to think that your body falls apart at 40?!

[Bogeyface]

9 months ago I was 40. Since then I have...

developed arthritis (doc says I had it earlier, I dont believe him)

started farting ALL THE TIME and (this is the important bit) being able to identify what made me fart "Oooh, sorry, that'll be the cauli"

started pulling up and placing my boobs in my bra, something I havent had to do since me breast surgery 13 years ago

waking up with a bad hip and saying "ooh that bed is going to do for me"

saying "I'd better not, I'll be up all night" if someone offers me a cup of tea after 8pm.

I hate being 40, its shit.

Another one here with dental problems, memory problems and every time I move something goes click! Arthritis is setting in too. Which is probably why I click!

I'm also very excited over the Fifty Plus catalogue

Shit. I'm 40 on Friday. Was hoping the decline into saggy haggardness was reversible & blamed on dc1 (10months). Now I'm not so sure.

Grey hair.

The start of jowls at the jaw.
I am scrawny rather than chubby which looks worse.
Vision going. Can't read packet ingredients at all.
Terrible digestive probs. Wind a major problem.
Don't even mention the dodgy pelvic floor.

I am 50. It only gets worse.

YABU. I am 40 and I deadlifted 70 kg last week. I couldn't have done it when I was 30.

You get out what you put in. It's easy to slide into inactivity and lack of fitness so you've got to make an effort.

WAHHH!! No sex atm for me!

Am 45, H left in Nov so I have since then lost about 2 stone and look much better, so that's a positive. Had early meno at 41/42 and am taking HRT which again has made me tlook and feel better. So while I am looking a bit better the truth is not quite so rosy...

I have a Hip, I have Sore Feet, am Blind as a Bat and, oof, My Back. I had my DD at the same age as my DM had me and her thing was clutching the top of her thigh/close to crotch and declaring "OH, my lisk". I didn't know what a "lisk" was but I think I have one now as I have started doing it. She also used to say "You'll understand when you're older". I do now .

But am looking forward to our dog arriving soon. I shall be out walking. lisk be damned!

I've found the worst thing about getting older is that I am becoming increasingly risk averse. I play everything safer in terms of behavior. I'm a shadow of the person I used to be.

Physically, yes I have aches and pains and my skin is losing it's elasticity but I'm fitter than I've ever been my whole adult life and am more confident in my marriage than ever before. I'm also happy to pull people up on their shit and expect to be treated well so I don't get taken advantage of by others so it's not all doom and gloom.

Pfft, I'm only 25 and I already have arthritis developing in my lower back, and my eyesight is already so bad that I qualify for free eye checks for the rest of my life!

Maybe I'm actually 65

Oh and my joints crack constantly. Everytime I stretch, my neck cracks and my entire spine pops at least 30 times a day, probably more. My toes, knees and ankles crack everytime I stand up as well. Been like that since I was seventeen!

The grey hair which suddenly appeared from no where. (40 last year)

I thought going grey would be a breeze as I am blonde. That it would just be like extra highlights.

Is it feck. My hair which is (was) a very warm golden colour now has stark steely coloured silvery lumps in it!!

Feeling very tired but then I do have a 4yo and a 2yo so probably not age related.

Very worried about falling apart suddenly.

And the memory thing. What an utter pain. If its not written down, it doesn't exists. And having to go through all the names in the family including the guinea pigs before I get the right one off the one I'm actually calling (shouting at)

This body started falling apart early 40s, used to be able to party all night, work all day, party again, now I fall asleep and snore loudly after one glass of wine and takes me a weekend to recover from a few drinks! Have gone very boring and practically stopped drinking now I'm very useful as the driver though.

Nasal grey hairs are the worst, anyone else afflicted by those? Can dye the ones on my head and hide the ones on my foof from public view but the ones in my nose seem to be especially reflective and I'm sure I always look like I've got something up there
Tried snipping away but it's a delicate operation and fraught with danger due to deteriorating vision!
48 next week, ho hum.

Oh no, turning 40 in 6 weeks and now terrified.

I've noticed that somewhere around this birthday, a lot of people suddenly panic and take up exercise and healthy eating. I've started 5:2 (lost a stone) and taken up running (painfully slowly - people give me encouraging grins as I pant past). But how long can I stave off the inevitable collapse? .

I' m almost 43 and in the best shape I have ever been, although admittedly it's a bloody effort. 2 hours gym every day,plus other bits and bobs too but luckily I love it. My knee is dodgy sometimes but apart from that I am still all in one piece.

You need to invest time and energy into yourself, a bit of fine tuning goes a long way.

Body is still pretty good but memory is shot to hell.

What were we talking about?

I noticed this when I hit 35 :( In the 7 months since that birthday, I've slipped two discs, my knees, hips and elbows have started hurting a lot, I wake up in the morning and could cry with pain :(

Oh God yes yes and a thousand times yes.

Particularly if, as I did, you fall pregnant at 40.

I would not exchange my DS3 for anything but I swear I aged 5 years during the pregnancy and another 5 in his first six months.

I am a raddled old bag now. Happy, but raddled.

I invested in myself Betty and it wasn't enough I'm a afraid. At 41 I got a horrendous virus that affected my heart, joints and made me lose my speech and balance for days on end. It comes back every time I get any other bug or overdo it. I have gone from being a keen long distance runner, to someone who has to pace myself day to day and for whom a 3 mile dog walk is a massive challenge. I'm not disagreeing that healthy eating and exercise is fantastic, I still eat well and maintain a healthy weight and do pilates and walk to stay as supple and fit as I can but I have had to acknowledge that some people are just luckier than others in terms of their health.

Before this happened I thought a long run and healthy food could solve everything!

Sorry, that is very negative of me....I am still hugely into motivating myself and others (the kids I teach) to be as fit as I can be. I just feel very sad that I'm not the energetic, sporty person I was a few years ago.

Super - yes of course, we can only do so much but ultimately if there is another plan for us.........some things are down to good or bad luck I'm sure and I do think that despite all this exercise I do, I'm gonna die youngish......

Luck of the draw a lot of it but I do believe we can try and help ourselves a little bit.

Chin up, you sound like you still do amazingly.

Sorry to read about the serious health problems :(

Would like to nominate solo for quote of the week :o

I'm 48 and I feel fine, plenty of energy, no health problems leaner and fitter than ever.

I've always been a bit of a fanatic about exercise and healthy food.

Suspect most of us decline after about age thirty if we don't take any care of our health, but constitutions can be more or less robust and some are unlucky when it comes to health.

Another poster mentioned becoming increasingly risk averse, I can relate to that!

I had children in my early 20's, I think having them later in life would have taken a toll on my health?

Nope, better shape than ever at age 45 - but I work for it. Forties isn't old and I know plenty of women in their fifties in better shape than me. I have as much energy as ever, am the same weight as in my twenties, and don't have any aches or pains. The only decline is in my running speed, which annoys me to hell, so I train harder and do core strength work I didn't do when younger which means I am stronger. Having a six pack for the first time means that tiny bit of lower back pain I would occasionally get never happens now. I also work in an intellectually demanding job, which forces my brain to keep working, and have discovered better grooming, and semi-permanent false eyelashes!

But really forties isn't old - if you are suffering a lot of aches and pains and you haven't suffered serious illness or injury then that is more to do with your approach to life than your age. I find spending time with people my age who are very inactive can be incredibly depressing, as the conversation tends to be about how old they feel rather than what fun things they are planning to do. So I would say its far more due to inactivity and loss of muscle strength and bad habits than age. You would only expect to see real age-related degeneration in the forties in people who had done terribly hard manual labour all their lives while on a malnutrition-level diet.

I don't also see how "going to the gym" is magic cure all though it might help some - I think being outdoors and doing things like running, cycling, mountain biking help keep your skills up and the gym I see as supplementary for basic core strength and building muscle.

I do notice that I get sore knees when I do squats with more than 25kg weights or quad presses at more than 75kg, so I can only imagine how carrying excess weight around all day might damage your knees and put your body under more strain.

Supercosy sorry to hear about your health problems. That is a big adjustment to make. It must be very frustrating. You sound like you are dealing with it incredibly well.

I took up running in early 40s, like another poster I could feel my overall health and well being declining, and I also had a huge amount of family related stress at the time. It has really helped me ( so keep going for it biblio ) but I do really worry that I might get a health issue that will stop me and I have quite a lot of anxiety about that at times.
None of us knows what lies ahead.

It's peri menopause - starts around aged 47 (averagely) that it all starts to go wrong. Estrogen leaving body really makes ageing signs kick in along with additional aches and pains and weight gain. joy.

I found early 40s ok

I'm 53, and feel fitter than ever. In my 40's I stopped smoking, then drinking a couple of years later. When I was 51 I lost weight, started eating a healthier diet and exercising.I'm not fanatical, but I do feel in good nick for my age. I dye my hair to cover the grey, I do wear glasses for reading but not for general eyesight. I don't have any aches and pains and my pelvic floor is strong thanks to lots of swimming.
I am very lucky (and thankful)in that I don't have any health problems. I've always been very healthy, even compared to my siblings.
Another factor in aging well (so I've been told) is the fact that I still haven't gone through menopause. Again, just the luck of the draw.Re having children later in life - my last child was born when I was 40. I sailed through it and was up an hour later doing normal things. I do find looking after her stressful at times but that's because she's a SN child rather than because of my age.

I have recently turned 50 and feel bloody great.

I cut my hours at work and feel physically fitter and am slimmer than I was in my early twenties.

my 2 older ones are mid 20s and the girls teens so no childcare issues really.

you have to keep as active as you can and eat well.

get a great hair cut and if you can afford it have a beauty treatment once a month as that's nice.

I absolutely identify with the risk averse thing though I am terrified of anything happening to my kids, as we all are, but I my older ones know they have to text me every day so I know they are alive and my anxieties do lead to bad sleeping.

you also care a lot less what people think of you and don't do things you don't want to.