Ha. You’re old, dad. Sucks to be you.
Male, 53, 5’11" 240.
My health sounds better than the OP’s – I’m almost never sick. My blood pressure and heart rate would be excellent for someone half my age. On the other hand, I’m on maintenance medication for cholesterol & acid reflux. I exercise regularly, just trying to stay ahead of my slowing metabolism.
Things ache more often than they used to, especially getting up in the morning.
I was never a social butterfly, so staying home at night is no problem. I always did. I find pop music has become completely irrelevant, and that doesn’t bother me at all. I’m still current on movies and TV, though.
I enjoy sex as much as ever, but don’t look forward to it/need it as much as I used to, and that bugs me.
I think the worst part is my vision (nearsightedness). I find myself disinclined to do stuff that requires good close-up vision, like minor household maintenance.
Mentally, internally – I still think I’m 24.
That can come from being from near a border between two regions, too. Marylanders know that feeling from a very young age. If you ask a Pennsylvanian whether Maryland is part of the South, they will say yes. If you ask a Virginian, they will say no.
I found out a few years ago that that condition is genetic, in my case. I found out that my dad’s family was named for a castle that is close to the English border in North Wales. I mentioned this to a Welsh co-worker, and he said, “Oh, that castle’s name is Anglo-Saxon” (with the implication, clear even to me, “You’re not Welsh”). I’m quite sure, if I asked an English person, they would say people from there were indeed Welsh…
I’ve always felt old. I do the old-lady groan when getting up, and have since I was a teenager. Periodically, it will occur to me that something in my life is a sign of getting old, and I feel depressed for a little while.
The time-compression thing amazes me. When I was a young adult, things that happened 30 years ago were pre-history. Now, they’re part of my adult memory.
I was taken aback recently when listened to the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers album. When I was a 25-year-old listening to Glenn Miller or Benny Goodman, I was hearing something more current than Sticky Fingers is today. That blew my mind, for awhile. I got over it.
Heh, that comment is amusing me in a bitter style, as I sit here one year shy of 40, nursing a broken elbow - from when I fell over ice skating last Friday. It was only a fall; a couple of years ago I’d have just bruised, but no, this time the fucker broke.
As for feeling old, I have no idea what it’s like to become elderly - though I recommend reading William Boyd’s novels; he’s not old either, but I think he can convey it well - but if it’s anything like the rest of my life so far, I don’t feel like I change, only the perceptions of those around me. I feel about 25. I tend to associate with, and enjoy the company of, people a lot younger than me (though lately I confess to feeling a little bit sadder-but-wiser than them).
I too feel the time compression. A 23-year-old coworker drove me to a meeting today (because I can’t drive at the moment because of my old-bone broken elbow), and I brought my MP3 player. She said “oh no, you’ll just play old stuff”. I had a hard time persuading her that my musical taste may indeed contain lots of stuff from years past, but also overlaps hers. In other words: I listen to contemporary pop and rock, but additionally I know loads of other music. It didn’t work: she hated everything I played except Pink, which was an album she’d forced on me the week before.
Then I realised that I smoked my first joint two years before she was born. 
37 in a week. Male 6’6" 270 lbs. maybe 20 lbs overweight. I’m a big guy.
I think the problem is: You’re young for a little bit, but you’re old for a LONG time.
I started excercising regularly when I turned 30. I dropped in age a good 8 years by doing that. I’d never been in any really good physical condition and found it intoxicating. I spent several years agonizing over every missed workout and beating myself up if I didn’t get 3 workouts a week in.
Lately I’ve not had the time to workout quite so often with the kids and have found one or two sessions a week are enough to bound up the stairs and keep the kids light. The kids get heavy if I go 5 or 6 days without a workout tho.
I don’t get as injured as I did before working out…but the injuries are getting wierd.
I’m glad to see that others see themselves (and act) younger than they are chronologically. I catch myself thinking “my Dad didn’t do this or act this way when he was my age.” I know that I’m a different person than he is, growing up in a different era with different attitudes (1937 vs. 1963), and I guess it comes from not knowing exactly how I should be acting. So with this thread, I think I’ll adopt “What the hell, I’ll just do what feels comfortable and let some other Type A busybody fret over me acting my age.”
Vlad/Igor, duuuuuuude.
44, Male, 5’7", 185 lbs
I feel that I’m internally 25 years old, but the face in the mirror occasionally gives me pause – the hairline is receding so much that nowadays I just get a buzz cut, and the hair that’s there is almost all gray. I’ve been doing some extra chores all weekend and took the day off, and with 3 days’ growth, my beard is almost Santa-like (in color, that is).
I think I haven’t quite matured – I’m still basically living like I did in college, but I have a lot more money and I don’t get completely freaked out about things. Big work deadlines – well, I’ll do what I do and it’ll work out. When I was young, I feared giving presentations, but now I just view them as those irritating days when I have to wear ties.
In the past year or so I’ve been facing some age-related realities. I’ve worked at the same job for 22 years, and while it’s interesting and challenging and pays well, I still think of it as a little detour I’ve been taking on my way to grad school. Now I’m looking at the numbers and considering the time, and 11 more years until I hit early retirement doesn’t seem so long. I’m also trying to accept the fact that when I get off my butt and start dating again, the women I date may very well have children (or even grandchildren) and a marriage or two under the belt. That scares me – I feel like I’m just spinning up, emotional-age-wise, but many of my cohorts have done a lot more with their lives (again, emotional-age-wise), and I may have missed out on some parts of life that may not come my way again.
You repeat yourself just a bit more. 
(* bolding mine)
My parents and my ILs were all born in 1943, and I’ve known my ILs for 20 years now. It’s been fascinating watching the four of them age from their early 40s to early 60s.
There’ve been 2 weddings, 3 bankruptcies, 4 divorces, 2 heart attacks, one cancer, a lot of jobs lost, some homelessness, and a whole bunch of suicide attempts. And those life events weren’t evenly distributed; all but one of the suicide attempts were by the same person, and both weddings were the same person.
One thing that watching them has taught me- stress WILL make you sick, physically and mentally. So will being stubborn and closed-minded, and denying reality. Optimism, faith and hope can turn it around.
The two parents who KNEW the answers haven’t fared nearly as well as the two who were (and are) still looking.
Argh, I can’t believe people younger than me are answering this question.
Anyway, FTR, I’m 39, 129, 5’5", 18% bodyfat, eat a pretty healthy veg diet, work out around five times a week, and don’t feel old at all. In fact, I’m in better shape than I was in my twenties and all my numbers (triglycerides, blood pressure, etc.) are excellent. I get a cold maybe every couple o’years, I think.
Aging related things I have noticed:
When I lose weight, I still lose it from all over but I regain it on my waist. So my waist isn’t quite as small but, on the other hand, I look less hippy.
When I stretch my shoulders, I get a grinding feeling in my left shoulder But it doesn’t hurt unless I go “huh, that a weird noise” and do it over and over.
I still like music but I’m not as passionate about it. And I have to fight falling into the nostalgia trap and only listening to music from high school and college.
I used to refuse to change into jammies until just before bed so I’m ready to go out if a friend calls or drops by. I’ve accepted that it’s OK to not want to go out. It’s also OK to go to bed before midnight. (although I’m still wresting with this one)
Because I’m about to turn forty, I’m wrestling with my (fashion) style. I don’t want to look like a soccer mom but the whole cute, indie girl look is starting to look like I’m trying to hard. I’m settling for classic but stylish and expensive. I’m also noticing that I’ve gotten old enough that I’m no longer a consideration for some guys. Which is kinda a bummer but what can you do?
The worst thing was the biopsy I had to get after my first mammogram. That was kinda scary and really brought home that, yes, damn it, I am getting older.
Funniest damn thing I’ve read on the SDMB today!
Thanks for the laugh, gonzomax!
P.S. Laughing is the best medicine to keep you young!
Male, just turned 60. Generally good health. About 6’ 4 about 300 pounds.
Arthritis is my major issue. There’s a million things i enjoy doing and it’s a bitch when the knees, ankles or elbows complain and make you stop. I’ve reached the age where I’m damn good at what I do and generally the man to turn to for advice on how to do something. So it’s a real bummer when I can’t get my hands dirty but have to step back and let the kids do it.
Have 3 very young grandchildren and I’m enjoying spoiling them rotten. Their Dad’s put me through some interesting times when they were teens and this is payback time.
Sex is still a lot of fun. Just doesn’t happen as often.