40 was old for humans at one time.
Overall life expectancy data primarily reflects infant mortality, not natural aging. Pre-antibiotic agricultural and industrial societies had high adult mortality rates, not because of intrinsic aging but because of death in childbirth, violence, accidents, and infectious disease.
[quote=“PaddleDog52, post:33, topic:123679, full:true”]
Mid 40’s 
past normal human life expectancy?
[/quote] Sorry, I misunderstood the laughing and question mark.
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I recently volunteered to be a guinea pig for a local research study that is comparing which of 4 treatment protocols is optimal for chronic low back pain, which had been seriously limiting even my walking for more than an hour, an unusual condition for me. I had sprained my lower back last August and had lingering symptoms from that event. The study involved weekly sessions for 10 weeks and I was fortunate to be randomly chosen for the what I think was the best of the protocols – a combination of chiropractic manipulation and extensive work with a PT who gave me daily and weekly assignments of exercises to loosen and strengthen all my core muscle groups (in addition to guided relaxation and even meditation for stress relief). I had to keep a log of my daily routines as part of participation in the study. The treatment worked so well that I have had none of that pain return even though I have been doing a LOT of heavy work the past 3 months since I have been moving, fixing up my old and new houses (plaster patching, sanding and painting ceilings and walls, ripping out wall to wall carpet, lots of yard work on two properties).
BUT, since I no longer have to report on my exercise regularlity, I was tending tot slack off since the active portion of the study ended (I still have to make weekly and monthly reports to them for 6 months). And therefore I find I will start to get some back fatigue and occasional pain (though not as much as before) in both my lower back and trapezius area.
But I stumbled on one thing that helps prompt me to some daily workouts (which is why I posted this rambling rant). I keep in touch with many friends and family through my Facebook groups so I tend to log on a couple of times a day. I spotted short video clips that were being posted by a Brooklyn based PT who demonstrates many of the exercises that i had been taught to do. He does a demo of the exercise of the day, using some catchy music and then topping it off by showing off his dance moves (he is a former competitive ballroom dancer.) Geeky but in a cute way. But now I am in the habit of clicking on his videos whenever they pop up in my FB string – then I take a break from the keyboard and do the sets he recommends. And I admit I add some of his goofy dance steps at the beginning and end to loosen up. I really think it is helping me. I loaded up my boats and paddled 13 miles two weeks ago and was out for 5 hours moseying around a very windy lake yesterday and have had no arm or shoulder pain or overall fatigue. Not bad for being 73 (with osteroporosis). The PT guy’s site is this (if you choose to like or follow it you will get a couple of daily videos show up on your timeline):
And, as MohaveFlyer mentioned: have you started or have been taking statins? I determined in my mid 50’s that they were causing muscle weakness and deterioration. Thought I was just “getting old” and mentioned the weakness and soreness to my doc and he suggested dropping off the Lipitor for a couple of weeks. Lo, the symptoms vanished. A couple of times since then, doctors have insisted I take another type of statin and every time I have the same reduced strength and increase in muscle pain within a couple of months that resolves if I quit them. Happens even with “natural” analogs like red rice yeast. This side effect is apparently more common that many in the medical community acknowledge. My high cholesterol is genetic and not diet related so the cardiologist I see now agrees that statins are not a good treatment for me. There is an injection I was supposed to start on a few months ago but have held off because these months of moving and selling properties have been too time consuming and stressful to start having to give myself injections. But there are options now if statins are causing troubles.
In my case, since there is no history of heart disease in my family, I am not as concerned with the cholesterol as I might be otherwise. So obviously something you have to work out with your GP. But i have suggested to various friends and family who suddenly feel they are losing strength and having mobility pain that they consider asking their doc about taking a break from statins just to see if that helps. (Seems like doctors put everybody on statins as soon as they hit 40 any more).
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I have had the same experience with muscle pain. When I stop the statins, the pain goes away. I’m down to 5mg/day of my third statin and will now stop for a couple of weeks and see if it goes away again. If it does, I’ll talk with the doc about dropping them entirely. Fortunately, my “bad” cholesterol is just borderline and I have no family history of CVD, so I’m thinking that if less pain leads to increased physical activity the benefit may outweigh the marginal CVD risk reduction of a very low dose statin.
The number of headstones belonging to infants and women of child-bearing age in very old (by US standards) cemeteries is indeed striking. While the the impact on average life expectancy is certainly significant, it’s not the whole story. There is very good data from England and Wales showing that life expectancy has increased at all ages and I can thing of no reason why those two countries would be outliers vs the US and/or other richer places.
Back to the subject. This morning we paddled the marsh and I made a conscious effort to fully extend my arms on the stroke. No pain but it was only 2.5 miles.
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The injectable my (very hot) youngish North Indian cardiologist wants me to take is Repatha from Amgen which comes in an epipen type dose that I seem to recall is only one dose per 2 weeks or per month. He told me it works differently from the statins but has good outcome in reducing readings without the side effects. My physical weakness was so profound with even the lowest dose Lipitor that there was no way I could continue. My legs buckled under me a couple of times before I stopped taking it.
i need to make an appointment to see him again to get back to trying it out. I do tend to hesitate in starting new meds because I live alone. Never had an anaphylactic reaction to anything but you never know. I used to be immune to poison ivy until 4 years ago and also developed an intolerance to milk protein and potatoes in recent years, so I am not as confident as I used to be about not having problems with stuff I absorb.
I agree with you; we all need some regular strength training, aerobic/cardio training, and stretching.
I think the key is to find ways to integrate these into our day to day life such that we enjoy the activities rather than think of them as necessary drudgery.
Gotta mention that if you want to get all three benefits out of just one activity one can just swim.
I’ve also been forced into PT and regular exercise by physical issues but reading the responses I think I’m not alone in that I now deeply appreciate the benefits I get beyond just avoiding physical damage.
In terms of First Things First I think the most important things are to establish a time and place to exercise or stretch. I don’t think it even matters what you do…just play around with stretches and exercises and find ones you like.
I bought a used tumbling mat and I love it; it gives me a comfy place to do some light core exercises.
You might also buy a 10 pound dumbbell or some resistance bands and put them on the coffee table by the TV. One of the strongest lifeguards I know just used a 10 pounder, then its always easy and you just do reps.
I need to exercise early in the day or I risk skipping it so in the morning I like to lay around like a lazy toad for an hour and then I do my exercises. My routine is light but it helps a lot.
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My main obstacle (in keeping the daily exercise routine) is that when I set up to do the floor exercises both cats are sure I am inviting them to participate and I end up being climbed upon, head-butted and having fuzzy buttholes shoved in my face. Tried doing it in the office with the door closed and they sit out there and yowl and shove their paws under the door. (the same is true when I try to use the bathroom in private.)
Dancing to the radio doesn’t attract as much feline obsessive clinginess. Perhaps they fear being stepped on.
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Only one of ours does that. The other shows up at bedtime and wants her head scratched. And rubs her nose on my beard.
I love to swim and used to do so regularly, but the wonderful indie health club I belonged to for nearly 30 years closed down permanently about 6 months before covid – they had a pristine 6 lane indoor pool for laps (and an outdoor one to accommodate the screaming kids and casual floaters). I could pay for a season pass for the almost-as-nice municipal pool in my borough that is just over half a mile down the road – same arrangement, a deep 4 lane pool reserved for serious fitness folks and a vast shallow one for the rug rats and teens goofing off. I have considered trying that again – the one drawback is that I have always been hypersensitive to chlorine (have to filter it out of my municipal water both for consumption and on my shower head). My sinuses go crazy when i swim in chlorinated water or even just breathe the vapors around the pool and my hair and skin suffer after immersion. The health club kept the chlorination to a minimum and it didn’t bother me, but my past experience at the municipal pool has been uncomfortable.
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Swimming: The data is inconclusive regarding swimming and bone density, some evidence it drives better bone structure despite no improvement in density over sedentary individuals Is Bone Tissue Really Affected by Swimming? A Systematic Review
And last bit from me on the “is 40 old for a human?” side topic: My point is that 40 year olds are not closely approaching death from old age, and we should not expect most parts of our bodies to just stop working absent some injury or specific disease.
My understanding has always been that the only exercise that increases bone density is the weight-bearing kind. Doesn’t the buoyancy of swimming lessen that effect significantly?
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Yes. Per the review I linked, Swimmers have the same bone density as sedentary individuals, but possible healthier bone architecture.
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It is good that you have watched Brent’s paddle stroke videos.
Your comment that PTs have given you exercises that can help but you aren’t disciplined about doing says that maybe you are also in a bit of denial about how much you actually do what Brent says.
Three steps imo:
- Do the exercises and more conditioning beyond paddling. Skipping the exercises is going quietly into the night.
- Ditch the walker for trekking poles. Walkers are for people going quietly into the night.
- Take a strokes class.
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