Is 80 the new 60? 'It's the triumph of aging' — but not for everyone

[harllee]

DH and I dance several times a week (all kinds, ballroom, shag, swing, salsa, clogging). Most of our dancing friends are in their 70s-80s and even 90s. These folks are all in the best shape. Dancing, laughing and having fun. No sitting around for us.

[ncbill]

Yep, stay active for better quality of life.

Saw that in my father versus father-in-law.

Dad worked at a desk, never exercised, wouldn't even participate in physical therapy when he started having movement issues...died end of last year after being a virtual prisoner in his own house for the last few years of his life.

Father-in-law is just a year younger, worked a physical but skilled blue-collar job, stayed physically active even after retiring almost 30 years ago.

He's slowing down some but still is outside working on something nearly every day.

As a transplant recipient he's grateful for every day but also hopes that being such means less lingering when his time comes.

[EarlyandLate]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harllee Where are you seeing these "masses" of people in their 70s not in good shape? At the Walmart? Look instead at the fitness centers, golf courses , dance venues, etc and see 70 plus people in good shape. Or maybe you don't recognize us, maybe the active good looking people you think are 55 are actually 70.

Yes, it all depends on where you look. When I visit my dad in a state that is pretty low in any national ranking of fitness, health, longevity, I go to his church with him. It is a large, but dwindling collection of people from 60's to 80's with huge guts, giant hips, bad joints and stooped backs. If that were the only place you made observations, you'd certainly believe that the decline with age is steep and severe.
Fortunately my dad believes in the power of good diet and exercise. He just gave up mowing the field on his tractor this year due to having covid.

[SJhawkins]

The main reason I want to retire early, before 60, funerals are starting to hit closer to home!

Plan for the worst hope for the best as they say!

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SJhawkins The main reason I want to retire early, before 60, funerals are starting to hit closer to home! Plan for the worst hope for the best as they say!

It's a rude awakening - especially when friends, co-w*rkers, family start to die at ages younger than you. That motivated me to become financially independent. I stayed at Megacorp only because I found myself enjoying it again. The minute I stopped enjoying - I was gone. YMMV

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SJhawkins The main reason I want to retire early, before 60, funerals are starting to hit closer to home! Plan for the worst hope for the best as they say!

Between close friends and family members, I have more funerals behind me than left in front. I'll be 79 in a couple of months and the oldest left in the family. But still able to post here!

[jeffmete]

It’s easy to look at sedentary older people and blame them for being sedentary. My wife has arthritis in all her joints, new knees helped, but now her ankles and shoulder are going out, so it hurts to walk, and the less you do, the less you want to do. She had infections in her last knee replacement that took 5 replacements (spacers) and a year to get over. So she’s scared to do anything with her ankle. And the history on ankle replacement infections is worse than knees and usually end up with fusing the joint. People playing competitive sports in there 70’s hit the genetic lottery and shouldn’t gloat, it’s less about you than it is your parents. I quit playing league basketball at 50 cause I could tell I was losing ground to the kids. Still walk, Pickelball and hit the gym couple times a week at 70.

[yhoomajor]

I don't think 80 is the new 60. Rather 50 is the new 60.

These days stress (mental stress) of a Job consumes one's energy more than it used to in old days. More people burn out at work than they used to.

In olden days, one income family lived happily. Now, dual income families are struggling to meet (illusionary) societal expectations. Society is living on drugs (whether ADHD, stimulants, anti-anxiety and many others).

Few decades back, we made it to moon. Now we celebrate if we send a rocket in outer space. Earlier, we invented new things all the time. Now innovation involves apps to post pictures of what food someone had for lunch and share that with social friends.

And no.. I am not a boomer. Just another (almost) burnt-out cog in the machine.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andre1969 And, sadly, as if on cue...just heard that Olivia Newton John just died, at 73...

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaronc879 Unfortunately cancer is a wildcard. We can eat healthy and exercise and still die young from cancer. You just never know.

There ya go. Man proposes, God disposes.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yhoomajor Few decades back, we made it to moon. Now we celebrate if we send a rocket in outer space. Earlier, we invented new things all the time. Now innovation involves apps to post pictures of what food someone had for lunch and share that with social friends...

Hah. I am glad I am not the only one lamenting about lack of progress in some areas, while having access to much better technology than older generations did.

[Amethyst]

Last night, I had a two-hour talk with a college-age cousin who said almost exactly the same thing (I'm beginning to suspect there's a script issued to younger people).

My message to him is that social media is a two-edged sword: While it's wonderful to exchange photos and news at the speed of electrons, and look up any fact you want on your hand-held device, beware of the great time suck.

The generation that sent people to the moon, had only TV and papers to distract them. Nowadays we (and they, if alive) have far more enticing distractions...beware that they don't consume your intellect and your life.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yhoomajor I don't think 80 is the new 60. Rather 50 is the new 60. These days stress (mental stress) of a Job consumes one's energy more than it used to in old days. More people burn out at work than they used to. In olden days, one income family lived happily. Now, dual income families are struggling to meet (illusionary) societal expectations. Society is living on drugs (whether ADHD, stimulants, anti-anxiety and many others). Few decades back, we made it to moon. Now we celebrate if we send a rocket in outer space. Earlier, we invented new things all the time. Now innovation involves apps to post pictures of what food someone had for lunch and share that with social friends. And no.. I am not a boomer. Just another (almost) burnt-out cog in the machine.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amethyst My message to him is that social media is a two-edged sword: While it's wonderful to exchange photos and news at the speed of electrons, and look up any fact you want on your hand-held device, beware of the great time suck.

Thankfully, this place does't count in the time-suck department!

[daylatedollarshort]

I do believe the part in the article the gut, "Perls thinks it’s a pretty sure bet that different populations of bacteria in the gut and the substances those bacteria produce are playing a role in slowing or accelerating aging."

We've been doing gut, organic acid and nutrition testing and found quite a bit off that so far all seems correctable. My gut is getting in much better shape now than it was at age 30 because I've been able to tailor my diet better. I'm hoping the rest of the body follows, but either way it is all in the can't hurt will likely help category.

[athena53]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bloom2708 You are what you eat. Most people show it. Bill Maher had an interesting monologue recently. Titled "Fat Acceptance". You can find it on YouTube. He was pretty blunt. I agree that medicine can keep you upright longer, but I don't see much "health" in 60s, 70s. More like "getting by".

Wow. I just listened to this. He's preaching to the choir in my case. Despite being very active, BMI under 20 and healthy eating habits, I developed leaky heart valves a couple of years ago at age 67. Cardiologist says it was a Stuff Happens thing- nothing I caused. Fortunately he's very supportive of all the cardio exercise I do.

But, when I mention in on-line discussions the need to eat healthy and maintain a healthy body weight (I know BMI is only a rough measure of that), I get flamed for "fat-shaming". When I pick up my 5-year old granddaughter (maybe 40 lbs?) my whole body feels it- my back, my heart, my knees- I can't carry her very far. Then I wonder what it does to your body to carry 50-100 lbs. of extra weight around 24/7.

I'm listening to a Peter Attia podcast on exercise and fitness in old age. As expected, being more fit increases your longevity but it's a bit chicken-and-egg. People who have underlying conditions that are more likely to shorten their life spans are less likely to stay fit. And, as mentioned earlier, cancer is the wild card.

[GravitySucks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yhoomajor I don't think 80 is the new 60. Rather 50 is the new 60. These days stress (mental stress) of a Job consumes one's energy more than it used to in old days. More people burn out at work than they used to. In olden days, one income family lived happily. Now, dual income families are struggling to meet (illusionary) societal expectations. Society is living on drugs (whether ADHD, stimulants, anti-anxiety and many others). Few decades back, we made it to moon. Now we celebrate if we send a rocket in outer space. Earlier, we invented new things all the time. Now innovation involves apps to post pictures of what food someone had for lunch and share that with social friends. And no.. I am not a boomer. Just another (almost) burnt-out cog in the machine.

Think you are Cherry picking here.

Yes we went to the moon, not much reason to return. In the last few years we've landed on a comet, deployed the J. Webb telescope, and populated Mars with robots.

Here on Earth we have cut the number of people living in abject poverty in half since 1990. Cell phones can be a time suck, but I have access to more information than the Library of Congress in my pocket.

[Teacher Terry]

Quote:

Originally Posted by yhoomajor I don't think 80 is the new 60. Rather 50 is the new 60. These days stress (mental stress) of a Job consumes one's energy more than it used to in old days. More people burn out at work than they used to. In olden days, one income family lived happily. Now, dual income families are struggling to meet (illusionary) societal expectations. Society is living on drugs (whether ADHD, stimulants, anti-anxiety and many others). Few decades back, we made it to moon. Now we celebrate if we send a rocket in outer space. Earlier, we invented new things all the time. Now innovation involves apps to post pictures of what food someone had for lunch and share that with social friends. And no.. I am not a boomer. Just another (almost) burnt-out cog in the machine.

That’s a overly rosy view of the good old days. My parents and grandparents lived through the depression and fought in world wars. Then they worked blue collar jobs that provided for their families but shortened their lives because of the work conditions.

The women didn’t have many labor saving devices and housework was a lot of work. Many were bored, depressed without jobs and women couldn’t get a CC in their names until the 70’s. Better not need daycare as it was mostly nonexistent. Many things were more expensive versus income. People just had lower expectations.

[tmitchell]

I love hearing all these stories about you 70+ kids kicking butt! Makes me feel optimistic

[Car-Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by athena53 And, as mentioned earlier, cancer is the wild card.

And it seems more and more types of cancers (not all) are becoming treatable/curable, or at least effectively mitigated for extended periods of time. (as in decades in many cases). Same with many other diseases and aliments. Cures, treatments, replacement parts, transplants, etc. Makes me wonder what medicine will be able to do in the coming years. All of this is fine (IMO) until the old body is just worn out and/or the mind is too far gone. Sometimes I think these treatments/drugs add there own wear and tear too. All trade-offs I guess.

[Koolau]

Now to change the subject slightly, I saw a blurb on TV that indicated Viagara was a potential preventive of Alzheimers disease. I googled and found a few articles that seemed to confirm the concept though there are no double blind clinical studies listed that I could find.

Oh, and there should be no reason that women would not benefit as much as men, and IIRC, women are more likely to get Alz. (possibly, simply because they live longer, but I don't know if that has been established.) Apparently, the increase blood flow in blood vessels is theorized as the reason Viagara is a preventive. I wonder if the other ED treatments would work as they have different side-effect profiles.

I would probably try eye of newt, essence of skunk or even floor sweepings if I could avoid Alz. I've seen way too many people go through Alz. and it is sad to tragic.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-59546948

YMMV

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolau Now to change the subject slightly, I saw a blurb on TV that indicated Viagara was a potential preventive of Alzheimers disease.

That topic is already under discussion here: https://www.early-retirement.org/for...-s-115060.html