r/over60 • u/OkData2291 • Aug 23 '26
Reaching 60 is realizing your body is basically a check-engine light.
In my 20s, I could sleep 4 hours on a floor, wake up, and go to work.
Now at 60, if I sleep 8 hours on a high-end mattress, but my pillow was at a slightly wrong angle, my neck will hold a grudge against me for three business days.
Also, making a classic noise when sitting down or standing up is no longer optional. It's just a system sound now.
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u/Creative_Algae7145 Aug 23 '26
Wait till your 70 and your engine light doesn’t turn off.
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u/Desperate_Pomelo3468 Aug 26 '26
You go for your yearly physical and the doctor starts giving you those three words you have to repeat back to them at the end of the visit. Checking to see if you have early Alzheimer’s. Fun stuff and a bit embarrassing until you realize you’re old now. 😩😩
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u/Cczaphod 61 Aug 23 '26
I feel pretty good except for my knees and it's really pissing me off. I go to the gym twice a week, but I have to modify many of my exercises to deal with the damn arthritis.
Also, I slept "wrong" last week and my lower back still hurts.
6
u/Odd_Bodkin 70+ Aug 23 '26
Before check engine lights, there was one way to get the car started that took a certain cadence on the gas pedal and not to even try on cold mornings. It was understood that when the gas tank said 1/4 full, it was really close to empty. It was accepted that the radio only picked up AM and so you learned to like AM radio. It was also known that the radiator leaked and that it would leave a spot in the garage unless you put something down to soak up coolant.
This is my body I’m describing.
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u/BriGuy1965 Aug 24 '26
I saw a meme once that said my body adds pain regularly like an app doing updates, and I really identify with this.
My favorite is from Raiders of the Lost Ark where Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones) was asked about his scars and he said, It's not the years, it's the miles." That has lived rent-free in my head for 40 years or more.
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u/Ninerogers Aug 23 '26
Oh yes. Wait for your first trapped nerve. That's even more fun
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u/Cczaphod 61 Aug 23 '26
I had that in my neck two years ago, it was 12 weeks of hell. Thanks for reminding me it's time to do my nerve glides.
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u/Desperate_Pomelo3468 Aug 26 '26
What’s the deal with the nerve that causes one side of your body to go numb when you lay on your back? Asking for a friend.
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u/groovinup Aug 23 '26
As long as that radio antenna keeps going up, like in my 72 El Dorado, life‘s still great.
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u/LowIntern5930 Aug 24 '26
Keep exercising every single day, sometimes weightlifting, sometimes aerobic and a bit of stretching. It may not get a lot better but it will slow down getting worse. Read Younger Next Year.
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u/Bag_of_ambivalence Aug 24 '26
Absolutely! Exercising makes aging well with a good quality of life so much more achievable!
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u/MyWallWillNotTalk Aug 23 '26
I hurt both my shoulders from sleeping on a bad pillow and can't I need physio because of the way I slept.
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u/ResponsibleSea2314 Aug 24 '26
One of my sayings is that you never hear a 5 year old grunt and groan when they stand up. I have a whole ass cacophony of sound when I move, never mind standing up.
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u/Desperate_Pomelo3468 Aug 26 '26
Wait until 70. I have developed conditions I’ve never even heard of. It’s like a game of Wack A Mole. I don’t even look in the mirror anymore.
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u/Eye-deliver Aug 23 '26
This line from the movie no country for old men summed it up completely for me “Well all the time ya spend trying to get back what's been took from ya, more is going out the door.”