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?

Best you can do is look after yourself and if you do get anything then it'll be genetic.
I sadly see most people with any kind of bad habit start needing some form of medication in their 50s+ and then eventually succumbing to it

@TheLever Join the club. Again it was your preachy tone. Good for you taking control but not everyone can.

Kinnel.
I'm 55- not decrepit.
I weigh the same as I did when I was in my 20s- probably helps that I have 2 horses to look after and ride- that keeps you fit.
I also don't eat shite, smoke or drink.

Some people can. I’ve never said everyone. Not everyone is the same, ergo some people have choices, options and freedom. If you are privileged to have those, use it the best way you can. Even the NHS is set up like this, you are meant to help yourself as much as you can. Don’t you think it’s more disrespectful to people who cannot choose what has happened to them to see others to just throw their hands up and say ‘oh well what will be will be’. I am sure people who have had all their choices taken away from them wouldn’t agree you should just do that. Some people (not all) have plenty of available resources, education and finances and just make bad choices. This is exactly about having privileges and wasting it. There are plenty of people out there who just do not think about the future.

My parents and in laws could have reduced their weight and looked after themselves 20 years ago, they didn’t, so now we are looking after them and their poor choices. I am able to take this chance to evaluate my own choices to avoid subjecting my children to the same thing.

Well again good for you. You seem to be harking back to the non deserving and deserving poor argument but this time the ‘undeserving’ ill.. I guess your parents were in poverty 20 years ago like you yourself said, bringing you and any siblings up. Maybe they worked hard to ensure you were cared for materially, maybe they ate poorly in a rush, missed meals, too tired to exercise. You sound like a typical ex smoker. Evangelically against it and massively judgemental because you had the moral strength to give it up, but in this case it’s overeating and reluctance to exercise.

I wouldn’t describe my mother as especially fit, but she is very active and healthy at 75. She was recently in hospital with a very nasty Covid/pneumonia combo and was checked out with multiple ultrasounds, MRIs, CT scans and blood tests. Other than a handful of benign gallstones minding their own business, they found absolutely nothing wrong with her. She’s on no long-term medication at all. She has had both hips replaced, but that’s it.

Late 50s. Only hospital stays were to give birth 30 years ago. Diagnosed with Hashimoto’s last year, got things under control with Levo. Eat right, exercise, don’t drink/smoke. Just released from a week in the hospital with viral pneumonia with a pleural effusion. Will now need to be on oxygen machine for a few months, at least. Point is: you can do everything right and shit still happens.

Positive mindsets can bugger right off in my opinion - they're responsible for huge amount of issues because people don't think that stopping, slowing down, resting or worst of all, pushing through symptoms and causing altogether more serious condition/permanent damage demonstrates moral fibre. The fetishism around the entire concept also means that people experiencing issues are criticised or actively obstructed from preventative or minor remedial acts - such as 'You can't go to appointments during the day/take time off before you've completed that ligament or tendon tear and now need surgery or will never be able to walk without pain again'.

Jesus I hope you touched wood and clutched Your lucky rabbits foot when you typed that! You literally have no idea what could happen next week, despite your “amazement” at other people’s ailments.

I'm late 30s and have been Type 1 diabetic since I was too young to know what diabetes was. That's it though and apart from a few broken bones from sporting based misadventure I've never otherwise been in Hospital. I know eventually T1D will catch up with me but I'm doing my best.

I do sometimes get a bit demoralised that I got something so young through no fault of my own and I'll always be brought up as a burden, despite the fact that if you removed it from me i'd be on no medications, fit and healthy working a reasonably physical job and still playing competitive level sports. I'm still doing all those things but with a long term insulin and glucose sensor prescription and a heap more mental load to keep it all in check as best I can and hope to for as long as possible.

It’s definitely possible to stay fit and healthy. I guess you need some luck alongside a generally healthy lifestyle and some ongoing effort. I’m 48, no medical issues of any kind (yet!). Never been in hospital except to have a baby.

I recommend not drinking much alcohol and doing yoga and long walks. Also swimming. Can’t say my diet is especially healthy but I am not overweight. Trying to keep life fairly low stress probably helps too, when I have been more stressed for any reason I have noticed a few more aches and pains because of tension in my body.

What strikes me on this thread is the power of a positive mindset.

@Samphire44 I agree. My Mum had an amazingly positive attitude even after her MS diagnosis and it made a huge difference. I don’t know how she maintained it as she gradually became less and less mobile, not to mention the pain, but her outlook was that if she was having a good day, she’d do as much as possible.

@britinnyc I know exactly what you mean about not being able tolerate wine and certain foods the way we used to. I’m comatose after two glasses of anything now. 🤣

Well while I'm a lot fitter and healthier now than I was in my 30s, the issues I do have are down to genetics. I've a hereditary condition that causes me to have issues with my joints, one that wasn't recognised or treated when I was a teen, which means thanks to hundreds of subluxation and dislocations over the years, I have a lot of scar tissue.

But I've managed to improve my health and fitness, by working hard. I've done everything I can to improve my outlook and in my 50s am fitter and stronger than many women my age. The same genetics that have caused me issues also mean that I am able to put muscle on a lot more easily than most women, let alone women in their 50s.

I guess what I'm saying is you can't change the genetic hand you've been dealt, but you possibly can change how it affects you.

I was healthy and active until I was 43, normal weight, didn't smoke or drink and hadn't seen a Dr for years. Never even used to catch colds.

Then one morning woke up with painful hands, waited for it to go away but it didn't, then my feet hurt when I got up in the mornings.
It took a long time and I got a lot worse but was eventually diagnosed with RA.

So now I'm on powerful drugs with scary side effects but things are under control, much less pain and I can do most things I used to do but my life is more limited as the weekly drug regime wipes me out for 2 days.

Those of you who are healthy, make the most of it while you can.

Oh fgs stop with this positive mind set beating cancer or whatever. I’ve have 2 friends who fought like buggery to not die from cancer, one was 40, the other 58. They had amazingly upbeat attitudes towards getting well etc. Sadly cancer got the better of them through absolutely no fault of their own.
Maybe they really should have done yoga and bought a horse, oh and never eaten shite or entered a poorly paying stressful but ultimately socially responsible profession. What an irritatingly self satisfied thread.

How do you know you’re stronger and fitter than most women of your age ? So what. Is it a competition ? Survival of the fittest ?

I’m so sorry, @MasterShardlake, that’s very similar to my Mum with MS. The symptoms appeared in her early 40’s out of nowhere.💐

Like you, she made the most of her good days and battled on.

I love your username btw. 😁

I’m 46, only ever been in a hospital to give birth. Never overnight. Haven’t been to the GP since my last pregnancy. Obviously that could change tomorrow, but I think it’s not wildly unusual. I don’t go to the gym and I’m 1/2kg away from being overweight. Saying that to illustrate it’s just luck. My diet is ok, not special. I’m a moody cow

70, had a minor op on my shoulder 20 years ago, keyhole surgery 1 night in hospital. Then OK till 68, a basal cell carcinoma was left too long ( my fault) which resulted in a bigger op to cut it out and reconstruct my nose. My tip, be aware of your body, and if something changes, or takes too long to heal, get to the doc. If I had gone 6 months earlier, it would have been an hour under local anesthetic and a small skin graft. Instead I had a 9 hour op under general anesthetic, then a 3 hour op, and 18 months of follow up.

@Leniriefenstahl

If your Mum had been diagnosed with a chronic illness when you were 3, would you have preferred to be brought up by a parent who fought the illness until the end and made the most of the time they had, or sat there feeling miserable?

Yes, it kills them in the end anyway, but the positive people still make the most of their lives.

Your late friends had the right attitude, you clearly have no idea.

I’ve seen what happened to my relatives and a lot of it was preventable. my parents and in laws are that demographic of fairly comfortable retired sedentary 60 year olds and they are all disabled to some degree by physical problems due to lack of exercise, years of being overweight and a poor diet. They all take a lot of tablets every day to manage their high cholesterol, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and pain. All of this might happen to me too at some point but I am now older than they were when they first started having issues so perhaps all I can do is delay the inevitable by 10-15 years but it’s going to be worthwhile to keep you health for longer if you can

I'm totally with you, @theLever.

I'm 70 and extremely fit for my age. I work at it, every single day. I exercise, I play sports, I don't eat cr@p and I keep my mind active in lots of different ways. It's totally worth it, not just in terms of health but general outlook.

Will I live longer as a result? Who knows. I am under 'watchful waiting' after a precancerous growth was removed a couple of years ago. But living as I do is certainly more rewarding - and more fun! -than some of the lifestyles know to lead to high cholesterol, high blood, pressure, diabetes, joint problems, et cetera.

NB: giving up sugar and alcohol is one of the best things one can do to live healthily.

I honestly think it’s genetics.

My family paternal grandad- lived to 84, only ailment at death was slow prostate cancer and a shoulder injury. Overweight. Heavy drinker, smoker, worked in a coal mine in youth. Unfit

paternal grandmother- 86, died of stomach cancer but no ill health until 6 months before death. Overweight, sedentary

maternal grandfather. 84 at death.pneumonia, was recently diagnosed with dementia but not advanced. Drinker, heavy, ex navy and poor lifestyle choices

Honestly, if it was about choices they’d have been disabled and dying early. I’ve lost friends young who were so healthy, sensible and did everything to be healthy.

I think you can limit your genetics a bit with protective factors, or exacerbate issues, but ultimately it’s so much about genes and luck. And that’s uncomfortable for many to accept

MOST of it is down to genetics. You do not have as much control you may think you do

You can run a marathon each week but you cannot fight genetics

My family have a genetic issue called Alpha 1 Antriipsyn deficiency that causes serious liver and lung issues and has killed many in my family

I'm in my 40s and have Alpha 1, and am lung affected - on oxygen 24 hours per day

Have never smoked or drank - maintained a healthy weight

This talk of genetics is making me think of Keith Richards. He must be built of titanium. 🤣

haha i know right, ozzy ozbourne etc all those guys

But there are many that didnt make it