Has anyone else noticed their energy levels change as they've got older?

I have long covid so have to pace myself in order to get back to normal. An underactive thyroid does not help, either.

I’ve returned to work since retiring just a couple of hours childcare duties at nursery just to get my energy levels back up. Have felt proper lazy since retiring!

when I turned 85, that is when I really noticed.. I also stick to familiar and short journeys in my little "old" car! It`s crowds I don`t like..

I know 😁 but it’s the first and only time that we’ve been old and it’s surprised us.

It’s not as if we haven’t had long enough to get used to the idea though.

Oh how a lot of us would like to have your energy Whitewavemark2. So wonderful, I do gentle exercise and get better as the day goes on. Some days are ok and I’m thankful for that but hoovering more than one room and feel like I’m a gonner. 😁

We lose muscle mass as we age and, once lost, you cannot get it back. The winter before last I spent mostly sitting still and found, when spring arrived, that everything was heavier, the hills were steeper, the roads longer and everything was more effort than it used to be.
Old age is a time of profound change and nothing prepares us for it.

Only just seen this thread but I’m so glad to read it. I am not alone!!!!

Polnan keep going, all is well and you are an inspiration. You mention downhill from 85. I’m 86 and I agree with you and many others. Weaker, tireder, less confident going somewhere new in my car, needing to rest and or sleep the day following an event-filled day, eyes and ears less efficient, arthritic hips, etc etc etc! But hey! Buy a new dress, have a glass of wine, go to a concert, text a friend to meet for coffee, get out for a walk, sit in the garden, paint a picture, go for it, sod it all!!! Hugs to everyone!

My eyesight was good enough to notice the weeds that have grown up rapidly between the patio slabs, so how come there was green grass there but the lawns are brown and dry? So I spent two hours hand weeding, moving pots, clearing debris and replacing pebbles that the birds must have thrown around looking for ants and also clearing cobwebs outside.
I did sit down for some of the weeding!
After that I felt shattered even though it was cooler today.

polomint

Me too monica lots of plans I make for the following day regarding household chores. Achieving one or two and that's me worn out. Changing the bed and putting on a fresh duvet leaves me exhausted. I find having athritis in the hands a real problem for doing that particular job

I use a top sheet and so my duvet doesn’t need changing half as often (and sleeping under a sheet only has been a blessing in all this hot weather). Duvet wrangling is a job I hate, and I don’t have arthritis.

I do that Faxgran.. have a flat sheet between me and the duvet, so don`t need to change duvet cover so often.. whoever invented duvets LOL

I have a very lively little dog who needs far more exercise than I can give her now. I must take her out twice every day and that uses up most of my diminishing energy.
I do the minimum of housework and gardening and jobs get put off because I always suppose that tomorrow I shall feel strong and energetic.
This hot summer has kept me idle indoors for most of every day.

Another one with an underactive thyroid for at least the last 30 years 😏

Specialist said they can’t increase my thyroxin and in fact decreased it !

I do manage a 25 mins walk most mornings and I go to a Tai Chi class once a week. I have no energy in the afternoons.

This heat this summer has almost made me a recluse. I used to do something every day of the week, now everything is an effort. I miss the social side speaking to people and mixing but due to a health issue, combined with the heat the walking, dancing, meals out stopped, I couldn't have been very important to the groups as apart from the odd phone call and coffee I seem to have faded into the background, its affected my confidence. I should have moved house but due to the horrific build next door decided to wait until it was presentable. So I feel trapped. Those with partners ill and are carers in their seventies are wonderful and I cannot imagine how they cope.

Yes , this weather has meant that I am staying in out of the sun more, which is sensible physically, at 81, but then I dont see many people, and definitely not keeping up with the amount of walking about I used to do. I am hoping that when the weather cools I am able to get back to doing more.

Problem is the mental/physical divide! My brain still thinks I can do lots of things, but gets frustrating when I try to get stuff sorted. No good planning trips out anywhere in advance, as weather /mobility means I need to judge by the day. I used to be motivated by any trips out planned, to get on with the jobs before that, but now just going through the days doing what is necessary rather than anything else. Well it has to be a matter of keep breathing and eventually the weather will finally change. As I was a lecturer there is always the sense of a "start of the year" in September so perhaps that will kick in again this year.

The other thing is that so much has increased in price, that even the idea of a treat lunch out has no appeal. So few places that I have been to round here are cooler or better than my own place , and so no incentive to do that either.Naturally the jobs that I could be doing, such as going through paperwork and trying to throw more things out, are not appealing at all. Ah well it is cheering to know that I am not the only one . and as long as I can keep myself clean and fed and the kitchen in some semblence of order the rest can wait.

This long heat from June has been sooo tiring. I have gone from being quite active well, as much as possible with DH being bedbound, to almost house bound myself.

I am so looking forward to September and I have never ever said that before as I like the summer with its long daylight hours and normally gentle heat.

Hopefully September won't be one heatwave after another.

So I don't think lack of energy is all tied up with ageing.

For some reason I have only just lighted on this thread and am so glad to know that I haven’t become lazy, just older; I have never in my life needed to pace myself as I do now and am relieved that I am not alone. My dear late MiL lamented that up to 80 everything worked fine but that once that milestone had been reached bits gradually stopped working. I now understand what she meant.

Thankyou ladies you have cheered me up. I am 83 and still caring for my three adopted “children” with Down Syndrome. They are at daycare 4 days a week but my energy levels have plummeted.
I am lucky I have help with the housework and I make myself do one extra job a day but after lunch I am done!
It is good to know I am not lazy!

What a wonderful encouraging thread. We're all amazing! And RosiesMaw yes, we all knew ageing is a thing and was coming to get us, but it's the reality of it when we're actually living it which is so daunting.
I'm just six weeks away from being 85 and now find that an hour of chores is about as much as I can do before having the need for a sit down. I thought that was maybe just me, so it's really good to have learned from this thread that it's an ageing thing. Phew! Like others, though, I find it's amazing what I can do when I want to. Yesterday I drove 35 miles to have lunch with my niece (herself a spritely young 70) and then 35 miles home again via a shop at a large M&S food hall, having first done a washing and hung it out. I then put all the shopping away and got the washing in before sitting down --and falling asleep 😉--to get my breath back.
But tell me - do any of you have trouble with meals? I seem to have lost all interest in eating, and my taste buds are no help at all. At the moment I'm experimenting with eating early afternoon 🤷.

At 65, my energy levels have dropped enormously over the last 24 months, which is scary as I have always been very active one way or another. Looking after my youngest dgc has become quite a struggle, even though he is very easy-going.
This might not be normal, and tests have just thrown up a couple of things that need further investigation!

Taichinan I have lost all interest in cooking or preparingany sort of meal, I eat out when I can, but even then, so I guess it is natural that we wont want to eat as much as previously, but yes, food is not very interesting now.
As others have said, this thread is so encouraging, especially for those of us living alone, even the best of friends don`t really understand, and family, being younger,, I feel I must walk on eggshells at times.. They ask how I am but come on! they don`t really want to know and then what good does it do,

so it is extra good to be able to share, and hear how others in our age group are,, we really are not alone.. thankyou each and every one

I’ve been getting over bronchitis, which left me with real fatigue, but recently I have been feeling better - it’s been 10 weeks since the start of the illness.

So this past week I’ve been enjoying getting back to normal snd catching up in the garden.

The last couple of days I feel like s..,t again - obviously overdid it.

But so annoying. I know at 80 one slows down but it is sooooo frustrating.

So much gentle honesty here about the changes we are physically and emotionally bearing. I’m grateful to hear from everyone. We are not alone.

Oh Yes. My energy level has dropped with advancing age. I walk my dog for an hour twice a day. I used to return home after the morning walk and whizz through the chores but nowadays I'll sit and have a coffee first. I usually go out again for a swim, bike ride or a class for example and after the afternoon dog walk I find it a bit of a struggle to raise the enthusiasm to make a meal. I have increased my water and protein intake on my son's advice and I am going to bed a bit earlier too. I have to admit that sometimes evening tiredness is down to lack of stimulation because I 'm not tired when out and about or I have some company. Food for thought methinks...

Having lived abroad and travelled quite a lot, and done 10 years of 3 days a week hospital car driving, I still feel perfectly happy and confident driving anywhere. In fact going in the car gives me most freedom to come and go as I please. I make sure that I am up to date with eye checks etc and keep the car checked out. But now of course the cost of fuel has to be considered , and with the weather at the moment , there would not be much pleasure in driving anywhere as , until now, Britain has never thought much about shading in car parks.

Once I was retired, I tried, as much as possible, to avoid weekend driving or the August traffic. So look forward to September , when it is quieter at the coast etc. Thinking about that used to get me doing jobs and getting ahead, but not this year. I do the basics and keep clean etc ., yet anything else isnt getting a look in at the moment. I always had plans and ideas of what I would like to do, but at the moment my get up and go has definitely got up and gone! One of my pleasures was visiting gardens , and I was happy to take others with me, but this year the weather has meant that I havent done much of that either. Ah well we keep plodding on, and come the cooler weather (whenever that arrives!) I want to get back to doing a bit more walking every day.

We all age but use it or lose it, I was 60 when I took over the care of my grandson as my daughter was of ill health. Never thought I'd be going round with changing mat and nappies etc at 60, but needs must and I did the mums and tots and playgroup preschool primary etc, parents meetings , now in my 70's I still am going to parent's meetings and taking him to the games shop, I'm quite up on switch games etc as he now is 17 and I even have pokermon go on my phone for times that I need to keep him busy and me too, he has health issues and autism, I seem to have enough energy to cope as needs must, I dont think about age as life is too busy , if I were to slow down I think I would age quickly, I take a rest in the afternoon before school hometime, and my knees ache sometimes but im above ground