Signs of Ageing.
AGEING (or Aging) an intransitive verb meaning
1 : to become old : show the effects or the characteristics of increasing age
2 : to acquire a desirable quality (as mellowness or ripeness) by standing undisturbed for some time.
Merriam-Webster.com
Age. It advances upon us stealthily, with us being unaware of the passage of our youth. One day, as we go to bed, we are young, supple and filled with energy and zest and the next we wake up having to stretch out suddenly creaky, crackly and sometimes painful joints before we can take the first step to starting our day. And as we stretch, trying to work out the kinks, we wonder when this happened.
I was never one of those "active" youths - I often preferred to recline on my bed, alone with a book. Though I loved walking, I only did it if it was absolutely necessary, which it was if I wanted to get anywhere on the university campus I grew up on. Up until I was about 17, the only means of transport for us young ones were our legs! So, by default, I was fairly supple but not really filled with zest!
I do not remember having any physical aches as a result of walking at least 2 to 3 kilometres in either direction between my house and the faculties, hostels and the main gate.
So, like everyone else, I took all of that for granted, never realizing how transient it all was. The year I turned 37, I discovered that the crackling I heard every morning when I bent down to towel my legs after my shower was not some hidden piece of paper that I caused to crackle because I stepped on it unknowingly. To my horror, I realized what it was. My right knee! Imagine the shock I was in. After all those months thinking that some infernal and ghostly piece of paper was to blame? I then wished the ghostly paper HAD been to blame - some prayer sessions of binding, exorcism and consigning it to the very depths of hell would have gotten rid of it ASAP!
In my usual manner, I rushed to my computer - to google "crackling knees". Surely I must just be suffering from some vitamin or mineral deficiency? I knew the web would provide me with the necessary information. To my consternation, every entry I saw had the same piece of information - it was caused by "cartilage wear". Since I knew that the only reasons for "cartilage wear" were either extreme and constant pressure from high impact activities or ageing, and I knew the former could in no way or manner apply to me, it dawned on me that I was ageing! Me! Even the name given to the condition - crepitus - though not similar in meaning nor origin but only in sound, reminded me of "decrepit" which means "wasted and weakened by...the infirmities of OLD AGE! Crepitus means crackling. But who cared? All I could focus on was the word "AGEING"!
And then there's the weight! We like to call it "middle age spread". Truth is it is "slowing-down-due-to-age-spread"! So, try as one might, that 10, 20, 30 extra kilos you're carrying around and killing yourself at the gym over? It is going to take you 3 times the amount of time you'd have spent losing it if you were 10, 20 years younger! Research shows that women become "comfortable" with their bodies once they get into their mid-thirties. That's probably because they just do not understand why they are steadily gaining weight even though they expend (as they believe!) the same amount of energy and eat the same quantity of food as they did when in their twenties and have decided that it must be a normal thing (after all, it's happening to EVERYONE too!) Plus, there's Spanx!
The hair loss just kills you, yes? And it seems that as the hair goes from your head, it transfers to other parts - the nostrils, ears, legs, chin, arms and everywhere else hair should NOT be! Women are lucky - between weaves and wigs and all manner of hair extensions and disguises, that thinning and the loss can be disguised and thanks to waxing and depilatories, the undesired hair growth can be banished! Men? They struggle on valiantly until their wives or girlfriends or lovers tease them about it. Then they realize that the only way is "off"! Everything goes. Hence the many "clean shaven" men around. For all of you who do not know, it is NOT a fashion statement for young men of now to have an afro - it is a statement of smugness & pride that they are the few that still have hair! And mind you, for men, it starts earlier. That gives me some joy!
The sagging of everything from north to south? Just about gives every female older than 29 the jeepers! Thank God for the likes of the nice doctors in Dr 90210. And Botox and everything else in between.
Last but not the least, the gray or silver hair. A note of warning. For those thinking that they'll just dye the hair, the dye seems to damage the new growth within the follicles and those now grow out in that yucky dirty yellowish/gray colour that you see. I am genetically blessed. Though my maternal people gray early, my paternal people on their maternal line do not. My Dad at 73 has less gray hair than many men half his age (and he still has most of his hair, save the centre bit that I personally believe thinned out due to excessive reading!) His mother died at about 80 years of age and she had not much gray to speak of, if any. My older sister has none and neither do I. Plus, we all, my mother (age 66) inclusive, have full heads of hair (we KNOW our hair is not as full as it used to be but by any standards, it's still thick AND grows fast!). So, thank God for the genes of "plenty hair" from my mother and the genes of "perpetual black hair" from my father!
All that being said, in these days of advancement in science and cosmetology, all the signs of ageing can be held back for as long as possible. It is up to you which route you choose!
1 : to become old : show the effects or the characteristics of increasing age
2 : to acquire a desirable quality (as mellowness or ripeness) by standing undisturbed for some time.
Merriam-Webster.com
Age. It advances upon us stealthily, with us being unaware of the passage of our youth. One day, as we go to bed, we are young, supple and filled with energy and zest and the next we wake up having to stretch out suddenly creaky, crackly and sometimes painful joints before we can take the first step to starting our day. And as we stretch, trying to work out the kinks, we wonder when this happened.
I was never one of those "active" youths - I often preferred to recline on my bed, alone with a book. Though I loved walking, I only did it if it was absolutely necessary, which it was if I wanted to get anywhere on the university campus I grew up on. Up until I was about 17, the only means of transport for us young ones were our legs! So, by default, I was fairly supple but not really filled with zest!
I do not remember having any physical aches as a result of walking at least 2 to 3 kilometres in either direction between my house and the faculties, hostels and the main gate.
So, like everyone else, I took all of that for granted, never realizing how transient it all was. The year I turned 37, I discovered that the crackling I heard every morning when I bent down to towel my legs after my shower was not some hidden piece of paper that I caused to crackle because I stepped on it unknowingly. To my horror, I realized what it was. My right knee! Imagine the shock I was in. After all those months thinking that some infernal and ghostly piece of paper was to blame? I then wished the ghostly paper HAD been to blame - some prayer sessions of binding, exorcism and consigning it to the very depths of hell would have gotten rid of it ASAP!
In my usual manner, I rushed to my computer - to google "crackling knees". Surely I must just be suffering from some vitamin or mineral deficiency? I knew the web would provide me with the necessary information. To my consternation, every entry I saw had the same piece of information - it was caused by "cartilage wear". Since I knew that the only reasons for "cartilage wear" were either extreme and constant pressure from high impact activities or ageing, and I knew the former could in no way or manner apply to me, it dawned on me that I was ageing! Me! Even the name given to the condition - crepitus - though not similar in meaning nor origin but only in sound, reminded me of "decrepit" which means "wasted and weakened by...the infirmities of OLD AGE! Crepitus means crackling. But who cared? All I could focus on was the word "AGEING"!
And then there's the weight! We like to call it "middle age spread". Truth is it is "slowing-down-due-to-age-spread"! So, try as one might, that 10, 20, 30 extra kilos you're carrying around and killing yourself at the gym over? It is going to take you 3 times the amount of time you'd have spent losing it if you were 10, 20 years younger! Research shows that women become "comfortable" with their bodies once they get into their mid-thirties. That's probably because they just do not understand why they are steadily gaining weight even though they expend (as they believe!) the same amount of energy and eat the same quantity of food as they did when in their twenties and have decided that it must be a normal thing (after all, it's happening to EVERYONE too!) Plus, there's Spanx!
The hair loss just kills you, yes? And it seems that as the hair goes from your head, it transfers to other parts - the nostrils, ears, legs, chin, arms and everywhere else hair should NOT be! Women are lucky - between weaves and wigs and all manner of hair extensions and disguises, that thinning and the loss can be disguised and thanks to waxing and depilatories, the undesired hair growth can be banished! Men? They struggle on valiantly until their wives or girlfriends or lovers tease them about it. Then they realize that the only way is "off"! Everything goes. Hence the many "clean shaven" men around. For all of you who do not know, it is NOT a fashion statement for young men of now to have an afro - it is a statement of smugness & pride that they are the few that still have hair! And mind you, for men, it starts earlier. That gives me some joy!
The sagging of everything from north to south? Just about gives every female older than 29 the jeepers! Thank God for the likes of the nice doctors in Dr 90210. And Botox and everything else in between.
Last but not the least, the gray or silver hair. A note of warning. For those thinking that they'll just dye the hair, the dye seems to damage the new growth within the follicles and those now grow out in that yucky dirty yellowish/gray colour that you see. I am genetically blessed. Though my maternal people gray early, my paternal people on their maternal line do not. My Dad at 73 has less gray hair than many men half his age (and he still has most of his hair, save the centre bit that I personally believe thinned out due to excessive reading!) His mother died at about 80 years of age and she had not much gray to speak of, if any. My older sister has none and neither do I. Plus, we all, my mother (age 66) inclusive, have full heads of hair (we KNOW our hair is not as full as it used to be but by any standards, it's still thick AND grows fast!). So, thank God for the genes of "plenty hair" from my mother and the genes of "perpetual black hair" from my father!
All that being said, in these days of advancement in science and cosmetology, all the signs of ageing can be held back for as long as possible. It is up to you which route you choose!
An interesting blog, nice.
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