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Comment by TitaRusell | Hacker News Reader

My mom. She is at that age when tying your shoelaces becomes difficult.

The human body really was never supposed to go over 50 but modern medicine finds a way.

Over 50 here, I use the following as a test of someone's general balance/strength/flexibility:

Taking off your socks/shoes(tie/untie) without sitting down: hard for most in their 20/30s. Very hard with out bending over.

Pants are what gets hard when you get older, if you can't put on/off pants without sitting down I'd advise some basic training and/or doctor to help.

*assumes otherwise healthy person with no disabilities. I'm not a doctor, this is my own opinion.

Similarly, when I was younger, I came across this test: Sit down on the floor (all the way, butt on the ground). Now stand without using your hands at all. I was told that inability to do that was a strong indicator of failing health.

I imagine there's lots of different ways to evaluate general fitness like that.

That's a good one, I can get up without hands no problems. Sitting without a thud is a bit harder.

Watch a toddler move around on the ground, they are incredible flexible and strong.

> The human body really was never supposed to go over 50

As I get older I'm beginning to align with this.

When you're younger you think everything is going to be great until you die from a short illness at the average age of 79. Wrong. In my cohort of friends, notable age-related degradation started appearing in our late-30s/early 40s, even in the fit ones who stayed active.

I’m in my mid 40s, and I constantly thinking about https://xkcd.com/605/ and trying to extrapolate what shape I’ll be in when I get ”old” based on the decline of the last ten years.

The projections are not looking good…

I'm in the same boat. Looking around here, the older guys in the best shape that I know of are in the local triathlon club. Pushing 50s, 60s, and even 70s, and they are still very fit and can also party harder than I can.

I love cycling, and a run can be refreshing, but I don't really have any desire to swim - much less an open water swim. But triathlons seem to be a pretty effective path to longevity, so it may be something I need to force myself to take up. That and weight training.

Hunter-gatherers who survived to adulthood (and childbirth!) could expect to live to their mid 60's to early 70's. The big wins that modern medicine have gotten us are drastically decreasing infant/child mortality and deaths during childbirth. Compared to our ancestors, we've only really added 5-10 years to the life expectancy of elderly life. Largely unrelated to modern medicine, deaths by misadventure are reduced living in civilization, and then even moreso when you've got a large portion of the population not working in dangerous manual labor roles.

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