. That infection set off an autoimmune reaction, which confused the diagnostic process even further. It persisted for a little while but eventually my autoimmune factors returned to normal. I also had cataract surgery in both eyes. My doctor marveled at the fact that the biggest thickest cataract she had ever seen was in one of the youngest cataract patients she ever had. Probably has something to do with me being less than cautious about sun exposure.

And I’d like to lose a few pounds. Although my weight is normal, I have fewer issues with my knees and back and exercise when I’m at a lower weight.

But that’s pretty much the extent of my lifetime health issues. I am a very lucky person.

26

Missed edit window. Was going to add that the one exception to “smack dab in the middle of normal” is my HDL cholesterol. It’s usually around 100 which pushes my total cholesterol high. But, high in a good way, according to my doctor.

27

For most of my adult life I have not chosen to live healthily. Genetics have given me a skinny build, and I have not had either jobs or hobbies which have led me - inadvertently or otherwise - to develop my cardiovascular capacity or muscular strength. I smoked for nearly two decades, and drank a lot more than anyone should. Diet has never been great, but not awful either. For my age, I have never been fit - but not overweight or infirm either.

I turned 39 this year, and decided/realised that I could no longer get away with doing what I was doing. Now I drink way less, don’t smoke, go to the gym most days of the week and diligently take omega 3 capsules every morning. Diet is better, but I probably could do with forcing down more vegetables…

How do I feel? More muscular, for a start - which is nice. I wouldn’t say that it has been like a superhuman transformation, but I do feel palpably better in myself. I probably should have made this turnaround 10 years ago, but better late than never.

28

I’m 45 and don’t have a history of taking care of my body well. I am overweight, which I attribute to both poor diet and a fairly sedentary lifestyle. I take a blood pressure medicine (until a year ago I was taking 2). I did quit smoking 11 years ago - while I did put on a chunk of weight after that, I suspect it was tied more to depression at that point in time than the smoking issue.

That said, in the last 2 years I’ve lost about 40 pounds and am still going (I put some back on last year - again, depression and eating my feelings crept up on me). I do go to the gym regularly. Both dietary and exercise changes have me feeling better in my body: my back hurts less and my knees hurt less. I still have some aches and pains, but they’re better. I’ve pulled myself back from pre-diabetic and was taken off one BP med, and hope to get myself off the other one with this year’s physical.

I would still like to get my weight down more, but it’s a battle as I head further into middle age.

29

I must say, as I approach 60, I find that I can detect physical decline occurring.

I am objectively in good health, no reported issues or medications. I have been slender my whole life, and had good cholesterol numbers, and good blood pressure numbers.

However, my work life has been sedentary, so my activity levels are not where I want them. As for fitness, I was never an athlete, and in spite of going to the gym I never developed any visible musculature - until now! For some reason over the last year I have finally built visible structure, as if puberty finally took hold. Nice.

But, when I speak of decline, it’s mostly about energy levels and “spring in my step”. I watched my mother, who I inherited my build from, spend the last years of her life not being able to walk across a room. I am concerned I will have the same experience.

Also, I probably should think about hearing aids.

30

I’m 56.
The bad:
Asthma, under control with meds, sometimes I can go without meds. Need reading glasses. Hearing not so good, but don’t need a hearing aid. Knees sore sometimes. I ride a motorcycle. I know that doesn’t mean I’m unhealthy, but it’s an unhealthy habit.

The good:
I eat well. Vegetarian, lots of green veggies, some fruit, mostly whole grains, some cheese, a little ice cream. One beer per day, 3 days a week.
I go to the gym for a short upper body workout twice a week. Began doing this a year ago, after a lifetime of hating weights. In terms of weight lifted, I’m stronger than I’ve ever been before, and still improving. I’ve strengthened my back such that I never get backaches any more.
My favored exercise is hiking. I hike up Camelback mountain in Phoenix, 3-4 times per week. I’m competitive about it. I can’t hike it as fast as I used to, but I’m faster than most hikers of any age.

31

Crap.
I’m 3-7 days away from death everyday. If I couldn’t get insulin.
I’ve had recent setbacks in my control over my monster. I’m on the track to getting it right again. Here’s hoping.
I’m too thin. Don’t exercise enough. Don’t sleep well or at all.
I eat right because I have to.
My teeth are good.
Wear glasses for reading, writing or doing art.
Hear well.
I’m alone too much.
I live in a remote area.
I drive well and carefully but the wildlife is actively trying to kill me.

32

I am 66. I have had two rather mild heart attacks, each of which resulted in a stent. My second attack last July was a good wake up call to get back into shape. I have lost 20% of my body weight in the last 11 months and now weigh less than I did at age 21. I quit smoking in 1998.

I have a very active job, and average ten to fifteen miles a day walking at a pretty good clip installing and testing fire alarm systems. I try to eat right and hold myself to less than 1500 calories a day. I put 30 minutes three or four times a week on the treadmill or elliptical.

The bad: I take medication for high blood pressure and cholesterol, eye drops for glaucoma and a blood thinner. A family history of dental problems has resulted in dentures. I have a rather nasty astigmatism. After 40 years of testing fire alarm systems, my hearing is not as good as it could be.

Over all though, I am in pretty good shape for an old guy

33

I will be 50 in October. I was always thin throughout my whole life, but then started to gain weight about five or so years ago. Not a lot, just belly fat, seemingly an inevitability for everyone barring the very active, but enough to push my BMI to the upper-level when it used to steadily be the lower-level. I’m not worried, but it’s disappointing.

I don’t drive, so most the time I walk everywhere I go. Not afraid to go great distances sometimes, though aches and pains have started to manifest making it a little more of a struggle than it used to be. I’ve cut back with the excuse of weather being unpredictable. It gets very hot and uncomfortable these days, or in winter it gets very wet and windy. We have an unusual cold snap right now, all of which just makes me want to stay indoors more often.

I don’t have any significant illnesses or injuries to contend with. My back aches a fair bit some days, and I have very annoying acid reflux, but I am otherwise healthy in all ways that matter. I don’t expect it to last, this is the age where it starts to fall apart a lot quicker, but right now I am in a good place.

Apart from my teeth, which are in a shocking state.

34

Ok, I have a little time now:

**THE BAD NEWS:
**
I’m 73.

I have serious Type II diabetes, and have to take 300 units of insulin daily, combining two different types of insulin. I have diabetic neuropathy, especially in my feet.

I have stage 3 kidney disease, so am on a boring vegan diet, with no dairy, sodium, potassium or tomato products, and other limitations. I do cheat a little (some foods just taste like crap without any salt whatsoever).

I have high blood pressure, which is controlled by meds and very little sodium.

I have peripheral vascular disease, and have to wear compression stockings. Even so, my left lower leg is in bad shape, and I might lose it.

I have high triglycerides, which is controlled with diet and meds.

I have spinal stenosis, which limits my ability to be on my feet more than a few minutes. So I can’t walk much or exercise, without incurring lower and upper back pain.

My vision gets worse every year.

I have balance problems, and often have to steady myself against something, or someone, as I walk.

I have chronic allergies and sinus problems.

I had open-heart surgery in 2012 (new aortic valve and quadruple bypass). My new valve already has a murmur.

I had my right knee replaced exactly a year ago today, and now needs scar tissue removed. And now my left knee needs to be replaced.

I no longer get erections.

I suffer from chronic depression, independent of my other health problems.

**THE GOOD NEWS:
**
I’m ONLY 73.

I no longer get migraines. Instead I get auras, which can be annoying but bearable.

I’m still able to do my art work, though I need to do it standing, so can do it only a few minutes at a time.

I can still drive, as long as my neuropathy doesn’t prevent me from feeling the pedals.

Though I no longer have a 20yo brain, I do not have dementia, in spite of my genetics. Yet.

I try to maintain a positive outlook and sense of humor.

I have a wonderful husband who’s only 53, who helps me out in so many ways, and is my lifeline and inspiration.

35

Male, 48, non-smoker.

I am grossly overweight, and sedentary, two things I keep saying I’m going to fix but never get around to. So far (knock on wood) it hasn’t become a major problem. But it will.

One physical health problem I’ve been dealing with over the past few years is auto-immune hemolytic anemia. Long story short, a couple of times per year my immune system will decide to try to kill me by destroying my red blood cells. This causes weakness and fatigue, and opens me up to even the most minor of infections (such as the common cold) straight up knocking me out. I go see my hematologist, she puts me on prednisone, I get better, lather rinse repeat. She’s mentioned removing my spleen if/when this cycle gets more frequent or more severe, but for now we’re sticking with the same method of treatment.

36

At 62, all I can say is, “This getting old shit is for the birds.”
I ache in places I never knew I had, my sleep cycle is all over the place, and things just don’t work like they used to.

37

71 yrs old, still don’t use reading glasses unless I am in a dark restaurant or fine print than I use 150’s. No medication as of yet but I suspect I am becoming diabetic I have been borderline for many years. The past year I have been sedimentary and it has affected my strength and endurance. I have smoked all my life and am starting to feel the effects of COPD I suspect as I sometimes wheeze when I lay down at night until I have a cough. My lifestyle is more like a single 30 year old and I imagine that will start to change soon.

38

56, & my health is taking a turn for the worse.
Diverticulitis, Gallstones, & right now, maybe my fist case of pneumonia.

39

TLDR; I’m still in moderately decent shape for a guy my age, but not anywhere near the kind of shape I used to be in just a few years ago, and most of the reason for that is out of my control.

Until about 4 years ago, I would have said I was in great shape. I was coaching high school kids in a small fitness program I started, which gave me an excuse to work out with them. I did CrossFit style workouts myself and did basic weightlifting and conditioning for most of the student programming until they got a decent fitness base for more advanced training.

Then, my work hours steadily increased to an unsustainable level, and in order to get home in enough time to actually see my kids I had to cut the fitness club from my schedule, which meant I didn’t have that time set aside for working out either. I’ve tried to stay at least a bit active by doing bodyweight exercises whenever I can, but I haven’t been able get any weightlifting in at all for years now, and even doing short runs is difficult given the shit-ass work schedule.

Even with the elimination of just about everything I can dump from my duties, I’m still not getting home until just before the kids’ bedtime most nights, which means that between playtime/reading/tucking in I usually don’t eat dinner until around 9:00 PM, which is way too late and too close to a decent bedtime considering I have to get up at 6:00 — at the latest — for work 6 days a week.

So, I went from doing serious workouts 3–5 days a week, with other active stuff occasionally outside of workouts, to basically not being able to work out at all. My diet hasn’t changed much, but I’m not eating at optimal times, especially in the evenings. Combined with the lack of exercise, I’ve gained about 3kg of bodyweight, somewhere around 2–3 inches at the waist, and I estimate I’ve lost at least 4–6kg of muscle. My heart rate has gone up from a resting level of between 50–55bpm to over 60, meaning I’ve lost cardiovascular fitness too.

That makes me feel like shit when just a few years ago I could run almost all of the high school kids into the ground and put up 50–100% more weight than any but my most advanced students, who’d been training with me for 2+ years. At over 40.

But if I look at it from another point of view, I’m still not in horrible shape. The much-vaunted-and-maligned BMI scale puts me at slightly overweight (25.76). I walk or bike a minimum of 4–5km every day and throw in a few sets of pushups, V-ups or hollow-body rocks, squats, door pull ups, whatever I can whenever I can. I’m no Van Damme (neither is he anymore), but at least my joints don’t (usually) hurt or impede normal movement.

So, it could be worse. But I’m not at all happy about not being able to be more active. My relative lack of fitness doesn’t directly impact my life, but I would be a lot happier and healthier if I were able to exercise more/better.