Comment by riversflow | Hacker News Reader

Comment by riversflow | Hacker News Reader

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Off topic:

> Your 30+ year old body

Hey, wake up call, not just to parent commenter but anyone.

If you feel this way in your 30's chances are good you should probably spend more time focusing on your physical health. Start getting more exercise and working on your diet.

You don't need to go crazy, just make small improvements and try to stick with them as much as you can. Start simple: Go for a short walk in the morning when you get up. Cut back on refined sugars, alcohol and sugary drinks.

I'm in my early 30's and my capacity to push hard and be durable is stronger than ever. But I made small but steady steps on my diet and kept up a modicum of conditioning throughout my 20's. I love backpacking, so "durability" is something I'm very interested in.

For example, this weekend I was easily able to stay up and game with friends in their early to mid 20's(UFC 5 release) until the wee hours of the morning. I then slept curled up in a ball on the couch(it was cold and that position kept me warm) and bounced up first thing in the morning after like 3 hours of sleep feeling great.

I don't do things like that often because it runs counter to being healthy. Sleep is when your body repairs itself, and it is constantly taking damage. My experience also is that when you are young, you are just less in-tune with your body. By the time you are 30 most people are actually able to recognize how detrimental sleep deeprivation is in the moment.

Of course you can slow down the process through living healthier. My point is: when you are young, you don't need to. You can go weeks having little sleep and be fine. You don't need to actively pursue a healthy lifestyle in order to avoid feeling drained. Your body reaches the peak in your 20s. After that it's a progressive decline.

In your 30s, no matter what you do, your ability to recover starts to decline and you can no longer do stuff consequences free like before.

You say if yourself: as long as you get enough sleep most of the time, you can pull an all nighter and feel fine. Pull 3 in a row and throw in some drinking, and you'll note a sharp difference between 25 year old you and 35 year old you.

Genetics plays a huge role in this. Some people win the lottery. However, by your 40s you realize that some activities might simply be off limits. Repetitive back injuries from lifting too vigorously mean that you have to cut back on deadlifts. You get dehydrated more easily and the symptoms are worse. You need to watch your ankle after having twisted it too many times during football.

You have to accept it and move on. Some magic you had is lost, but you can usually replace it with other magic. You can't play 12h with your friends every day, but now you can afford a nice car for example, etc...

You can't go clubbing 5 days a row, but you have the focus to train for a marathon and finish it.

My post was about recognizing that the circumstances that make certain things possible when we are young simply disappear. Accept this and move on, there are other things that one can do.

> Your body reaches the peak in your 20s.

Citation needed. Plenty of people only reach their physical peak at 35+. It's not too late!

> You have to accept it and move on

No, you don't. You can bounce back, but it requires effort. All I can say is it's better to learn early than when you are 65+ and just had major surgery that you need to bouce back from if you want to keep living a normal life.

Depends on the person. I too keep fit. As writing this I'm currently on the subway to go to sword fencing class.

I feel the same as OP. If I miss sleep I feel wrecked and I'm 34.

Use red light glasses after sundown and use f.lux or iris (anti flicker software).

Yeah, I was stronger and felt better in my mid to late 30s than I'd ever felt at a younger age, and would sometimes go out clubbing and then hit the gym on no sleep and still push out personal bests...

Even my 18 year old self would have killed to feel like that.

But at 30 I couldn't walk a flight of stairs without pain, went to my doctor and was handed an exercise sheet for retirees and told off, and that was what finally got me to address my health, so there's still time to fix it for anyone who feels like that and still time to reach heights of strength and energy you didn't know we're possible.

I lapsed for multiple years in my early 40s, but even with that, after being back in the gym for just a few months I'm still for the most part, apart from a bit slower recovery, feeling better today at 48 than I did at 30, and I'm far stronger and with better endurance (though I still feel weak because I know how much I have lifted, and while Im easily at 5x+ the strength I had at 30, I am so far only back up to 60% of my peak)

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