Does sickness hit you harder the older you get?

January 5, 2010 1:46pm CST

I've been banging on about feeling ill all over the holiday period. Actually it all started a week or so before when I began coughing and found that the slightest effort really wore me out. It made my Christmas preparations really hard work. And a couple of days before the big day I realised it was the onset of some kind of chest infection. I had no appetite for any Christmas treats and I've lost weight (no bad thing really). Now we are five days into 2010 and i still feel rough and have to rest a lot. When I was younger I didn't find it hard to shake these things off, but in the last few years whenever I've had a cold I remember saying that I'd never felt that bad before. This time my hubby said it for me. He doesn't think I've seemed this bad before. Is it something to do with age, do you think?

1 person likes this

15 responses

• China

6 Jan 10

Yes, I agree on it. You will easily to get ill when you become older and older. That is a natural phenomenon. Once you realize this, you should pay more attention to your health, your diet and your daily habit. As the age goes up, should you do more exercise everyday ? Should you take more rest ? To make youself and your family happy, health is always the first priority, not only the physical but also the spirit. I strongly recommend you to do more exercise to keep physical stong, and keep away from Sur-health.

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6 Jan 10

Thanks Esmechan. You make a good point. At the moment it's rest I need, but I'll certainly resume exercise as soon as I am strong enough. Not sure what Sur-health is actually.

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18 Jan 10

Thanks for explaining that, Esmechan. I hadn't heard it called that before, but I am familiar with the feeling. Actually I dislike visiting the doctor because they always manage to make me feel I am wasting their time. Of course sometimes it is obvious you are not, and you have to go.

• China

8 Jan 10

Sorry, I made a mistake. What i want to tell is "Keep away from Sub-Healtl". That is a unhealthy stage between sick and Healthy, when you always feel not sick but the doctor can not find any abnormalty or cause. That is Sub-Health, whick become more and more common in our city society. Sometimes i will suffer from such sub-health and anxiety as well.

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@beabenitez (153)

• Philippines

18 Jan 10

yeah that is true... that is why when we are older we should encourage ourselves to exercise and to watch what we eat...if we can do without it during younger days..its different now...we should be more cautious if we want to avoid as such.

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18 Jan 10

Absolutely true. It's down to us to ook after ourselves as much as is possible. I haven't been able to take exercise for a month because I have been sick, but my energy is starting to return now and getting back into my exercise routine will only help that.

@sid556 (30960)

• United States

6 Jan 10

Hi there Jakill, Well, age could have a little something to do with it but I'm not really sure. I'm 53 and I very very rarely get sick. If I get a cold or a flu I am able to ward it off in a day or so and I haven't missed work in....I can't even remember a time when I missed work due to illness....years ago maybe. I think it mainly depends on your immune system and what you are exposed to. I work with a young girl who seems to get sick quite a lot. Have you been to a doctor for this? If you have bronchitis or pnemonia then you won't be able to get rid of it without some antibiotics. In fact, it could turn into something really serious. It does sound like you have something more than just a cold. I hope you are feeling better real soon.

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6 Jan 10

Thank you Sid. I don't feel this is really life threatening so I don't want to call for help, and it would be rather difficult to get to the surgery in the severe weather we are having and, as usual in the UK, are completely unprepared for. Actually I am lucky that I wasn't stranded in a car overnight as so many people were here. i think I might have to go to my GP once the weather clears a bit, though.

@agv0419 (3022)

• Philippines

6 Jan 10

Yes I believe it that illness going to show up when you gets old. Like in my mother case her asthma was showed up again and the attacks was more often last year. Added to her asthma she was high blood and she can't do the things that she can do when she was younger..

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18 Jan 10

Sorry to hear about your mother. I guess we can all look forward to more health problems as we age.

@MrKennedy (1978)

•

6 Jan 10

I think that it is a proven fact that as you get older, sickness hits you much harder than when you were younger. I believe this is because over time your immune system becomes weak and so not only are you less resilient to illness-provoking germs, but it also takes a longer time for recovery.

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6 Jan 10

Thanks for yet more advice. I'm sure there are a mix of factors that contributed to this.

@wellywinardy (11)

• Indonesia

6 Jan 10

hello, you can get sickness at any age. it depends on your body. if you're under a lot of stress or you're working a lot, it may decrease your body vitality. if you're under stress or working a lot, perhaps you should take multivitamins. take it in the morning before any activity.

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6 Jan 10

Thank you for the advice. This did hit me when I was busy with Christmas preparations at the same time as I came out of retirement with two new clients, so you could be right.

@cher913 (25782)

• Canada

5 Jan 10

i think it does and i have heard it has. i think that if it persists, you should go see your doctor. i was feeling tired and run down and the doctor took blood tests and it turned out to be a thyroid issue.

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6 Jan 10

Thank you cher. Sorry about your thyroid. Hope it has been sorted out. We have a bit of snow at the moment so I think I'm better off staying at home. But will see my GP if it doesn't clear soon.

@drakesuyat (1063)

• Philippines

6 Jan 10

sad to say, but yes. i myself experienced the same thing with simple colds. it makes me feel like i was striken by a heavy illness that i wanted to rest completely unlike those younger years that you can still play the whole day with simple colds. sure our immune system is getting weaker even if we are not that old because of the so many pollutions around. happy mylotting jakill

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6 Jan 10

That's a good point about the environment being more polluted. Let's hope we've had our share of sickness for a while.

@ellie333 (21016)

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5 Jan 10

Hi Jakill, It could be that this is just a very stubborn viral infection that doens'twant to go away, when my son had swine flu in July, although well enough after about a week to be up and playing again he got very tired and was not quite himself for about six weeks after that.If this has gone to your chest maybe go to the docs to get it checked out and get some antibiotics or if into alternatives try a herbal rememdy. Hope you are soon feeling much better though. Healing huggles. Ellie :D

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6 Jan 10

Yes, thanks Ellie. You could be right. Could be just the strength of the bug and nothing at all to do with my age.

@savypat (20216)

• United States

5 Jan 10

I don't get exposed to small children or work in a closed office and interact with the public so I don't get sick as often, but when I do it takes much longer for me to recover what use to take a week now takes two or three. I'm sure age has something to do with it.

poor health and age

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6 Jan 10

That does seem to be the consensus, Pat.

@happy6162 (3001)

• United States

6 Jan 10

I have been told this before that the older I get the harder sickness does hit you. If after no more then a week I am not starting to feel better I go to the doctors. If the infection is now in your chest then you should go to the doctor to get some medicine then maybe you will not feel so tired anymore.

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6 Jan 10

Thanks happy. You're right of course. I will see my GP if this doesn't get better soon.

@megamatt (14292)

• United States

5 Jan 10

Sickness does hit you much harder when you get older. I pretty much bounced back on my feet easily from sickness in my teenage years. Now as I am in my twenties, the rare times I do when I get sick, I really get sick. I can just imagine the fun and games in store when sickness hits me as I get older. As I said, I rarely get sick. However, when I do, I more than make it for it when I do these days.

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6 Jan 10

Well, if you are only in your twenties now, you still have a long way to go. Make sure you keep up a healthy lifestyle, and I hope things won't get too much worse for you in the years to come.

@PastorP (1170)

• United States

6 Jan 10

Hi jakill. Well it could be age, but imo we humans tend to blame too much on age. Your immune system might be week or maybe you are overworked. For me, the severity of colds have lessened for me in the past decade. I do take a number of natural food supplements. I have a cold not. It's not as bad as the ones I had in the 80's and 90's.

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6 Jan 10

Hi PastorP. You seem to be in the minority here, but I take on board what you say. I do take Vit C etc. and think I was fighting this off for a while before it won. Hope your cold doesn't get any worse.

@abeaver1988 (1)

• United States

6 Jan 10

i think that is true because when i was younger i barely ever got sick but now that im older i get sick atleast twice a year and when i do its really bad i hate it

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6 Jan 10

I hate it too. It's very depressing. I hope 2010 will be a good year for you with no sickness.

@amijor (234)

• Philippines

6 Jan 10

Yes, illness has a tendency to hit harder as one gets old especially if one has a preexisting medical condition that is either diagnosed or undiagnosed. If a simple cold does hit you harder than before it is best to seek a doctor's advice since that cold could be more than it is or that you have a new condition that makes that cold worse.