It's easier to be young when you are old

Sixty really is the new fifty.

I remember when I was a kid that people in their sixties were old. They wheezed as they went up the stairs. They had no mobility and no flexibility. They creaked around like some Egyptian mummy barely resurrected from the dead.

 And yet, now, I look at people who are sixty, and they don’t seem that old. In part, that’s because I’m closer to being sixty myself, but that’s not all. I now regularly work with people in their sixties who have fewer wrinkles because of a lifetime of using sunscreen. They run upstairs at a quick clip thanks to proper conditioning. And they sit on their haunches for extended periods of time while teenagers struggle to assume the position for even a few seconds. 

Even at 41, I’m better in many respects; I'm fitter, stronger and more flexible than I was at 31. 

I am slower though, and speed is the one quality we loose very early, in our twenties.

 41 is not only the new 31. It’s better than 31.

 If you wonder whether it’s possible to slow or defy ageing think about your parents and grandparents at the same age. The genes are the same. What’s changed is how we take care of the human body with diet, exercise and sunscreen.

 The essence of being young is fitness, flexibility, leanness and strength. 

With the right program, all of these qualities can not only be maintained but regained. And, in that sense, it can be easier to be younger when you’re old. 

As the old saying goes, youth is wasted on the young. When I was young, I took it for granted that I would be fit, slim, flexible and strong and so made no effort to cultivate these things. With age comes an appreciation for each of these attributes and the discipline to commit to a program that develops it. And so, we reach the counterintuitive conclusion that it can be easier to be young when you’re old. That’s certainly been true for me.

 For counterintuitive logic, no one is better than Lewis Carroll. In Alice in Wonderland, he has a delightful poem called “You Are Old, Father William” which is delightfully fitting. I’ve included it below for yow to enjoy.

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"You are old, Father William," the young man said,

    "And your hair has become very white;

And yet you incessantly stand on your head—

    Do you think, at your age, it is right?"

"In my youth," Father William replied to his son,

    "I feared it might injure the brain;

But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,

    Why I do it again and again."

"You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,

    And have grown most uncommonly fat;

Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door—

    Pray, what is the reason of that?"

"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,

    "I kept all my limbs very supple.

By the use of this ointment—one shilling the box—

    Allow me to sell you a couple."

"You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak.

    For anything tougher than suet;

Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak—

    Pray, how did you manage to do it?"

"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,

    And argued each case with my wife;

And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,

    Has lasted the rest of my life."

"You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose

    That your eye was as steady as ever;

Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose—

    What made you so awfully clever?"

"I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"

    Said his father; "don't give yourself airs!

Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?

    Be off, or I'll kick you downstairs!"It's