Aging: That Harsh Mistress

That's why Toronto could use a second team instead of another American city. The rink would be filled too.
 
Oy. Baby Doom fortunately seems to prefer participation over spectatorship, like her old man.

Another part of aging. Self-reference using 'old man'.
 
Genetics come into it, whether you smoke, too much alcohol abuse and diet. I changed my diet big time when I reached 40, sometimes I do lapse into eating pork scratching, but I'm pretty disciplined.

You have to also do things after a certain age. Bad teeth might be cute when in your youth but doesn't look good on a middle aged dude. I had thread veins on my nose, and I could feel the blood at night pumping, so got them lasered away. Also had on my inner earlobe really thick hair that grew fast like beard growth and would itch, so did the same there. In addition, several skin damage blemishes frozen away, that I had to get checked for skin cancer and now I'm told I'm high risk for skin cancer and need super 50+++ and always wear a hat. I've certainly had my full dose of tropical sun, so no hard feelings there. All afflictions that came in the last couple of years.

A lot of my wife's friends and my sister has had botox and fillers. Generally, you can tell, that smile when the cheeks pump out. My sister's about the best I've seen, she's 53 but looks 35 and not false. Just enough. My South African colleagues, their girlfriends and wives are the same, done very subtle. In contrast, my wife's friends all look pumped up. My wife's had some stuff, but not botox or fillers and not plastic surgery, a bit of laser and plasma lift.

Generally, I see people my age both men and women and think: they look aged. Some people 45+ look terrible, also you get women with that estrogen dominance or whatever it is and they just balloon.

Lastly, is exercise. You can't store fitness after a certain age. Sad, but true.
 
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My old man - he's actually 87 years old - came over to help me with a few odd jobs on the new house. Lifted down the top of a solid mahogany bookcase as easily as my mate who deadlifts 170kg.

Generally, I see people my age both men and women and think: they look aged. Some people 45+ look terrible, also you get women with that estrogen dominance or whatever it is and they just balloon.

Ditto. Blokes in their early 30s looking like they're in their late 40s. Maybe it's the harsh sun here but more likely they just don't look after themselves. If you want to stay young, you have to keep well lubricated.
 
My old man - he's actually 87 years old - came over to help me with a few odd jobs on the new house. Lifted down the top of a solid mahogany bookcase as easily as my mate who deadlifts 170kg.
Those old timers, just know/knew how to do things and can lift concrete slabs and the like with ease. They'd never be seen dead at a gym, but they just naturally have an agility from being able to do things. I can lift the weights pretty good now, but I can't do any of it in the practical sense of twisting and building stuff.

Another Aunt has cancer now, second time in the breast, her husband has dementia and now blood cancer on top. Both mid-70s, lived what I would class as an upper middle class lifestyle, made great investments and retired early 50s to become landowning farmers with a couple of million in the bank. Stuff I could only dream of, but ultimately hasn't done them any good, if you take living to your late 80s in fine fettle as a target.

Back in Christmas 2019, we spent Boxing Day at my sisters step-daughter's house in Hoole in Chester. Very nice, with a wine cellar, albeit stocked with supermarket and super young Aussie reds. Both her and her husband are in pharmaceutical sales which as we all know, is recession proof and a good earner. Anyway, a year or so ago, he was diagnosed with a heart defect. His heart operation was delayed, a week or more ago, they operated to put a pace-maker in, hasn't worked out, they couldn't fit it, now he's a got a superbug and infection, he might not pull through. He's early 40s with kids about 5 or 6 now.

Meanwhile, the saga of my father's Parkinson's with Lewy continues. His current wife took the kids to see him and not for the first time, he attempted to attack the kids, but this time it was a lot more aggressive and violent. Well, the obvious answer is don't take them. Which reminded me of when we visited my father in hospital in the early 80s when he had ulcerated colitis and nearly died and he turned double nasty and aggressive. That's his core personality and I suppose the dementia has stripped him of everything, but that dark shadow.

In the Ukraine, the brother-in-law and wife have turned-off all the news in an attempt to live in a state of enchantment that somehow by doing this, Putin isn't going to invade. And who knows? It might yet work.

What does it all mean? I 'dunno. All seems a waste somehow.
 
Aging is indeed a harsh harsh mattress. Interestingly my old man is the reverse (frail, weak, limps), has CVD that he has managed but luckily always 'ate well' (well, considering the data at the time) and always had is naps and slept well. Also helps he self-retired at 50 so has had decades living well and taking his time. Short and long term memory still excellent

My mother OTOH is a champ, still works, limbre, fit, but has a few western pre-diseases which she manages (pre-diabetes, hypercholesterolemia) . Sadly, has always had terrible sleep issues but all in all good.

I am on them to have the basics right: sleep eat and exercise, then we can worry about the other.

OTOH I now find myself doing stretching/ stability work before and as much as any physical exercise. I hiked 14 miles on Sunday, without stretching and I was in discomfort most of Monday. Most things are tight. Quads/ Hammies/ Ankles/ core/ groin and yet I persist as the alternative is much worse. Have been disciplined with what I eat for a while now (now, incorporate 'when I eat' as well), sleep is good but I am constantly adjusting, trying to improve.

'Functional' Strength/fitness is very important as one ages and something a lot of people take for granted. People in their 50s at work are having hip replacements and not from injury.
 
What about Bruce Willis? John McClane. You send him single handedly to take out Russians.

Aphasia? Is that dementia you don't recover from? I just saw him recently on a Netflix movie.
 
What about Bruce Willis? John McClane. You send him single handedly to take out Russians.

Aphasia? Is that dementia you don't recover from? I just saw him recently on a Netflix movie.
You just lose the ability to understand and use language, supposedly everything else is intact.

I don't think anyone recovers from dementia, except for that Guinness chap who was released on compassionate grounds from jail. He made a full recovery, the day he left clink.
 
Stroke is the largest cause of aphasia along with head/brain injuries, brain tumours and is linked with other neurological conditions, even infections e.g. meningitis. There are 8 main types with varying debilitation. It can be minor, improve over time or not but it sounds like he has a more serious form.
 
Aging is indeed a harsh harsh mattress. Interestingly my old man is the reverse (frail, weak, limps), has CVD that he has managed but luckily always 'ate well' (well, considering the data at the time) and always had is naps and slept well. Also helps he self-retired at 50 so has had decades living well and taking his time. Short and long term memory still excellent

My mother OTOH is a champ, still works, limbre, fit, but has a few western pre-diseases which she manages (pre-diabetes, hypercholesterolemia) . Sadly, has always had terrible sleep issues but all in all good.

I am on them to have the basics right: sleep eat and exercise, then we can worry about the other.

OTOH I now find myself doing stretching/ stability work before and as much as any physical exercise. I hiked 14 miles on Sunday, without stretching and I was in discomfort most of Monday. Most things are tight. Quads/ Hammies/ Ankles/ core/ groin and yet I persist as the alternative is much worse. Have been disciplined with what I eat for a while now (now, incorporate 'when I eat' as well), sleep is good but I am constantly adjusting, trying to improve.

'Functional' Strength/fitness is very important as one ages and something a lot of people take for granted. People in their 50s at work are having hip replacements and not from injury.

I recently discovered a nice way to remind myself of doing some stretches; stretch and touch your toes in the shower.
 
embrace that IDGAF attitude as you age …

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Leo subscribes to the ‘you’re only as old as the girl you are boning’ theory, so will never be older than 25.


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Was at the pop/wave festival in Ostend last Sunday. It was good, Black Box, Heaven 17, Thompson Twins, Sheila E and Belinda Carlisle were all good. As we decided to travel back on the Sunday, we missed Holly Johnson and what a nightmare drive it was back. All 5 hours of it, should be 2.5.

Last time I saw Belinda Carlisle was in the mid-90s supporting Tina Turner. She moved more now with a youthful grace about her, but you can't hide on those big screens to the left and right of the stage, projecting your image. You could see her arms where covered in those ageing sun spots, a leathery quality to her skin and wrinkles above her upper lip. The kids were not impressed with her, the songs all sounded the same to them. That may be, but they all sound like singles and hit one's too.

The crowd too where interesting, the mean age I judged to be late 50s to early 60s. A few freaks dancing like they were still on E and the impression I got was that this type of festival is the last hurrah of the 1980s pop generation. It will all be gone in a few more years. So suck the life of it now. So I might go again next year, but try and stay for the weekend.
 
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How do you go from age 23 to 35 and end up like that?
 
Remenber as a kid going to the supermarket and they played awful elevator music that would make you cringe and laugh?

Today I was singing along to Stray Cats, Depeche Mode and the Cure as I went down the aisles, because the supermarket were playing alternative his of the 80s.

I was thinking that supermarket music had gotten better, but that’s probably exactly what those old people thought 40 years ago.
 
Depeche Mode and the Cure _ I cringed and laughed even at the time

Stray Cats no - = approved by me.
 
For the last 15 years I’ve reduced my shaving to an east weekly beard clip, set just above 5 o’clock shadow so that it looks deliberate.

Now it is all going grey/silver, the only part still dark brown is above my lip. I looked myself in the mirror this morning and thought ‘fuck me, it looks like I’ve got a Ron Johnson moustache now!’.
 
Facials...does anyone here regularly get them?

Not injections, or peels or anything..just regular non invasive facials.
 
I’ve ‘borrowed’ my wife’s acid creams and home facial peel stuff occasionally.
 
I have been using Retin A on my face, Rogaine on my hair for 25 years and a Bullworker on my body for 55 years. I have taken ginseng for for 50 years. I am 70 and look late 40s. I was told by a doctor 10 years ago I had a biological age of 25. Sadly though I am becoming forgetful
 
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My daily skincare routine doesn’t extend beyond slapping some neutrogena on my face before bed.

Rogaine on my hair for 25 years

That’s a serious commitment. I assume you are happy with the effort.

I am 70 and look late 40s. I was told by a doctor 10 years ago I had a biological age of 25.

We might need to see some pics.

I might be able to pass for ten years younger on a good day, wearing sunglasses. From the neck down maybe twenty years, but the grey and the wrinkles definitely betray my face.
 
My daily skincare routine doesn’t extend beyond slapping some neutrogena on my face before bed.



That’s a serious commitment. I assume you are happy with the effort.



We might need to see some pics.

I might be able to pass for ten years younger on a good day, wearing sunglasses. From the neck down maybe twenty years, but the grey and the wrinkles definitely betray my face.
Tretinoin ( Retin A) prevents wrinkles and removes them to an extent ( better to start before they come, though). It also stimulates collagen production. Ginseng has senolytic properties, in other words it kills age promoting senescent cells. The right kind of exercise also kills senescent cells. Grey hair can be reduced if you have enough copper and fixed with colour.
 
I was thinking to start facials quarterly. I don't have wrinkles but I'm starting to develop moles/spots from sun exposure or just plain ageing.
 
i have to start getting mani/pedi's to help with the cuticle growth and the chubby fingers and toes. damn genetics.

Tretinoin ( Retin A) prevents wrinkles and removes them to an extent ( better to start before they come, though).
i have several prescription tubes but i find that it can cause me to break out pretty often. could be the face wash combination but i've just never had continued success with it.
 
I strained my back shifting some furniture and moving in a new baby grand piano this week. When you do that in your 20s you get some sympathy, but if you complain about your back aching in your 50s all you get is laughter and jibes about being an “old man”.
 
I strained my back shifting some furniture and moving in a new baby grand piano this week. When you do that in your 20s you get some sympathy, but if you complain about your back aching in your 50s all you get is laughter and jibes about being an “old man”.

You only get really old when Ben Gay becomes your regular scent.
 
i have to start getting mani/pedi's to help with the cuticle growth and the chubby fingers and toes. damn genetics.


i have several prescription tubes but i find that it can cause me to break out pretty often. could be the face wash combination but i've just never had continued success with it

i have to start getting mani/pedi's to help with the cuticle growth and the chubby fingers and toes. damn genetics.


i have several prescription tubes but i find that it can cause me to break out pretty often. could be the face wash combination but i've just never had continued success with it

i have to start getting mani/pedi's to help with the cuticle growth and the chubby fingers and toes. damn genetics.


i have several prescription tubes but i find that it can cause me to break out pretty often. could be the face wash combination but i've just never had continued success with it.
Maybe you are using too much or a too high percentage. Squeeze the size of half a pea is sufficient.

Recently I noticed the beginning of slight upper eyelid droop. Retin A below the eyebrows has reversed it.
 
What do people here think about restricting your diet for longevity and health?

Besides sleep patterns I also noticed most men who live long productive years seem to drop red meat and dairy. Richard Attenborough and I recently also read Harrison Ford are pescatarians.
 
What do people here think about restricting your diet for longevity and health?
There is evidence from mice studies that restricted diet is good for longevity (maybe) and health.

There is some suggestion that this may translate well to humans.

There is also evidence that in older humans carrying some, not loads, of "excess" weight is a good thing.
 

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