Best Exercise to Stay Fit into your 80’s Older seniors can suddenly be faced with an overwhelming number of obstacles as they celebrate 80 or more birthdays. Not only do we find ourselves getting weaker, but medical problems also seem to appear out of nowhere. Today’s question is a great example of a real world situation many of us will face. Limitations in our functional activities generally increase as we age. 85% of seniors between 65 years old and 69 years old report no problems with self-care or walking. That number drops to 51% of seniors aged 85 or older reporting no problems with self-care or walking. And we experience these changes differently according to our genetics and our lifestyle choices through the years. Smoking, inactivity, overeating, and stress, can have a great effect on how we age. Recently a 96 year old patient of mine said, “I was fine until 93, and then I started to slow down.” Personally, I will consider myself very fortunate to make it