To think it’s possible to stay fit and healthy into your 40s and 50s without ailments?

[ForGreatMintDreamer]

I’m 31, fit and healthy, and have always been active. I hope to stay this way after having children and well into old age. However, many people tell me it’s unrealistic and that it’s inevitable I’ll experience health issues as I get older. Some even say if I do remain fit, it’ll be down to genetics (for context, both my parents are in their mid-50s and are fit, active and healthy).

Is this really true? Or are there others here in their 40s, 50s, or older who have stayed very active, fit, and healthy despite what everyone says?

I hear you x

My mother has remained fit and well until 74. Exercised three times a week, twice at a local, outdoor bootcamp full of women half her age, ate incredibly healthily. Her healthy lifestyle was wholly intentional and deliberate, to ensure a long and healthy life.

Two months ago, she was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer and is now in a hospice.

So, try as you may to consciously live healthily, the cards shall be dealt regardless.

(Sorry if this offends, having a cross day at the injustice).

Weirdly, during lockdown I had a terrible pain in the top of my foot. An x ray said it was arthritis. Gp told me there was nothing I could do. I wasn't having that - anyway I have had no pains there for 3 years now due to keeping inflammation down. My GP doesn't believe me. My 90 year old dad cured his gout by cutting out his nightly whisky. Again he was told therexwas nothing he could do. It's more complicated than that!

Like others, I think it’s a mix of genetics and looking after yourself.

One thing I’ve noticed though is that it is a lot easier to stay fit and active than to become fit and active.

So if you’re 31, start now. Lots of women use pregnancy and childbirth as an excuse for putting on weight and not exercising, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Lose the baby weight each time. Don’t let yourself get fat or out of shape as it will be a lot harder to turn things around when you’re 45. Eat well. Take hrt when the time comes. Strength train so you don’t lose muscle. Use your brain. Don’t get lazy.

Because I run marathons and lift weights heavy enough to be above average for my gender, age and weight.

I’m in my 60’s with no ailments and on no medication at all.
I do wear contact lenses, does that count?

I have smears and mammograms but haven’t seen a GP since 2018

Well you won’t be as fit as you were in your 20s/30s but if you have a healthier lifestyle you don’t necessarily need to fall to bits (I didn’t/don’t have a healthier lifestyle and have joint pain though I’m told that may be the perimenopause)

I think it is possible to live a long and healthy life but obviously not a given. You can live a healthy lifestyle and still get ill. Some of it is down to genetics and some pure luck I would say. I will be 70 next year. Not on any regular medication or under any hospitals etc. I had cancer nearly ten years ago but at early stage and no residual effects. Apart from that no other serious issues. DH (older than me) slim, fit and active was diagnosed with incurable cancer 2 years ago. It is under control but lots of side effects from treatment. My DF lived to 93 with very little ill health (or nothing that impacted on his lifestyle anyway) until the last year or two of his life. I think the only thing to do is live the best life possible and cross your fingers!

Unfortunately some people win the reverse lottery and get nasty things wrong with them irrespective of how fit and healthy they are.

For everyone else, yes it’s possible to stay fit and healthy into 40’s and 50’s. What you need to do is start, or continue on now. Eat healthily and work out a lot. Have a very good base fitness. If you do so, you can get it back quickly when you need to have a break e.g. having a baby and a newborn.

I’m 55. I’ve always kept fit, and when I’ve needed to I’ve got my fitness back quickly. At 53 I took up running for the first time in my life and I’m now looking at half marathons after doing lots of 10k events. I do loads of weights.

Eat healthily and try and keep a healthy weight. I know so many people my age and younger who are not fit and healthy. It’ll keep you young. My dad is late 80’s and he still plays loads of sports.

If you're worried about your long term health and fitness then do all you can to preserve it. This doesn't mean you won't die next week of course, but it's insurance in case you don't.

I'm 62 and have been lucky with my health. I've just completed my 7th marathon this year at a pace lots of people half my age wouldn't be able to achieve.
I probably don't eat enough fruit and veg and am partial to a glass of wine. But when I see people with very healthy lifestyles still getting cancer and other illnesses, it's a reminder that much of life is a lottery .
I know that my health could be taken away from me in an instant so I try to appreciate what I have and not dwell on the future.

I think it's dangerous to say it's all genetics or mostly genetics. From my professional and personal experience most illnesses and diseases are caused by smoking, drinking, drugs and bad diet.

Exactly. This thread has derailed into a chance to talk about all the worst case scenarios. Of course there is a chance something may happen to you that severely impacts your health in your 40s or 50s but statistically that is not the norm and most people are able to remain generally fit and healthy especially if they moderate their lifestyle to maximize this. OP wasn’t asking for tales of healthy people dropping dead at 42, this place can be such a downer about aging, so many posts implying it all falls apart after 40, kids ruin you, your face falls off and you are destined to gain wait and give up on looking and feeling good. 40s are still young, 40 is only about halfway through life for most of us and we should all be positive about aging and feeling good as we age and not dwell on the worst case or the fear of age and the negatives that come with it, that is no way to live!

Lifestyle is the factor that you can manage to some extent. The effect of genes can sometimes be influenced by lifestyle too. Then there is raw luck.

I'm at least as healthy in my 40s as I was in my 20s. My knees give me less bother anyway. My only hospital stays were birth related, so I'm blaming the DCs for being awkward buggers, they're still sods to get out 😉
The last prescription I had was covered by a maternity exemption... and that "baby" is at secondary school.

I've got a decent gene pool for longevity, but arthritis is a common family problem. By exercising and eating to support good bone density and muscle mass, maybe I can delay the inevitable... Another family issue is digestive systems, but fortunately in my 30s, I worked out what my IBS triggers are. Maybe I can delay or avoid aggravating conditions later in life...

But we're all mortal. There could be curveballs. At least by being active, eating well and having a generally decent lifestyle, I'm enjoying a good quality of life now. I can do things like charge around with my DCs and youth groups. Bonus, I'm potentially improving my odds on a longer state of healthy living or good recovery in the face of health issues, and reducing the odds of lifestyle triggered issues that don't have to be inevitable.

My granddad did not expect to have a long life. He lived to 84. Not bad for a portly gentleman with a love of fried food and beer, but actually until his devestating stroke, he walked every day on errands like buying his newspaper and going to the bookies, and while his diet wasn't anything people would blog about now, it was actually simple and surprisingly unprocessed. He backed up the recent school of thought that lard is better than the heavily processed seed oils and fats. He'd grown up in the slums- not all his siblings survived childhood. He was orphaned as a teenager and had to make his own way in heavy industrial jobs. It wasn't an easy life, but he got to enjoy nearly 20 years of a modest retirement in good health until his final week. It was a good way to go from his point of view.

The younger you can improve your lifestyle the better. Mine was never bad, but it did get a levelling up in my 30s after having DCs which serves me well now. I have a friend in her 70s who jogs parkrun in 37 minutes who started running in her 60s- her goal in the face of aging is to keep to a 60% age grading. She's a great role model!

I’m also a massive fan of keeping stress levels down. So, don’t just look after your nutrition and fitness, but also your MH.

I’m really into holistic practices, and also I’ll never deny myself a decent glass of red, or champagne, cake and chocolate.

Be good to yourself. Keep life simple, look after your mind and body and be kind. Age gracefully.

It is possible but nothing is guaranteed.

I have known friends who were fit and healthy but developed ailments in 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Some life threatening others requiring meds and check ups.

It is partly down to being healthy and active partly down to genetics and partly bad luck. As long as you don’t gloat and judge or blame others it is what it is. You make the most of the cards you are dealt in life.

It's partly what you do and partly genetic imo.

I am sure something will afflict me at some point but at almost 62 nothing ever diagnosed yet so touch wood. Of course it's possible.

This is so true. It's the times where I have let stress take over that I have had an issue. I once had something grow in me at lightning speed when my stress and cortisol was high, adrenaline pumping all the time.

I’m really into holistic practices, and also I’ll never deny myself a decent glass of red, or champagne, cake and chocolate.

@BlueSkiesFromPain

I’ve found my tribe! 😂

The vast majority of people in their 40s are fit and healthy.

it is possible to remain healthy until old age. This is partly a matter of healthy living, good genes and luck.

My father is 90, and apart from needing tablets for blood pressure, he is fit and well. Slower than he was at his peak, but still able to swim out to a reef to snorkel this year and mentally very sharp.

Most of our relatives in their 70s are living independently without health concerns or symptoms impinging on their lives. They do whatever they want to do. They may have some chronic disease (diabetes, arthritis) but these are well-controlled, and cause minimal symptoms.

If your definition of healthy is “without any diagnoses or medications”, then, yes, this is very unusual at those ages. But it would be the same as not considering a 20 year old with very well controlled asthma or psoriasis to be healthy.

Clearly @ForGreatMintDreamer doesnt actually care about the replies enough to return to the thread but I find that kind of mindset completely alien. My friendship group is mainly 50s and 60s and most are just as fit and active as they've ever been, some even more so and the only one who has any hospital time recently was as a result of a sports injury.

My DGM was 93 when she died, my DM was 96 and still living independently when her first fall hastened her end.

At 69, I walk at least 5 miles a day, do a Pilates class every week, have spent 3 nights in hospital in the last 60 years ( two nights post natal and one night in A&E) and the only medication I take is replacing what my body no longer makes on its own, namely thyroid hormone and topical estrogen.

I sleep well, eat well, socialise with people I like, do the NYT puzzles every day, read voraciously and listen to Radio 4.

Some of it is luck. The rest of it is putting the work in and not smoking. My contemporaries who are still smoking are really beginning to notice a decline in their health.

I think it’s a mix of genes/lifestyle and luck - a colleague of DH dropped dead in the middle of the street last week (cardiac arrest). He was healthy and fit.

I’m 46 and I exercise regularly - martial arts, weights and running. I also spend a lot of time outside and I make sure I drink my morning coffee outside every morning even when it’s -15. I also eat healthily and always cooked at home, even when I was time poor and on a very low income. I also eat lots of fermented foods and my diet is generally gut friendly but the main reason is that it’s cheap, easy and provides lots of variety in months when seasonal vegetables in Northern Europe are basically cabbage, kale, carrots and potatoes.

I used to have hip pain for a couple of years but adding extra exercise fixed it for good. I come from a centenarian family so hopefully I have some years ahead of me. I think good lifestyle choices help to increase health expectancy which is imo more important than life expectancy.

Apart from going to a physio regularly (I exercise a lot sp good form is important) I only see doctors for regular health controls and I haven’t been in hospital overnight since I was 6.

Didn't do many of those good things, aside from never smoking. No significant health issues now in my 60s and am almost never ill even minor colds. Genetics and luck.