overall energy levels are you age debate

overall energy levels are you age debate

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Mirinjawbro

Original Poster:

768 posts

71 months

Saturday 5th August 2023
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Hello all,

just having a long debate between a few friends and we cant (if there is) get to an answer.

between 10-15 years ago we all ate almost 0 veg , 0 fruit. out hammered 3/4 nights a week not sleeping great. remember (so we think) going to work feeling generally ok.

now we are early / mid 30s/ our overall general energy / tiredness levels are way worse - very noticeable

now

most of us eat ALOT better - less junk - less alcohol definitely - more sleep

we cant really seem to get an answer. i have touched on this before with my recent tiredness but overall it seems most of us notice it.

- can being mid 30s really give you that much less energy and go?
- actually being less active overall makes you more tired?

we couldn't really come up with any answers and before we all pass out in 2 hours id like to try come back to them with more

thankyou all

Doofus

28,471 posts

180 months

Saturday 5th August 2023
quotequote all
You are suffering the long-term effects of your poor lifestyle of 15 years ago.

smile

didelydoo

5,533 posts

217 months

Saturday 5th August 2023
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Being less active over all makes you more tired more easily. On a cellular level, the more active you are, the more Mitochondria you have so you can produce energy faster and more efficiently.
When you become less active, these Mitochondria (the powerhouses of cells) reduce - and when energy is needed, you’re less efficient and slower at producing it. Thus activity can seem a lot more tiring.

To counter it, be more active. The paradox of the more active you are, the more energetic you feel (within reason)

Hugo Stiglitz

38,038 posts

218 months

Saturday 5th August 2023
quotequote all
Mirinjawbro said:
Hello all,

just having a long debate between a few friends and we cant (if there is) get to an answer.

between 10-15 years ago we all ate almost 0 veg , 0 fruit. out hammered 3/4 nights a week not sleeping great. remember (so we think) going to work feeling generally ok.

now we are early / mid 30s/ our overall general energy / tiredness levels are way worse - very noticeable

now

most of us eat ALOT better - less junk - less alcohol definitely - more sleep

we cant really seem to get an answer. i have touched on this before with my recent tiredness but overall it seems most of us notice it.

- can being mid 30s really give you that much less energy and go?
- actually being less active overall makes you more tired?

we couldn't really come up with any answers and before we all pass out in 2 hours id like to try come back to them with more

thankyou all
I'm a fair bit older. I get pissed, have hangovers and I work hard.

The difference between being a teenager and you is that someone paid your way, your time was free. Now you buy things and have to pay for them.

Our society says "grow up".

Why? Live life, enjoy it. It can end in a minute or 4 decades more.

This last line will cure your weary malaise.

mcelliott

8,973 posts

188 months

Saturday 5th August 2023
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Manage stress levels, keep active, enjoy an active social life with family and friends, get out into nature, all great energisers.

xx99xx

2,251 posts

80 months

Sunday 6th August 2023
quotequote all
One theory....being less active slows the metabolism over time. So the body provides you with less energy from your calorie intake.

It's not directly linked to age, but some people do tend to become less active with age for various reasons (work, family etc) which can feed the cycle of slowing metabolism, having less energy etc

And there are loads of other causes of fatigue to consider though. It's not just a getting old thing.

Electronicpants

2,791 posts

195 months

Monday 7th August 2023
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Stress? When your young and carefree you have little stress, even mess up at work and you'll get another job, no life partner, no kids, still a kid yourself really.

Then your 35, Job, family, everything is very important and therefore stressful. Takes it's toll and makes you permanently knackered!


dobly

1,293 posts

166 months

Monday 7th August 2023
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There are so many more factors - metabolic rate, whether you are single or not, whether you have kids or not, general health, underlying health conditions (asthma etc.), smoker ex-smoker or never smoked, time of year, stress levels, sleep quality, fatigue, happiness, etc. etc. Everyone is individual, and can feel differently from week to week based on a whole host of variables.
To generalise here can be very misleading. Exercise is important - very few completely sedentary people are healthy - but not everyone benefits from the same level of exercise in the same way.

StevieBee

13,583 posts

262 months

Tuesday 8th August 2023
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Mirinjawbro said:
between 10-15 years ago we all ate almost 0 veg , 0 fruit. out hammered 3/4 nights a week not sleeping great. remember (so we think) going to work feeling generally ok.

now we are early / mid 30s/ our overall general energy / tiredness levels are way worse - very noticeable
In very simple terms, the reason we need to sleep is to allow our body to rebuild cells and create new ones and fix stuck synapsis in the brain that occur during the day (doing this whilst awake is akin to servicing your car whilst it's driving round the M25 - dreams are a reboot test to make sure everything's working).

As we age, the quality of our cells deteriorate. Imagine and A4 sheet of paper with a black circle on it. You photocopy it. Then photocopy the photocopy and keep doing this and eventually you have an approximation of the original circle. And some cells can't be replaced meaning those synapsis have to find new cells to connect with.

So in short, when we're young, our bodies have less work to do. As we age, they have more work to do which takes it out of us more.

There are also some strong theories that suggest evolution hasn't yet caught up to the fact that we've doubled our life expectancy in just a few hundred years. So evolution expects that by the time we reach our mid 30s, we've completed all our reproduction duties and will be dispensed with over the coming 10 years or so, so there is no need to provide that joyful virility you had ten years prior.

There are ways to address this. Fernando Alonso is 42 but was recently tested and found to have the the athletic capacity of someone in their late 20s. The reason he's achieved this is because when he's not driving, he lives in a gym and eats bland but nutritious food.

(The above courtesy of Bill Bryson's book 'The Body')



J4CKO

42,841 posts

207 months

Tuesday 8th August 2023
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I think as well, we put things down to age when its actually a lack of fitness and having gained weight.

Was watching someone the other day, who is 70 odd to be fair struggling to get out of a couch and cursing their age, but just maybe the 20 plus kilos of spare weight may be playing a part ? along with muscle wastage from lack of activity. If you are carrying an extra 30 percent weight, then you are using what, 30 percent more energy to move it, it is harder to move so you arent so keen on doing it. I know when my foot has been bad I have to plan whether I want to make the trip to say nip and get something from upstairs as it hurts, so the larger you get the less inclined to move you get and more things hurt/ache.

You can be fitter and lighter than folk half your age if you put your mind to it, but its hard and the couch and food are easy.

The person I mention sits on an exercise bike messing with their phone, just turning the pedals, better than nothing but you need that resistance to get the pulse up and the muscles working, see it at the gym all the time. Its largely pointless just sitting there, if you can interact and concentrate on a phone, you arent doing it right.

You have to work at it, until you cant any more.



itcaptainslow

3,858 posts

143 months

Tuesday 8th August 2023
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J4CKO said:
I think as well, we put things down to age when its actually a lack of fitness and having gained weight.

Was watching someone the other day, who is 70 odd to be fair struggling to get out of a couch and cursing their age, but just maybe the 20 plus kilos of spare weight may be playing a part ? along with muscle wastage from lack of activity. If you are carrying an extra 30 percent weight, then you are using what, 30 percent more energy to move it, it is harder to move so you arent so keen on doing it. I know when my foot has been bad I have to plan whether I want to make the trip to say nip and get something from upstairs as it hurts, so the larger you get the less inclined to move you get and more things hurt/ache.

You can be fitter and lighter than folk half your age if you put your mind to it, but its hard and the couch and food are easy.

The person I mention sits on an exercise bike messing with their phone, just turning the pedals, better than nothing but you need that resistance to get the pulse up and the muscles working, see it at the gym all the time. Its largely pointless just sitting there, if you can interact and concentrate on a phone, you arent doing it right.

You have to work at it, until you cant any more.
Best post of the thread. I got fit in my late 20’s (now 36) and it was one of the best decisions I made. I cope with shift work a hell of a lot better (early starts no longer leave me drained in the afternoon), have much more energy, rarely get colds/ill and it’s a pretty liberating feeling being faster and stronger than I was ten years ago.

Recovery from injury takes a little longer than my late 20’s but apart from following the rehab process & doing lots of mobility stretching, there’s not much you can do to influence it.

didelydoo

5,533 posts

217 months

Tuesday 8th August 2023
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Your metabolism doesn’t slow down much at all between 20-60. You do though…. And that’s why you get fat and lazy