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I turned 50 recently, and my thoughts have gravitated more
toward aging than they used to. It occurred to me to write
down some of the things I've been noticing - some of the
changes I've been going through. Some of these started
years ago; others are recent. Some may have nothing
to do with getting older. But as for the ones that do:
either you've already been through things like these, or you
will.
* My recovery time is longer after a workout. My physical stamina is unchanged, my flexibility is better (the result of practice), my strength is slightly less, and my ability to move quickly is noticeably less. What could be called my resiliency is much, much less. * I have difficulty seeing tiny print sometimes. This varies, depending how much reading I've been doing. Recently, though, I always seem to have trouble reading the tiny number on my watch that tells me the day of the month, and the phone numbers in the white pages. * I've grown hair in my ears. (At least they aren't springing from my nostrils yet.) My eyebrows are bushier, too. And my beard, when I grow one, has a heavy sprinkling of gray on my chin. The hair at my temples has begun to gray, and I notice that my younger brother has salt-and-pepper hair. * I don't need as much sleep. (I used to need a lot, but now need very little.) On the other hand, I tend to fall asleep in the middle of the afternoon if my work is boring me. * I spend more time thinking about death. * I had mild arthritis in my hands for a while, though this hasn't happened for a couple of years. * About 10 years ago, my cholesterol level doubled from 100 to 200 in the space of two years, and has been slowly rising ever since. * My urine stream often splits when I'm using a toilet. (For some reason, this seems to happen less with urinals, maybe because of the different angle.) The problem has got so bad that sometimes the split is so wide I can't hit the bowl with both streams. * I'm less obsessed with sex. Which isn't to say I don't think about it a hundred times a day. I just don't think about it a thousand times a day. * My face has more wrinkles, of course, and the texture of my skin is coarser. The skin on my face also seems to have acquired a slight permanent tan, although this may already have been the case. * Weird skin conditions. I've had a couple of keratoses removed; one of them was precancerous, from too much sun (all that time burning up on the cliffs?). Another one is popping out on the right side of my torso and annoying me. At least I'm not getting skin tags, the way my wife is. But I notice odd little bumps on my face. Take my advice: stay out of the sun, or at least use sunblock liberally. * More weird skin conditions: the rosacea got inside my eyelids, and this required surgery. They knocked me out, everted three of my lids, scraped them, and injected steroids. (I had a white mark for six months, where they injected too much, and it wasn't fully absorbed.) The reason I went in for this horrible procedure was that I was seeing double so badly that I couldn't read road signs, and my driving was a hazard. * Skin, again: dry skin on my arms. * Yet more skin: the bumps and moles I've always had in excess are becoming even more prominent on my face. * More patience. God knows, I need more yet, but at least I've improved on the short fuse I used to have. * Occasionally my bladder wakes me up during the night. I've learned not to drink anything for an hour or so before I retire for the night. * I'm more willing to compromise. * Once in a while, I even keep my mouth shut. This is still a rare event. One can only hope it becomes more common. (Those who know me will agree.) * Occasional arrhythmia, which I've learned to control with my diet. (I've made a habit of eating bananas and have stopped consuming caffeine.) * Weight gain. About a pound a year. (I'm tall, but I used to weigh almost 25 pounds less than I do now. People think I'm thin, still, but I wish I were a twig, like I used to be. Then I could daydream realistically about still being a good rockclimber.) I don't seem to be able to lose it, either. I weigh almost 200 now (I'm 6'2"), and used to weigh anywhere from 135 to 185. * Tingling in my right arm, on the skin. My wife tells me that this is because the nerve sheaths are wearing out. She has it, too. This is because of the misalignment of the vertebrae in my neck. (Another bit of advice: don't lean your head forward when you're looking into a computer monitor.) A D.O. friend of mine fixed this, and I've been careful not to let it get out of alignment again. * Tendon problems, particularly in the legs and most particularly in the knees. * The spring in my stride is gone when I run. In general, my resilience has disappeared. I don't have the explosive muscular power I used to -- steady power, flexibility, and cardio, yes, but not the ability to exert a burst. * I'm going deaf. People say things to me and I hear other, bizarre sentences that resemble what they said, in their vowels and consonants, but make no sense whatsoever. I repeat what I heard, they look baffled, and tell me what they actually said. The second time, I always hear it correctly. * I've been attending an increasing number of funerals. The older generation is disappearing. As a result, I'm acquiring a collection of those little programs they hand out at the funeral service - you know: "In loving memory of (fill in the blank)". * I seem to be turning into a dirty old man. Almost every woman under the age of forty now appears attractive. Since I'm sure there hasn't been a massive change in the beauty of American women, it's my evaluation of them that's changed. Friends who are the same age say the same thing is happening to them; one of them commented, "The older I get, the more beautiful women are." * I have tits where I used to have pecs. * Bags under my eyes. * A thicker body -- the stick-like me has given way to a man of normal girth, with a slight gut as well. * Knee problems. * Back problems. But, hey, it isn't all bad. I'm getting a lot of junk mail from AARP (years before I should), which serves to remind me that in the not-too-distant future I'll be eligible for all kinds of wonderful discounts, like at the YMCA, if I'm still hale enough to enjoy them... By the way, no one ever believes I'm fifty; they always guess my age about 10 years younger. It may not be showing, but I know that I'm slowing. |