baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Yeah but I was watching this documentary about Bowie, my favorite man, and he was doing this big world tour in the 00s, fit as a fiddle, prancing around thin and wired, bags of energy every night, adoring female backing singers fawning over him, you look so young David, how do you do it David, etc. Then BANG massive heart attack.

Death begins at 40.

But he'd spent a decade doing sacks of cocaine. Not a fair comparison.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
I realised at 40 that's it's all about mitigating the damage that has already been done. It's probably better not to know what that damage is, but try to mitigate it anyway. Ignorance, in this case, is bliss. It probably keeps you young too, because nothing advances the cause of aging more than stress.

This is quite pertinent to me at the moment because I went to my GP for the first time in a long time last week and when he found out I'd turned 40 last year he signed me up for loads of mandatory blood tests. "Just standard," he said, "to make sure everything is in working order. We do this to everybody at 40." This was, on the one hand, reassuring; on the other, isn't it like opening a can of worms? I'm a bit paranoid about being put on a course of BP tablets or statins or something, because once you're on those, then the side effects start, and it's a quick downward slope to geriatric doom.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Mitigation, definitely. I cleaned up my act drink and substance wise in my late 30s (with occasional relapses), but I have to admit that was a health scare, not my own iron will.

Free blood tests after 40 are def a good thing - so many people don't get them prior to this, and there are few better quick ways to gauge overall health. I don't think professed ignorance evades stress, it just leads to various forms of sublimation.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Look ahead, and you'll see enlivened, enriched individuals enjoying the second half of their life with no cliff edge in sight.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Don't worry, the impending ageing population catastrophe will wipe the smiles off all their/our faces. Once final salary pensions disappear, you'll have no worries on this score.
 

droid

Well-known member
You've lived longer than most humans in history at a time and place of unprecedented prosperity. You've been mostly spared debilitating disease, accident or major trauma. Absent of external factors you can expect to live for at least another 30 years.

You've survived. Count your blessings. There are countless others who didn't make it.

The race is not won to the swift but to the one who endureth.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Amen (brother) to that. It's pretty amazing all things considered. Trick in life is surely to realise the sheer range of options available at this juncture in history.

Even better, can't do worse than the appallingly mad and selfish generation that is over 65 now and intent on destroying the lives of younger people. Surely?
 
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DannyL

Wild Horses
One thing I have noticed is that I'm definitely not as strong as I used to be. I can feel the attrition a bit more. And I can't hit the gym to compensate due to having a kid in my mid-40s. Pressups at home aren't as good.

My Alexander Technique teacher is a good guide to ageing well. He's in his late 50s, is a Karate black belt and could easily beat the shit out of me without breaking a sweat. Apparently his AT teacher (Don Weed) has said he looks forward to ageing because he'll have improved so much through continuous employment of the Alexander Technique. Can't wait to see the benefits it will have delivered by the age of 70, that sort of thing. To some degree bullshit but an interesting take.
 
I stopped ageing a couple of years ago. 10kg or more lighter and more muscle than I ever had in my 20s or 30s. Which is important as about 8% of muscle mass is lost every decade after 40, 15% every decade after 70. Lose your muscle and you're no use to anyone, least of all yourself.

Blood tests are worth it, but ignore the doctor's analyses of what's needed. They'll say your testosterone is normal, when it's almost certainly too low. Ferritin is important, too much iron in your system makes you prone to infection, dementia, all sorts.

What counts as high blood pressure is probably normal. A1c is the most important. Most people in the West are pre-diabetic and THAT is what causes most ageing and long-term health decline. Sort that out and you'll avoid age-related illness for decades.

If more and more people go vegan and rely on cheap carbs and toxic processed seed oils for their food, there's going to be a lot of sick, unhappy, senile people around in a couple of decades.

The gold-standard heart health test is a CAC scan, which measures calcification in the coronary arteries. If that comes out clean, you're warrantied for 15 years as far as your heart is concerned.
 
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DannyL

Wild Horses
How do you maintain the muscle? Addressing pre-diabetes means less sugar mostly, and less shit carbs that turn into sugar, unless I have that wrong?
 
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