What are the odds you will be healthy, vigorous, and sharp til age 75?

[burritos]

"Wright placed seventh out of nine in the men’s 80 years and older division, beating an 86-year-old and a 92-year-old."
Age group competitions are inspirational. "All comers" competitions as well. You my find need to get off your bike and run something.

http://live.finishtiming.com/meets/514614/events

FYI, the competition isn't really against others, it is to turn in a PR when it counts. I can hear the crowd getting to it's feet, "Run Burritos Run"!
You don't need to wait until 100. The dude came in 7th and that was the hot heat.

There is a service road behind my house. Sometimes I jump on it and I will do serial wind sprints on it. Unfortunately, since I've discovered pball, most of my running comes from running down balls. That seems to spike dopamine for me much more than just running in a straight line.

[Tim]

There is a service road behind my house. Sometimes I jump on it and I will do serial wind sprints on it. Unfortunately, since I've discovered pball, most of my running comes from running down balls. That seems to spike dopamine for me much more than just running in a straight line.

Ahhh, work on the beep test or the NFL Combine stuff. Late bloomer!

[Anne]

Being 5'4" myself, and female and never a strength trainer (Army time got me ahead of most females but not competitive with most males my age) as well as an organic gardener (tons of stuff for compost instead of a bottle or so of fertilizer) I am constantly regretting not being stronger. Foresee the day as I age of getting the cheaper 50# bag of dog food or lime pellets loaded into my car by a nice grocery/garden store guy, then having to open it and take the stuff out a few pounds at a time to get it into the house/ garden. And part of my gardening is collecting bags of leaves or grass when the neighbors put it out for trash collection. I am constantly telling folks I see (men and younger women) "I sure wish you weren't so much stronger than me- then I'd be able to pick up these bags you have filled so well." (Sometimes that gets them to load them in my truck for me.)

Now’s as good time as ever to start weightlifting

[Anne]

Very common among pilots. I knew a flight instructor who was so into it that he gave up his prior career at age 40 to do flight training full-time, got all his ratings, and instructed. All he ever did was complain about the business, acted like it was no big deal, like driving a bus. Just some annoying thing you had to do. Whatever passion he initially had for it to give up everything and do it full-time was either gone or he purposefully hid it to try and fit some kind of tough-guy pilot image. Seen this in many other pilots. None seem to have any awe about flying machines through the sky -- it's just an annoyance for them. Whereas I have met plenty of surgeons who literally got a high out of operating and wouldn't shut up about how awesome what they do is.

Interesting, I know a ton of pilots who love to fly and very few who complain about it. Maybe they complain about some of the nuisances of work/rules/regulations/schedule/etc., but they love the actual flying.

[CM]

I think a better title is what are the odds you are healthy, vigorous and sharp at 80? Or 85.
I don’t think 75 is much of a stretch for this group which I suspect is probably fitter on average than most Americans our age. Accidents and conditions leading to death not withstanding I’d be curious how many actually believe the odds are on their side in 80s.

Ditto. Better than most, I understand that illness can strike unexpectedly, but I expect to be mentally sharp until death, and vigorous through 80s, albeit with age-related aches and pains.

[Kamban]

I would like to hear from people who have turned 75 or thereabouts or from children of parents who were 60-65 and now are 75-85.

How healthy and mentally sharp were they at age 65.

How healthy and sharp are they at age 75-85.

If they have declined, it it a gradual decline with each passing year or a sharp fall off a cliff after a certain age. For eg: they were taking vigorous hikes in Hawaii and Himalayas at age 75 and by age 80 they are confined to a home.

[Larry Ragman]

I would like to hear from people who have turned 75 or thereabouts or from children of parents who were 60-65 and now are 75-85.

How healthy and mentally sharp were they at age 65.

How healthy and sharp are they at age 75-85.

If they have declined, it it a gradual decline with each passing year or a sharp fall off a cliff after a certain age. For eg: they were taking vigorous hikes in Hawaii and Himalayas at age 75 and by age 80 they are confined to a home.

My father died at 77. He was fine at 65, a little slower physically through 75 or so but still sharp. A number of condition were catching up to him over that period. Very rapid physical and mental decline from 75 to 77, but I think the mental decline was driven by his health issues. My mother is a tough cookie. Survived many health scares (2 cancers and pretty severe arthritis) and is still mentally sharp. I’d say her memory is a bit weaker now at 83 than at 75 and certainly from her 60s, but it seems to be more that she is getting set in her ways than dementia.

[dayman]

I would like to hear from people who have turned 75 or thereabouts or from children of parents who were 60-65 and now are 75-85.

How healthy and mentally sharp were they at age 65.

How healthy and sharp are they at age 75-85.

If they have declined, it it a gradual decline with each passing year or a sharp fall off a cliff after a certain age. For eg: they were taking vigorous hikes in Hawaii and Himalayas at age 75 and by age 80 they are confined to a home.

My dad is 75. He's in pretty good shape overall. Still takes care of most things around the house. My parents just got back from a trip to the Caribbean, and they're planning another trip to Europe. But he's certainly not doing vigorous hikes.

I have noticed a slight decline mentally and physically. I'd say he was pretty much at baseline until 70, then a slow decline since then.

[CM]

My dad is 84, still goes to gym 3 times per week (with Mom), and remains active. He isn't as strong as before, was benching 265 at age 63, and has back pain, but still very active. He says his biggest problem is boredom.

[burritos]

Ahhh, work on the beep test or the NFL Combine stuff. Late bloomer!

Naw. For for now, sticking to pickleball. Though I do understand the need to learn to take a hit. Played 3 hours today, with a mix of young bangers(that's always fun), young women(that's always fun), and old people(that's always fun all in different ways). I adjust play depending on the opponent. Love running down balls that my partners can't get. I teamed up with a 72 y/o f who had a ventricular shunt placed 3 weeks ago. I usually don't care if I win or lose, but she's competitive so i put in extra effort to get the win for us. That made her really happy. You don't win much when you're in neurological decline.

When I play, otoh, I enjoy imagining the different cellular energy fluxes in the different pickleball physical states. Since I play fasted, there's the constant lipolysis in skeletal muscles and hepatic keto production throughout zone 2. During unplanned sprints and jumps, you churn through glycogen pretty quickly. Putting pressure on that you get constant hepatic gluconeogenisis through lactate turnover and even more lipolysis to access glycerol(backbone for glucose generation). If the rallies run long your cardiac/skeletal muscles dig deep into the phosphocreatine energy system to get that quick anaerobic ATP generation. Pop quiz, which enzyme enables back up energy for muscle? Creatine kinase. Sound familiar? You spill in MI and Rhabdo. All MDs could answer this in USMLE 1, but the vast majority could care less on it's actual function which is amazing.(The function not the intellectual apathy).

[Tim]

Naw. For for now, sticking to pickleball. Though I do understand the need to learn to take a hit. Played 3 hours today, with a mix of young bangers(that's always fun), young women(that's always fun), and old people(that's always fun all in different ways). I adjust play depending on the opponent. Love running down balls that my partners can't get. I teamed up with a 72 y/o f who had a ventricular shunt placed 3 weeks ago. I usually don't care if I win or lose, but she's competitive so i put in extra effort to get the win for us. That made her really happy. You don't win much when you're in neurological decline.

When I play, otoh, I enjoy imagining the different cellular energy fluxes in the different pickleball physical states. Since I play fasted, there's the constant lipolysis in skeletal muscles and hepatic keto production throughout zone 2. During unplanned sprints and jumps, you churn through glycogen pretty quickly. Putting pressure on that you get constant hepatic gluconeogenisis through lactate turnover and even more lipolysis to access glycerol(backbone for glucose generation). If the rallies run long your cardiac/skeletal muscles dig deep into the phosphocreatine energy system to get that quick anaerobic ATP generation. Pop quiz, which enzyme enables back up energy for muscle? Creatine kinase. Sound familiar? You spill in MI and Rhabdo. All MDs could answer this in USMLE 1, but the vast majority could care less on it's actual function which is amazing.(The function not the intellectual apathy).

TLDR
You do recycle don’t you?

https://www.history-a2z.com/wp-content/uploads/cmg_images/131435/rid_41e7f0bc695c876597e0968cfbf18126/RN6EGX-TheseSignsAreAllWeReallyWantToSeeInOurLives-HalloweenJokes.jpg.pro-cmg.jpg

[AR]

mandatory retirement at 70 or submit to independent cognitive evals every year and release all results
sorry not sorry

What do you do with those under 70 who would fail those same evals?

[Antares]

I would like to hear from people who have turned 75 or thereabouts or from children of parents who were 60-65 and now are 75-85.

How healthy and mentally sharp were they at age 65.

How healthy and sharp are they at age 75-85.

If they have declined, it it a gradual decline with each passing year or a sharp fall off a cliff after a certain age. For eg: they were taking vigorous hikes in Hawaii and Himalayas at age 75 and by age 80 they are confined to a home.

My mother is about to turn 89, and she may be slightly less sharp than she once was, but the difference is minimal. Of course this is an n of 1. She has had diabetes for 20 years.after antiphospholipid syndrome. She had an aortic valve replacement a year ago which somewhat improved her energy. She was on a ventilator for 11 days in 2019 after a diabetic episode a few months after my dad died, that left her on the floor for 20 hours with rhabdo and kidney failure. She was always very bright and curious, became a lawyer at 48. She is now the busiest person I know, taking 3 courses, participating in interfaith dialog, writing her memoirs. And all this in her townhouse where she lives alone, which she rarely leaves, having the conviction that she would not survive Covid. Her worldly activities are through zoom. And yet she is thriving. Her advice is not the quick rapid-sharp mentation of youth, but rather the slow, experienced overarching perspective of wisdom. I’m sure she’s an outlier. She loves living, and would say her only regret is not seeing her kids and grandchildren more. But she is happy and cognitively well.

[Lithium]

My father is 82. He was a chemical engineer and retired at 55. He stayed fairly active for a while afterward, was going to the gym for many years and playing golf. He still plays bridge once a week. But his mind isn't as sharp. A couple of years ago I screened him with a MOCA, probably against my better judgment. He scored 23/30, much lower than I would have expected. He was the smartest guy I knew growing up. He still reads but has given up nonfiction books. Now he just reads novels and right wing media. I'm not sure if retiring early impacted him, but watching him got me off that train. Now I've embraced the "find a job you won't want to retire from" mindset. Physically he's been a mess, due to OA (had hip replacement and spine surgery) and more recently prostate cancer. I was worried for a while that he was going to kill himself, but his health is in a better place now.

My mom is 69 and having a dream retirement. She volunteers at the animal shelter a couple of days a week and spends all her time trying to get animals adopted when she isn't taking international trips. Both her mother and grandmother died of Alzheimer's, though, and I'm prepared for the worst. She already seems to be asking me questions about things I've already discussed with her. I am hypersensitive to signs though and could be reading too much into it.

It would be nice to defy that history, but genetics are genetics. You'd think this would motivate me to stop taking overnight call and eat more fruits and veggies, but that hasn't happened yet either.

[CM]

My father is 82. He was a chemical engineer and retired at 55. He stayed fairly active for a while afterward, was going to the gym for many years and playing golf. He still plays bridge once a week. But his mind isn't as sharp. A couple of years ago I screened him with a MOCA, probably against my better judgment. He scored 23/30, much lower than I would have expected. He was the smartest guy I knew growing up. He still reads but has given up nonfiction books. Now he just reads novels and right wing media. I'm not sure if retiring early impacted him, but watching him got me off that train. Now I've embraced the "find a job you won't want to retire from" mindset. Physically he's been a mess, due to OA (had hip replacement and spine surgery) and more recently prostate cancer. I was worried for a while that he was going to kill himself, but his health is in a better place now.

My mom is 69 and having a dream retirement. She volunteers at the animal shelter a couple of days a week and spends all her time trying to get animals adopted when she isn't taking international trips. Both her mother and grandmother died of Alzheimer's, though, and I'm prepared for the worst. She already seems to be asking me questions about things I've already discussed with her. I am hypersensitive to signs though and could be reading too much into it.

It would be nice to defy that history, but genetics are genetics. You'd think this would motivate me to stop taking overnight call and eat more fruits and veggies, but that hasn't happened yet either.

Apparently, educational achievement and continuous learning can protect against symptoms of dementia despite even severe pathologic signs at autopsy. At least, that's what I gleaned from a 60 minutes episode covering a longitudinal study of elderly subjects who agreed to eventual autopsy.

Obviously, we don't know enough about dementia, but I do eat dark green leafy and other veggies regularly, as well as berries and other fruits. I purchased an Apple watch Ultra to help improve my sleep habits. Unfortunately, nothing I can do about all the lost and interrupted sleep I've sacrificed to my career in years past.

I'd like a long life but am not too concerned about when I die. After all, concerns and problems disappear at that point. On the other hand, I care very much about remaining sharp while still alive.