I am 40 years old and I am certain at this point that if I stayed 40 years old for 20 years I would get less done than if I were 20 years old for 10 years. It just seems like a waste of resources to live after the body feels half dead already. Lol. Any thoughts? — TiredThinker

Many older people report that they feel 20 at 50. I am in my 50's and I would say I didn't start getting productive till I was 40. I am certainly more active. What does getting less done mean? I think it depends on the person their lifestyle and mental health. Bear in mind too that youth and physicality may not be as valuable as wisdom and experience. Pessimism tends to be a self-fulfilling prophesy - if you think you're done, you probably soon will be.

I am 40 years old and I am certain at this point that if I stayed 40 years old for 20 years I would get less done than if I were 20 years old for 10 years. It just seems like a waste of resources to live after the body feels half dead already. Lol. Any thoughts? — TiredThinker

I am 69 and I've been retired for two years. When I was still working as an engineer, I was much better at what I did than when I was 20, 30, or 40. I was also paid a lot more. That's the fight - to keep your effectiveness balanced with your cost. I think when I was 66 I was often more productive than people half my age, even taking into account my pay scale.

I'm just as smart as I was when I was 30. I'm much more experienced. I've seen everything before five times. Perspective makes you better at what you do, unless it's something physical that requires a young body. My body can't do the things it used to. I made an appointment with a physiotherapist today to deal with hip pain. But I don't feel "half dead."

Mind and body age differently. They ain't always in sync. That's what IQ measures I suppose, (mental age)/(Body's age) * 100, if memory serves.

This squares with what I've always suspected for a long - the human mind and the human body are out of phase.

Why?

Our minds have invented/discovered morality, a corollary of which is we shouldn't kill animals but our bodies are built for carnivory (look up vermiform appendix). In other words, the human race, taken as a whole, has an IQ that's off the charts. The human mind's age > The human body's age. We're all superintelligent folks!

Of course it all depends on, in this case, whether carnivory is/was a "smart" move or not. If it was/is then, the opposite is true. Our primitive minds are stuck in the moral dimension while our bodies have advanced to consume meat, a wise move given how food is priority no. 1 . Ergo, The human mind's age < The human body's age i.e. we're a race of idiots!

I would say I didn't start getting productive till I was 40 — Tom Storm

Absolutely. I hope the trend continues for me. I can tell that I don't have as much sheer physical strength as I used to (e.g. I can't lift as much as I used to or run as fast), but I have more endurance and it now feels natural to approach large projects little by little and complete them.

There's a reason why marathon runners are typically older than 100 meter sprinters.

Well I have bone spurs in my neck so my sleep is constantly being disrupted by pain and my balance is off and I feel weakness in my arms sometimes. My hand eye coordination has declined. I have headaches everyday now. I developed a retina disease a few years back and can't read nearly as fast as I used to. Jogging leaves my legs tired for days after. Every activity takes excessive amounts of time to recover from. I don't even remember anything that happened 2 days ago. Memories are so incredibly shallow now and I have to write down literally everything or it could be gone forever.

I had none of these issues 7 years ago, and felt overall better 20 years ago. I could go longer without sleep and got so much more from sleep when I did. My concentration and creativity was boundless. Personally if I could be at my best for 10 years and die immediately after than be as now for 30 years (which is very optimistic) then die, I would get done everything in life I would want. I would even have my eyesight as before as that I could confirm what got done.

birth and death is how the human race adapts to a changing environment

out with the old and in with the new

survival of the fittest