I was just talking with a mate about that the other day. We are both 62 this year.

Our conclusion about what sucks getting older comes down to two things; constant low level pain, but above all it is lack of proper sleep.

I used to be able to sleep 8 hours without interruption, and if I had a few late nights I could always catchup and sleep in when I got the chance. Now, I am lucky if I get 4 hours uninterrupted sleep, and average not more than six hours a night. As for sleeping in, ha. Bladder says no to that.

Low level pain comes from things like sore joints, arthritis, muscle pain, and a bunch of other things. Things you can just shrug off and ignore when you are younger and/or well rested, but not so much when you are always tired.

Has my personality changed? No, I don’t think so. But I certainly have a lot less patience and tolerance of annoyances than I once did.

Now if you will excuse me, those damn kids are on my lawn again, and it’s time for my nap.

No, their personality doesn’t change.

Let me tell you about getting older.

• Everything physical gets harder. Including keeping off excess weight.
• Some of the indignities that have been visited upon me: ear hair, nose hair, and eyebrows seem to grow out of control, and need regular trimming now. I have developed some mild arthritis that requires weight training to keep the pain under control. The fat pads on the soles of my feet have nearly disappeared, so I can’t walk around barefoot any more, and must wear cushy shoes. I have to manage high blood pressure, and keeping a close eye on my blood sugar, because most of my family of origin has, or is on the border of, Type 2 diabetes. I’ve got benign prostate hyperplasia, which translates to having to urinate practically hourly, and I can’t sleep through the night anymore.
• My memory is not what it was. I used to recall everything, instantly. I could practically look at a page of text in my mind and recall it. Now, I struggle sometimes to find the word I want, to remember the names of people that I should have no problem recalling.
• Back to the sleep. I’m falling asleep by about 8:30pm. I never get more than about six hours of actual sleep. So I’m tired most days, most of the day.
• I can’t take too much darkness, cold, or heat anymore. It’s annoying to feel like I need to be in a carefully climate controlled environment all the time.
• My jar of fks emptied out a couple of decades ago. I can still recall when I cared what random people thought of me. That was kind of a miserable time. Now, the only people whose opinion of me matters are my wife and kids.
• I never had much tolerance for stupid. I’m less likely to hide it if you annoy me with stupid now than might have been the case 20 years ago (see previous bullet point.)

One more important thing. I’m not saying every old man is like this, but, typically, a man has less of a social network than women. And men tend to die earlier than women. And old man is more likely to lack much of any social network besides his wife, and that will also contribute to a loss of social skills over time.