40-Somethings Are Sharing All The Changes Their Bodies Are Going Through That Nobody Prepared Them For
Getting older brings a whirlwind of changes, from shifting perspectives on life to evolving priorities and goals. And, of course, it also brings physical changes to our bodies.
Recently, redditor XMXP_5 started a discussion among people in their 40s in the r/Xennials subreddit, when they said: "In school, they told us about how puberty was going to change our bodies, but nobody told us how our 40s would."
The thread got over 1K responses from people in their 40s, who shared all the changes they noticed that nobody had prepared them for. Below are the top and most-often repeated changes 40-somethings noticed:
1."I’ve started into that thing where you can’t focus on fine print and have to hold it further away. You know, like old people on TV and in movies."
"No one ever told me I'd find it so hard to read things in my 40s. It really sucks. I already wear glasses for distance, so now I spend my days pulling my glasses off and then on again. I thought this was a 60s thing!"
2."I guess heartburn is a thing for me now. It took about a week for me to realize that's what I was experiencing."
"I am 42, and I had to give up coffee to put an end to my heartburn. Existence sucks."
3."My hearing is starting to go, and it's kind of scary. I can't keep up with conversations anymore, so I just kind of wind up in my own world when I'm in a large group. I'm already pretty introverted so not being able to hear shit isn't helping. I'm thinking I'm gonna start looking into hearing aids because I think I am going to need them in a few years."
4."My wife was marching around the house this morning looking for a pair of reading glasses that were on her head."
5."Yup, especially for women with perimenopause/menopause. It’s like another puberty with the weird symptoms and hormonal changes that occur. Oh, lawd, it’s comin’!"
"Seriously, is there some kind of library book I can check out like I did to help my daughter with puberty? Your Changing Premenopausal Body and You? I am enjoying my 40s, except for the part where I have no idea what my body is doing! UGH!"
6."For me, it's nose hair. Where the fuck did that come from?"
"The audacity of my body to start growing hair from my nose and ears but decide it's too much bother to keep growing my head hair!"
7."Now, something I eat makes me horribly bloated and in pain, but I can’t figure out what. Getting old sucks."
"Honestly, after turning 40, I started working on my diet and sleep, and it cleared up a lot of the other things — less aches and pains, more energy, and all that."
8."I don’t sleep through the night anymore."
9."I got trigger thumb at 47 or so. I never heard of this — a heads-up pamphlet would have been cool. Instead, I'm like, 'Huh...that’s weird. My thumb is stuck and doesn’t work.'"
"I got trigger finger in my right thumb a few years ago. It got so bad that I couldn’t write properly anymore, so I got a cortisone shot and haven’t had any issues since (knock on wood)."
10."I found out last week that I have severe degenerative arthritis in my cervical spine. I just turned 43."
11."I have sciatic nerve pain from my lower back to my knee."
"So that’s what it’s called! I’ve been describing this to people over the last year and didn’t know what was causing it."
—roc1
12."Issues from sports-related injuries from high school making a recurrence is my fave. I think my ankles have given up, too. But, the worst is that my system has decided it no longer likes dairy. Why did nobody tell us this stuff???"
13."I’m 44, and everything fucking hurts. And I’m a runner and quite physically active! But it doesn’t matter. I have to do more work to keep from getting injured. It’s exhausting."
14."I didn’t expect gray hair to be nasty, wiry Barbie doll hair. And I’m losing the dark hair yet the gray hair remains in sporadic spots to remind me where my hairline used to be."
15."I slept on my right shoulder a couple of weeks ago, and ever since, it's been fucked. I'm 41, and there was no easing me into getting old."
16."One thing I found is that after 40, many muscle injuries either become permanent or take forever to go away. I tweaked a shoulder muscle and it’s hurt for a month. I pulled a groin-abdominal muscle almost a year ago and it still hurts (and yes, this is after seeing doctors and even getting a CT scan to rule out a hernia). My doctor finally just said basically that’s life."
"I had a good gym session yesterday. Woke up with the 'good' sore…no problem, it makes me feel accomplished. Raked some leaves today, boom…pulled something in my back. It hurts to stand up."
17."Suddenly, at 40, my normal blood pressure stopped being normal. Just out of nowhere. Diet, exercise, losing weight, etc., didn't help at all. I went from having low BP in my 20s to needing meds at 40. It's really frustrating."
18.And lastly, "My voice cracks all the time, and my son asked me why that happened. I told him at 41, puberty starts again, and he just gave this terrified look. Only when the second puberty hits do you start shrinking."
You can read the original thread on Reddit.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
