For those in their 50s, how do you stop worrying about your health?

[ssd]

I mean, how do you stop worrying about every little ache and pain being something terrifying?

All i hear is people my age being diagnosed with health issues none of us want.

I try to keep healthy, dont smoke or drink, need to loose weight though.

Nothing worrying in family history or mine really.

But i worry about my health getting worse an awful lot. And i see it happening to friends and colleagues all around me, as well as the endless news stories about celebrities with cancer, strokes or dying.

I want to live my life accepting the inevitable but not worrying about it constantly.

Please dont tell me worrying helps nothing, trust me i know this but it doesn't stop me.

Please tell me your secret if you aren't like me.

Live for today.

I'm nearly in my 50s but it hasn't occurred to me to start to worry about my heath. I keep myself reasonably healthy, although a couple of stone in weight loss wouldn't hurt, don't smoke, don't drink to excess, attend smear tests when called etc.

It’s a funny thing.
While this happens around me, it doesn’t seem to cross my mind.
Im too lazy to be bothered.
If something happens then it happens.

like you, I don’t drink, don’t smoke snd need to get some weight off.

hmm
i dont really worry but i know I should do more to be fitter

Hmmm I’m not sure really… I am 42 so not 50 plus but I have a lot of autoimmune issues, I’m on 22 medications a day and have gone from doing cardio fitness 3/4 times a week to being on highest rate pip long term and struggling to walk far in the space of 6 years. It’s hard. I spent the initial 2/3 years after diagnosis feeling very angry and anxious and facing the fact that my health will very likely continue to dramatically decline with age. Oddly enough I sort of reached a turning point when my mum died of cancer in 2019 and the whole covid thing kicked off. It sort of showed me that anyone can die of anything at any age; and that you literally can’t spend time worrying about stuff. You could be worrying about getting cancer and then get killed being hit by a car crossing the road. So I just sort of told myself that I wasn’t going to think about it anymore. I just kept pushing anything negative out of my head and focused on the now, living in the moment. None of us know when death will come for us, no matter what age we are.

I don't really worry to be honest. If I did, I would probably do more exercise. My mother is 93 and has very little sympathy for any non-specific health concerns in anyone younger than she is (she doesn't seem to have any of her own) so, in answer to your question, she keeps me grounded.

I'm 51. I don't worry about my health.

I'm in my 60s and don't worry about it. I eat well, exercise and drink less than I used to.
No problems to date.

I had a heart attack 6 years ago... life went on, I am not going to spend a lot of what time is left worrying about what might happen any time... sudden illness focuses the brain...

Nope. I don't worry about my health. Health anxiety is pointless and a waste of emotional energy. See your Gp. Get some counselling.

I don't worry about my health. I eat ok, take exercise, take a multivit an get on with things.

I am 52 it has never occurred to me that being 50+ = I should worry about my health.

You have health anxiety. See a therapist for CBT, it really works.

When I was 49 I took up running (very slowly) .. I feel that I’m fitter than the majority of people my age and of lots of people younger. It definitely makes you feel healthy when you say something like ‘Oh Its was only 3 miles’ and a twenty something says ’I genuinely couldn’t run for 2 minutes’. I do a daily fast walk which again not only helps you feel fitter, but more alive too. Doing things that you thought you couldn’t is good for feeling positive.

I also do all the screening and check ups I’m invited to and try to eat and drink reasonably healthily.

Daily exercise and private health insurance

sometimes i walk 5 k with my dog
and then realise that people run that distance!

I’m not in my 50’s but 40’s. My best friend last year was diagnosed with incurable brain cancer.
She was 32. She won’t see her 40th birthday. I don’t worry about my health at all. If anything her diagnosis has taught me not to worry. She is/was the fittest and healthiest person I’ve ever met. Never smoked. Never drank. Never taken drugs. Never eats junk food. Fitness instructor. It taught me to live for now. To cherish each and every day. To make memories because there’s literally no point in worrying. I’m aware of my health and obviously take care of myself. But there is literally nothing you can do to prevent something awful happening

Having lost 3 close friends within 5 years plus another one with terminal cancer, I worry about my health as does everyone else in my circle of friends. We don't obsess but we worry the next mammogram or smear might well be bad really bad news.

I will be 58 in March and do understand your worries about health as you age. I was in denial for the last few years, ate too much and smoked, then in July 2022 weighing in at a stone more than when I was 9 months pregnant! I was diagnosed with diabetes, fatty liver, high cholesterol. I then changed my life, gave up smoking, lost 4 stone+ and got into remission and have never felt better. I think in all honesty this wake up call make me take life seriously and take action. My DS got married just after I was diagnosed and his work involves analysing NHS data so he had seen the statistics of how many people die earlier than they should due to poor life style, and he said to me that he wanted me to be around to see any grand children.

I am no longer worried as I am doing all I can to keep as fit as I can, I cant protect against everything, no one can but I also dont want to waste my days worrying. I will admit to one concern though, my DM, my DGM and my DU all developed alzeimers, I would rather die in my sleep at 60 than live another 20 years not recognising anyone I love.

That has been my experience too - the fittest, healthiest people I know are the ones that have gone super early. Obviously keeping yourself fairly healthy helps increase the chances of a longer life but I do think genetics and simple bad luck maybe just have the trump card.

I’m mid 50s and have a few chronic conditions , all of which I live with fairly healthily , not much else to go wrong with me and what’s the point in worrying. I’m very much a glass half full person .

I'm 65. Never had a day in hospital until 2021. I did all the wrong things up to then and shouldn't have lived beyond 40 TBH!

I had to have my very first general anaesthetic in 2021 (when I had my first hospital stay) for a relatively minor thing. Surgeon could not believe I had never been in hospital before and this was my first general anaesthesia. Anyway I am blessed for sure, but a lot of it was the result of me not worrying or caring too much about trivial things. The surgeon said, hey Flowers you got through "Sniper Alley" so hopefully you will be good from now on.

I asked him to explain since I had never been in the war in Sarajevo 😂Apparently if one survives their 50s they will have come through a health version of sniper alley. When you think of all the people who get really ill with horrible diseases in their fifties you can see what he meant.

But no one knows what's around the corner, so I tread warily anyway now, thankful that I dodged the bullets whizzing around me up to now.

I'm 57, so I know I will die sooner rather than later. And as death is not something to be feared, then I find that quite comforting.

I sincerely hope that I don't become one of those people who bangs on about every little ailment, because that would be incredibly tedious.

The only thing I really fear is dementia, because I won't know when the time has come to bring things to a close.

I also don't bother with any screening because I don't believe in looking for trouble and it just seems to make people anxious - not worth it.
What will be, will be.