Do you feel you have aged since the pandemic

I can identify with that Shinamae sometimes I look in the mirror and see my mum, on really bad days I see my gran.

Both lovely ladies but even so.

My husband and I retired 5 years ago and although I struggled with not going to work we both were beginning to enjoy retirement. We had a couple of fabulous long haul holidays to places we had dreamed of going to and also a few long stays at my nephews apartment in Spain. Lots of days out, new hobbies, and time together. Then Covid hit, it was a has been a difficult time for everyone but I felt I aged considerably also put on weight and struggled to maintain regular exercise. Then a start of this year Husband and I both had a bowel cancer scare and both had to have operations, recovered from that, then Husband had to have skin cancer removed from face. The biggest hit was in July when husband started to have seizures and after many tests was diagnosed with an aggressive acute rare Leukaemia. The Chemo treatment is terrible and prognosis not good. So we are shielding not going out and not seeing anyone. So I feel very old and almost feel Covid robbed us of a year of retirement. The only bright light in the last 2 years is the birth of our gorgeous granddaughter inMay 2020 but that time was fraught with problems due to Covid.

I think the enforced isolation in the early lockdown was ageing for many people- it certainly provided me a foretaste of what extreme old age might be like when I am perhaps unable to get out independently, to drive or when close friends have died off.
The things which we have the leisure to enjoy in retirement were largely denied and apart from our one hour’s permitted exercise we were housebound.
18 months of that may well have eroded people’s self-confidence or motivation and made them feel more vulnerable.
So yes-ageing but for those of us who still have our health, we can do something about it, Covid permitting.

*time

Feelings are irrelevant; everyone who was alive at the start of the pandemic and who hasn't died has aged during it. That's how tim (and life) works.

I thought the Queen's refusal of the Oldie Award was silly. Of course she's old and she's a great old person so why not accept the offered award with grace?

People are silly about oldness.

Yes. I did read a while back that elderly people especially find that they’re less fit than they were pre pandemic. A friend of ours pointed this out to us ages ago. She’s in her nineties but could walk for miles…far fitter than me. She said she couldn’t walk as far as she used to. Although I still walk as much as possible I haven’t been going to the gym so I’ve lost muscle and my arthritic knees are really bad. I used to do strengthening exercises at the gym that kept the arthritis at bay. Maybe it’s being aware of a specific time scale but boy have I aged in my face! Even though I’ve done everything possible to eat healthily, watch my weight etc.

Definitely! The move from our house to a ground floor flat, though worth it in the long run, has been hard going. Not having a decent holiday doesn’t help!

This!!

This is me……?

Sadly I feel I’ve aged in spirit. All those travels I used to love, now really seem to be too much effort. It’s much easier to travel sitting in your comfy armchair watching some holiday shows!

I’ve lost a lot of muscle tone and function, which I’m working to get back. I’ve had a few setbacks, including some nasty falls, over the past two years. I think lockdown hasn’t done us any favours.

I know I am less fit thanks to being cooped up during lockdown but I don’t feel I look any different.

Audi10, I don’t know about wrinkles, but my body has aged. My whole body seems to ache. I have gone lazy and lethargic. In the early days of COVID, I didn’t go far and now it’s become the norm. Everything is such an effort. Well I guess, 2 years is a long time ?

I definitely think my face shows more wrinkles than it deserves to have gained in the past 20 months. However, I am thankful to have reasonably good health and will take the wrinkles without worrying too much about them.

Sorry I pressed too soon, it should have said I do tend to think is this really me as I catch sight of myself in shop windows or mirrors