Are you slowing down?

[rodi]

I'll admit to having slothful couch potato tendencies but I'm trying to remedy that in retirement. I do early morning walks on the beach with the dog several mornings a week. Depending on the tide, they are between 2: and 4 miles. But as haha pointed out, flat is different than hilly. I've recently started taking the stairs to my Italian class. Between the class and the parking garage that is 138 steps up. (Not that I counted, lol). I've also started riding my bike to the further grocery/produce store. Every bit helps. I want to be able to handle the trip this summer and several of the apartments we rented are 2nd floor (US 3rd) with no lift and are in July locations (eg Nice)

 

[donheff]

Yeah, I have slowed down quite a bit. In my 50s I played roller hockey, wind surfed, and skied (water and snow). I am closing in on 67 and no longer engage in those sports although I did pop up on a slalom ski last summer. I think more than capability I dropped these activities due to the hassle factor - getting the gear out, traveling to locations where I can do it, cold (skiing). In compensation, I have become an avid cyclist. DW and I ride three or four times a week (depending on weather) and take a couple of riding trips a year. We have been doing this now for 10 years and hope to keep it up indefinitely. I do notice that slacking off due to weather can make a bike trip more taxing in the first couple of days. So I have taken to riding spin bikes in the winter to keep up my capabilities. I have also noted that exercises don't have a lot of cross over. If I want to do a lot of walking I need to get in hape for it by walking, not riding. Unfortunately, while I like walking around cities on trips, I don't like walking for exercise. I need to find some way to change that mind set since I believe walking is probably the most useful exercise for fighting back age related decline.

 

[audreyh1]

I want to reiterate that if you are in your 50s or 60s, and notice changes, please have your health checked for vitamin deficiencies, thyroid function (full panel), and for women, hormone balance. Some symptoms might be attributed to aging but can easily be treated through correcting vitamin or hormonal deficiencies.

Don't just assume that it's a natural slowing due to age, or assume everything can be corrected through improved physical fitness/exercise or cutting out the junk food.

I started not sleeping well at night - something that had gradually worsened over a few years, and when my progesterone was found to be low and out of balance learned poor sleep was a symptom among many others. And I just thought I had "poor sleeping habits" or just spent too much time reading my iPad at night. Take progesterone and suddenly I'm sleeping through the night after years of not doing so.

I was also very low in Vitamin D and a few other essentials which I have been correcting through vitamin supplementation and my health and sense of well being has improved.

 

[BellBarbara]

Hi Audrey - I just had a check up. I actually had high thyroid, but just barely, I need to retest in 3 months. We both have check ups yearly, all the blood work, etc. We live in Boston, so already take vitamin D due to lack of sunshine - but all NE doctors check for this. Thanks for the reminder though.

 

[haha]

I'll admit to having slothful couch potato tendencies but I'm trying to remedy that in retirement. I do early morning walks on the beach with the dog several mornings a week. Depending on the tide, they are between 2: and 4 miles. But as haha pointed out, flat is different than hilly. I've recently started taking the stairs to my Italian class. Between the class and the parking garage that is 138 steps up. (Not that I counted, lol). I've also started riding my bike to the further grocery/produce store. Every bit helps. I want to be able to handle the trip this summer and several of the apartments we rented are 2nd floor (US 3rd) with no lift and are in July locations (eg Nice)

Beach walking can be very demanding, depending on how hard or soft the sand is. Soft sand like that above high water mark can put you in pretty good walking shape, and it is very injury-forgiving.

Ha

 

[BellBarbara]

Great to see everyone's comments. We would consider ourselves active, but we don't do a ton of aerobic exercise. We ride bikes (some trips as long as 14 miles), walk several miles at a time, kayak often, sometimes row and use the elliptical...We do lots of hard yard work (right now we are setting large natural stones into grass that weigh 75-100lbs each) and such. All of our own DIY.

We just felt more tired and sore at the end of the day of long walking (anywhere from 6-10 miles) than we remember in Italy 2 years ago. We also noticed this when doing these large yard projects - a few years ago we would work for 4-5 hours. Now we will work for 2-3.

Another point is Spain has pretty much all hard surfaces - stone, rocks, cobblestones, etc. I can't remember stepping on a soft surface once. When we walk here it's on softer surfaces like compressed dirt paths. DH has always had a questionable bad lower back and it was sore. We took advil!

Overall I am not really worried, I just sort of feel a little tinge of sadness that we would spend hours out (maybe until 2 or 3) and just be too tired to go back out again. Does that make sense?

Also, I think I will push DH to do these bigger trips earlier. At least the ones that would include hiking - like NZ. Save the cruising for later. ha!

 

[Chuckanut]

Keep in shape, eat a healthy diet, avoid injuries, and find alternatives methods when necessary.

It's all about balance.

 

[BellBarbara]

Also, we totally agree about air travel. We had a terrible trip. We used awards travel (American airlines miles) but used them on US Air planes for the first time since they joined. The reason we used them is because it was really the only way we could use them.

Let me say - NEVER again on US Air. We flew Boston to Philly to Madrid. We left 4 hours in Philly to connect with the Madrid flight. US Air runs a shuttle - at least one flight an hour between Philly and Boston (at least at the time we were flying). But we still MISSED the direct flight to Madrid. Of 5 planes - 3 had mechanical issues. We got on and off, got a new plane etc. We ended up having to fly through Heathrow and missing more than a half day. If we had made our flight we would have been in Seville at about 1pm - instead we got in after 8pm.

On the way back - the plane to Philly - half of the TVs did not work. HALF of the plane! 8.5 hours......and then when we went to get our shuttle (which had plenty of seats) we found out 2 more planes were not there so they totally loaded up our flight, made us check baggage (only first class and the first 10 rows could bring on luggage). So that made a 30 min wait for baggage on the way back. We specifically bring the smallest roller available so we don't have to check.

Just say no to US Air!

 

[FUEGO]

We're already slowing down in our 30's. But having a 2, 8, and 10 year old tag along with you everywhere will do that to you.

We'll be climbing pyramids, playing in the surf, and swimming in cenotes for 7 weeks this summer in Mexico. Hopefully I won't be the one feeling out of shape and tired all the time...

 

[athena53]

Just say no to US Air!

I hear ya- in late 2013 my 80-something parents had a nonstop from CLT to a family wedding in Columbus, Ohio. It was one of those darned baby planes and they were supposed to get in around 1 PM for a 6 PM wedding. Ah, my poor, naïve parents. Dad used to travel on business in the 1960s so he thought they'd be OK. They had the same experience you did- on and off planes, each the same model, each with a mechanical problem. USAirways offered to send them through Washington, DC. Yeah. They went home. Four months later DH and I had the same thing happen on a USAirways nonstop- missed family wedding after trying to wait out multiple mechanical issues on a tiny plane. The wedding was the next day but we finally told them to give us our money back and missed the wedding.

My sympathy on having to go through Heathrow- it's the pits, especially if you're changing between T5 and the other terminals.

To get back to the "slowing down" topic- I do have one very happy memory of enjoying whatever you can within your limits. I was printing out a confirmation for our flights between Dubrovnik and Zagreb when I saw a banner ad for kayaking expeditions around the Dubrovnik city walls. DH was having back problems and his balance isn't great because of a couple of falls over the years. I asked him if he was up for kayaking (I would have done it myself otherwise). He said yes. It took a couple of guys to help him in and out of the kayak, and I took the back seat and did most of the paddling, which meant most of my pictures had DH's head in the foreground, but it was spectacular. I still have a picture of him afterwards, in the hotel room after he'd put his feet up and poured himself a drink; his blue eyes are still bright from the excitement. It was one of our most memorable excursions and I'm glad he was up for it.

 

[BellBarbara]

Ah that sounds so great! Good for you guys!

In thinking about this more, it's probably a lot to do with not having recovery time. We did not have a day where we didn't have this activity level. Perhaps if we took a down day, we would have felt better.

 

[athena53]

In thinking about this more, it's probably a lot to do with not having recovery time. We did not have a day where we didn't have this activity level. Perhaps if we took a down day, we would have felt better.

I agree. We're pacing the next one carefully: fly to Boston, 2 nights in Boston, fly to Iceland, 6 nights there, back to Boston, overnight in Boston, fly home. Fortunately, DH and I have always been free spirits when it comes to travel- if he wants to do nothing but hang in the room our first day I'll go look around and if there's anything interesting we can visit it together the next day.

And we just found out that Glasgow is only another 4 hours from Reykjavik! We LOVE Edinburgh and this may be a good way to get back without going through Heathrow. (Glasgow and Edinburgh are one hour from each other by train.) That would be a future trip. Da*n, it's good not to be limited by X vacation days!

 

[audreyh1]

Hi Audrey - I just had a check up. I actually had high thyroid, but just barely, I need to retest in 3 months. We both have check ups yearly, all the blood work, etc. We live in Boston, so already take vitamin D due to lack of sunshine - but all NE doctors check for this. Thanks for the reminder though.

That's good!

If your TSH is a little high, you are going to feel more fatigued because your thyroid is underperforming. That might well explain part of your experience.

Among the above I didn't mention my new challenge. A full T-panel revealed that I have the thyroid antibodies indicating Hashimoto's thyroid auto-immune disease - a rather common auto immune disease. And even though my thyroid function is not out of normal range yet, unless the antibodies can be brought down my thyroid will eventually be destroyed.

Western Medicine hasn't really figured out how to reverse this yet, but there are several areas being explored as possibilities at the moment.

 

[Corporateburnout]

Up until last fall I was pretty active with daily walks of 4-6 miles and played 2 hours of doubles tennis twice a week. But because of the nasty winter we had here I did not walk a lot and our tennis league was cancelled a few times due to the inclement weather and I had a dental surgery that prevented me from playing for a few weeks.

On Monday I resumed playing tennis and I had a tough time getting out of bed on Tuesday morning due to muscle soreness.

So I agree with the folks who stated that as we age we easily get out of shape and it gets harder to recover.

 

[imoldernu]

That's good!

Among the above I didn't mention my new challenge. A full T-panel revealed that I have the thyroid antibodies indicating Hashimoto's thyroid auto-immune disease. And even though my thyroid function is not out of normal range yet, unless the antibodies can be brought down my thyroid will eventually be destroyed.

Western Medicine hasn't figured out how to reverse this yet, but there are several areas being explored as possibilities at the moment.

Hooray for medical science... Best wishes!

As we close in on age 80, yup... slowing down.. It happened slowly and is not at all unpleasant. Just a matter of naturally adjusting to the frailities of age, and very aware that almost anything can suddenly change.
Yesterday I received a call from my "biking buddy" neighbor at the lake... She was passing through and we were able to go out to lunch together. She was on her way to go to her sister's house to try and comfort her distress and mental anguish. Husband, at age 55 had suffered a stroke in January, leaving him totally paralyzed and in a coma... though physically, organically healthy. An upside down life for the wife, who had been totally dependant on him. Medical costs have already depleted their savings, and no end in sight.
Very sad.

And so we go on, making the most of the time we may have left, and grateful to still look at continuing a wonderful retirement.

So yeah... might have missed that hoped for wilderness canoe odyssey, and a dream trip back to Nikko... but still able to do some paddling, biking and bird watching... as well as periodically watching my favorite movie... "Being There".

 

[RunningBum]

Shoes matter too. My experience is with running, but I think a lot of it holds true for walking too. The wrong shoes can cause problems throughout the body, not just the feet. Likewise for a worn out shoe.

If you pronate, you need a different shoe than if you don't. A good shoe store, likely a running shoe store that also services walkers, should be able to tell. If they don't watch you walk or look at the wear on the bottom of your shoes, leave the store because they aren't helping you. You can also find resources on the web to help you determine the right shoe based on tread wear.

If you've got a shoe that has worked in the past, I'd stick with the model, but replace it periodically. For runners the rule of thumb is 500 miles. Not sure if that holds for walkers since you aren't stressing them as much, but the cushioning does break down over time and distance. It happens gradually so it can be tough to tell, but if you start to notice more aches and pains, it may be time. When you do put on new ones, it can feel a lot better.

 

[jjquantz]

...
If you've got a shoe that has worked in the past, I'd stick with the model, but replace it periodically. For runners the rule of thumb is 500 miles. Not sure if that holds for walkers since you aren't stressing them as much, but the cushioning does break down over time and distance. It happens gradually so it can be tough to tell, but if you start to notice more aches and pains, it may be time. When you do put on new ones, it can feel a lot better.

I have a little trick (or I'm a cheapskate, take your pick) for checking how my athletic shoes are holding up - I simply keep the old pair around and wear it for mowing the lawn. As the "new pair" begins to fell more like the "old pair" I know that it is time to start looking. Still subjective, but I at least have some kind of reference at hand.

 

[LinCella]

I travelled quite a bit in my 30's and 40's and was in good enough health to enjoy every activity. At 55 I'm struggling with diabetes and fatigue and am working on becoming a healthier me. I want to travel again but not until my energy level recoups. At times I am exhausted just getting up and walking a few steps. Other times I am raring to go. When I a raring to go more often than not, I will be back traveling.

What makes it harder for me are having animals. The cost of boarding adds a whole other budget to my travels!

 

[BellBarbara]

Good point about the shoes! We both agreed we should have brought two pair and alternated. But we pack so light, we didn't.

Audrey

My grandmother had that. My sister who is one year older also had the same slightly high TSH level. We wondered if we were getting what my grandmother had? My mom had two auto-immune diseases as well.

I still feel a little punky - but I think that is mainly due to still adjusting to the time difference. I am waking super early 5:30.....

 

[BellBarbara]

Oooh, I love the idea of the Boston-Iceland-Edinburgh type trip.

Also, have to say, DH pushes too hard sometimes when if we got up a little later, we might have felt better. this is his nature - ask me how he tried to kill me hiking the White mountains while we were dating.

 

[BellBarbara]

What makes it harder for me are having animals. The cost of boarding adds a whole other budget to my travels!

Ugh - yes, this is us. We have a dog sitter come to the house $50 a day - she house sits as well. So expensive. This is the last dog for that reason - he is 11 so he will not be around that much longer.

 

[LinCella]

BellBarbara,

Exactly! I also have two cats so at the boarding place that makes it $100 a day. And the dog needs meds, which costs extra. I will consider a house/pet sitter in the future when I move to a bigger place but I hardly trust anyone with my babies!

 

[mpeirce]

BellBarbara,

Exactly! I also have two cats so at the boarding place that makes it $100 a day. And the dog needs meds, which costs extra. I will consider a house/pet sitter in the future when I move to a bigger place but I hardly trust anyone with my babies!

Wow. We take our two cats to Pet Suites (I think it's a chain?) and it's $25 for the two staying on one "cat condo." It's $17 for one cat. Each condo looks out a window to a bird feeder (or an aquarium) to entertain the cats.

Maybe this is another case of some things are cheaper here in flyover country?

 

[Bamaman]

We take two big trips a year. One will usually be an inexpensive cruise. The other will be to Europe every other year. And we swap off with a big North American trip.

We've seen person after person go down shortly after retiring with bad backs, bad hearts or cancer.

If God's given you certain physical gifts, you may can travel heavily into your 80's. Many others won't make 70. My parents traveled heavily to their late 70's.

You've got to get it in this world while you can. What makes life interesting is having something to look forward to. And I'm traveling in my mind constantly to far away places. The internet is great for mind travel--and planning.

 

[LinCella]

mpierce:

My two cats can't share a condo - otherwise there would only be one cat standing by the time I got back from vacation! So it's $25 per cat, unfortunately. EVERYTHING IS cheaper in flyover country.