This just in:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/conditions/ageing/midlife-ageing-40-60/
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Beats the alternative 
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Well, there can be a point past which reasonable minds can differ. Active, healthy and engaged til the end is a worthy goal.
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I am getting older, but I don’t think I’m getting old. “Older” is just the measure of the passing of time. “Old” is a state of mind - and sometimes the state of the body. I hope I never get old.
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It’s the brittle bones that terrify me.
Apparently, it’s not necessarily that seniors fall and the fall breaks their hip, it’s that the bones break on their own and cause the fall.
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Too late!!
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Weight-bearing and resistance/strengthening exercise! Imma TRX junkie.
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A snowboarding instructor I know broke his pelvis and hip last week. Not even snowboarding. In an icy parking lot after a day of snowboarding. He had emergency surgery the next day. He’s only around 58, and has been a jock his whole life. And his poor wife, a former ski instructor and fit person, has a debilitating type of MS. He has been taking care of her for the last 4 or 5 years, and they live in a house with a ton of stairs.
I have some elderly relatives who have had some stress fractures in their back lately, without falling.
A lot of it is genetic. My friend who has been a healthy eater and exerciser her whole life has had osteopoenia since her early 40s. Her 88 MIL who has not been a healthy eater has the bone density of a 30 yo.
Luck of the draw plus lifestyle choices plus age.
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I’ve had 2 Gen X friends describe themselves as old in the past 5 days. One is 56 and the other is 51. Must be a mindset thing. I don’t feel old.
I find not looking in the mirror too often helps me feel younger. 
Protein & weightlifting. But some things ya just can’t do a damn thing about, like genetics.
We’re all gonna die eventually
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Ha. I think that proves you’re just not old enough.
I don’t think of myself as old, either. But I have a list of changes and maladies that are age-related. And in several ways, I’ve slowed down. That’s not a state of mind. I found the linked article interesting for its “milestone” thesis.
Apropos of this board, most people experience metabolic changes later in life of which they were blissfully ignorant in youth and young adulthood. What we can eat (or enjoy eating, or digest, or eat regularly) tends to narrow. I know from recent experience, for example, that I no longer metabolize high-glycemic indexed carbohydrates very well. A weekly “cheat” of a plate of rich pasta like carbonara didn’t formerly spoil dropping weight, but today it’s a real setback. And my sleep quality needs dietary supplementation that no hygiene tweaks can supplant.
I think these aging “milestones” are good reminders that aging can sneak up on us, and it’s better to deal with some of the issues before we even become aware of them. I count the blood sugar patches on people in my gym, and know I’m in good company.
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Would you be willing to summarize the gist of the article? I didn’t want to give them my email address, so I’m blissfully unaware of its insights.
I was able to read it one time. The main thing I took away from it was that I could drink a double gin rocks every day and be considered low-risk.
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Yes. The gist is that there are two spikes in aging, at 44 and 60. The article begins by suggesting it’s based on a study from Stanford researchers, but the body of the piece is drawn mostly from UK health sources.
The article was free when linked from Drudge. That link still works today.
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Men & women? I missed any milestone that was supposed to happen at 44… maybe once I hit 60.
Yeah, both. You missed musculo-skeletal issues in your 40s? Processing of alcohol, fats & sugars?
60s seem to have immune and inflammatory processes as centers.
Loss of bone density is a big one. As we age, we have trouble laying down new bone because we don’t process calcium as well. At the start, we can just ingest more, then our magnesium (which plays in calcium retention) drops and it doesn’t matter how much calcium we get. We supplement with magnesium to help with calcium, and then we find out we don’t process that very well any more. Then we may turn to boron to help with the mag, but natural sources of that may not be enough…
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Hard liquor has always wrought havoc on my digestive system, which hadn’t stopped me until very recently. I don’t eat a lot of sugar or extremely fatty foods, as the latter also never sat well with me.
I was probably in better shape physically in my 40s than in my 20s, TBH.
I first read that as “bourbon” and thought, “fair.”
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I DEFINITELY noticed a metabolism change starting in my late 30’s and through my 40’s. I have cut my normal portions to about 2/3rds of what they were. I have to be pretty rigorous in taking lactaid if I’m doing mac and cheese or deep dish pizza or the like. And I indulge in both much less than I used to.
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“Don’t Get Old!”
Indeed! But “old” is relative. I used to be in great health until I hit 56. Then I got hit with myositis, an autoimmune disease, lost almost 50 lbs in a few months and almost died, but was saved by good steroids. Went through flare-ups, and then came Covid, which did unspeakable things to me. I almost died a few more times.
I was advised by an occupational therapist to do the stuff I enjoy, I.e. Baking and cooking, but they take supreme effort, hence my paltry contribution to the “What are you baking” thread. I used to be on Chowhound a lot.
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