When I was a kid I never understood why my mom made that groaning noise when she had to go from a squat or kneel to standing. Now I do.
Sorry about that.
Oh, and that nocturia really sucks. No wonder I can’t sleep through the night…and I’ve never even had a prostate gland.
Teeth are starting to go to shit. What’s the average age Americans get dentures?
Hands getting all veiny and like crepe paper.
Glasses almost useless for reading, it’s easier to take them off and hold the book up close to my nose.
Moles! Lots and lots of little moles, just like my mom got later in life.
Burns, cuts, bruises are more visible on thinner skin, I guess, seem to take a lot longer to fade.
Comfortable shoes are a must now, all the time, as I have a painful joint in one big toe. The other one is fine. So it takes ages to try on and buy new shoes.
Lower back pain on occasion, sciatica pain on occasion, crick in the knees going downstairs, and a general slowing down, or rather, being more deliberate in my movements.
DAMN FACIAL HAIR! I’m going to ask Santa for electrolysis of the upper lip for Christmas, I swear I’m gonna! Hair - gray root growth!
I have less energy than I used to, get sleepy in the afternoon, and no problem going to sleep, but it’s staying asleep that’s hard. (also having to pee a lot more than I used to, used to be able to ‘hold it’ a long time - but no way I’m giving up coffee in the morning, I’d never get anything done!)
Other than that, I push myself to keep active and don’t feel a day over 30.
Can’t eat pizza after 11 a.m., or it keeps me awake.
I’ll turn 30 this year, and I’m reaching the point where I don’t feel old necessarily, but am realizing I’m not a kid anymore, either. It takes a few days to get over aches and pains rather than just shaking it off in a couple of hours. I’ve been losing my hair since I was in my early 20s, so that doesn’t bother me much, but if you look really close, I have some fine wrinkles showing up around my eyes. And now I have to trim my nose hairs…
The need to sleep. Before I was 40, I could still go to bed at 4am and get up at 7am to go to work. Oh sure I’d be tired, but I’d make it up later on the week.
Now I HAVE to get eight hours, or I hurt. I mean PHYSICALLY hurt. I mean I just ache till I sleep.
The other thing I hate is I need reading glasses.
On the other hand I say, if these are the worst things of getting old (I’m almost 47) I’m darn lucky
A lot of people are saying they need more sleep or get tired more easily and ironically they can’t sleep as soundly. I’ve always been a guy who went to bed early. I don’t sleep as soundly as I used to though. I’m not the youngest person in this thread, but I can’t wait to see how my sleep patterns get when I’m as old as some of y’all. I’m only 32.
Well, that’s not ironic, that’s why - they need more sleep because they don’t get good sleep, possibly. I’m only 31 but often find myself getting up in the middle of the night to pee, which I never understood when I was younger.
No coffee after 3pm or the same happens here.
I forgot one, I am getting these red spots all over my torso and legs. Sort of like broken blood vessels, but a little bigger. My mother has them too.
I’m 44 and in look great for my age. Thanks to exercise, I actually look better than most guys 10 years junior to me.
It’s all a sham.
My eyesight took a dump about a year ago. Eyesight was my superpower. That was the one single attribute I had that was better than anyone I knew. I would annoy my friends by reading newsprint from 4’ away. Now I can barely read the newspaper at any distance. And it happened so fast!
The aforementioned exercise has taken it’s toll on my joints, and my energy level has dropped precipitously. I actually get physically tired before I get winded, which is a new one on me.
Not nearly as interested in sex as I was in my horndog younger years. Oddly enough, this makes it far easier to get laid…
I can pull a muscle just reaching for the weights, as opposed to using them.
Yup, I can feel the warranty expiring.
When I was younger, I would be surprised if I had a pain of some kind, and i would wonder what had caused it. Now, I’m surprised when I realize that nothing is aching.
That’s me too! Now I’ve got bi-focals for glasses. But I prefer contact lenses, so they gave me one eye for distance, the other for close-up. So now I can’t see with either eye! Next time I’m gonna go with distance correction only, and use reading glasses. Everyone I know who uses them has about 10 pair around, I’m sure I’ll be the same.
Knees, where did you go?
Carpal tunnel - some times I have a hard time writing with a pen. And I used to draw and paint, it’s been a while but I always thought I would get back to it - I’m not so sure anymore.
And my absolute favorite - when I was a kid I always got a chuckle when my grampa went into the bathroom. He always took the newspaper with him and took FOREVER! Now I know…
Thanks to a lot of effort, I’m in the best physical shape and the lowest weight of my life, so I’m ok on that front. I’m 42 and I feel better than I have in years.
But:
Eyesight - it’s always been a bit shit really, but now? I’m farsighted, getting old makes you nearsighted, so I can’t find the friggin’ sweet spot to read! Glasses on, glasses off, distance from face, gah! I’m understanding the large type crowd.
Aches and pains - above and beyond what can be explained by running, spinning and weightlifting. Why does my neck hurt? But only sometimes? Why does one ankle go out…for no reason at all, for just a minute or so? How in the hell did I hurt my third toe? I don’t know, but getting old sucks.
Varicose veins - probably from years of being fat, plus I had an embolism, but now I have varicose veins in on leg and some weirdass skin discoloration on my shin. Old ladies don’t wear stockings cause they are old and don’t know that they are not fashionable, they wear them to cover up whatever the hell happened to their legs.
Grey hair and wrinkles - yeah, check, got some of them. Stay out of the sun, kiddies! And make friends with L’Oreal!
So yeah, it’s not all bad but there’s some stuff I could totally live without.
I’m pretty certain people get farsighted as they get older. I’m nearsighted, meaning I can see okay close-up without glasses. I’m looking forward to wearing trifocals like my dad when I get older.
Wow, you could have written this about me. And what a sham it is…lol. The thing that bothers me the most is that my body has worked like a machine all my life with no problems, superfast healing, the ability to push through anything and suck up pain like it was candy. Not so much anymore and now I get freaked out when shit hurts or doesn’t feel right, because I have no idea how to deal with it. Jesus when my eyes started getting bad I thought I was going blind and went to two optomotrists and a specialist before I would believe I was getting old and that it apparently happens to lots of other people my age.
The thing I worry about is the physical abuse I put my body through for the last 40 years. I am starting to feel the effects and I think this is just the tip of the iceburg. The multiple broken bones, separations, torn ligaments, bullet holes and the too much smoking, drinking and random falling off of things is going to come back with a vengeance.
Could be? I don’t know. I know my glasses don’t work like they are supposed to, and it sucks. Sometimes it’s better if I take them off. Sometimes not. I went to the optomitrist and he did something to my prescription, but it didn’t help and the next step is bifocals.
Right now I manage by tilting books and repeatedly removing and replacing my glasses, or reading on the computer so I can make the font bigger.
I guess I’m lucky. As far as I can tell, I still feel pretty much the same as when I was 25. As long as I stay away from mirrors…
I have probably spent $4500* since I was 15 or so on stuff to make the dark circles under my eyes go away. None of it worked on the dark circles, BUT…I don’t have a lot of wrinkles or sagging around the eyes, so maybe it did something.
I do find that I need to work a bit harder to keep the same level of strength/flexibility as when I was younger.
My eyesight was always horrible (I flunked the eye test at the driver’s license place…when I was 16…had to go home and put on my contacts, which I had not really adjusted to until that point) and has not deteriorated that much. For awhile it even got better, thanks to advances in contact lens technology.
*$100 a year, that sounds about right. I’m counting things to hide the dark circles as well as things to make them go away.
Mine are so unsightly now that I’m seriously debating whether to even dare wear shorts – even bermudas – this summer. This is what you get when you work in retail food service for 20+ years AND have a family history of them :shakes head:
Other things that others have already mentioned:
Farsightedness. I think my prescription’s changed 3-4 times in the past 5-6 years. I have bifocals. I can hear my parents laughing at me whenever I wear them because I used to think their bifocals made them look funny with the way they both had to keep tilting their heads…
Energy level. OMG, I work a very physical job, and this job is probably my salvation right now. Other than that – wow. For many years after work I’d walk the dogs 'round and 'round the neighborhood without blinking. I’d knock off most of the household chores in a couple of hours then take a nice long power walk. Nowadays I come home and actually have to lie down for a bit to recharge myself :eek: And sleep? I automatically fall asleep while watching TV most of the time :eek:
Body: Once a woman reaches menopause, her body begins shifting. I’m noticing is mostly with my clothes in that I still wear the same size I always have, but suddenly waists are a bit tighter. I now have lumps and bumps where I’ve never had them before. I went up both a bra and shoe size without realizing it. My skin is suddenly more sensitive. And, oh, are my dark circles/hereditary bags even more visible!
Physical changes I notice as I age?
All of them. Acutely.