The 5 Things People Over 70 Regret With Their Health

But recently I started asking a different question. Instead of studying what fit older people do right, I asked what they wish they'd done differently.

The answers were almost identical. Person after person, the same regrets kept surfacing.

These aren't people who neglected their health entirely. Most of them are doing okay. But they've lived long enough to see what actually mattered - and what they missed.

Here's what they told me.

1. "I Wish I'd Taken Sleep Seriously"

This came up more than I expected.

"I treated sleep like it was negotiable," a 73-year-old told me. "I'd stay up late, wake up early, run on five or six hours and think I was fine. I wasn't fine. I was slowly breaking down and didn't even realize it."

Multiple people echoed this. They'd sacrificed sleep for work, for productivity, for one more episode, for the illusion that rest was for lazy people.

Now they see the cost.

"Every health problem I have," one 71-year-old said, "I can trace back to decades of not sleeping enough. The inflammation. The weight gain. The brain fog that never fully lifted. Sleep was the foundation I ignored."

The research backs this up. Poor sleep is linked to heart disease, diabetes, cognitive decline, weakened immunity, and shortened lifespan. It's not a luxury. It's the base layer everything else depends on.

Seven to eight hours. Every night. Non-negotiable. That's what they wish they'd understood at 35.

2. "I Wish I'd Walked More"

Almost everyone said some version of this.

"I thought walking didn't count," a 74-year-old told me. "It wasn't intense enough. It didn't feel like exercise. So I ignored it and only did 'real' workouts a few times a week."

Now she walks every day. But she wishes she'd started decades earlier.

"The people I know who are thriving at my age all have one thing in common - they've been walking daily for 30 or 40 years. It's not complicated. It's just consistent."

A 70-year-old man told me his biggest regret was driving everywhere in his 40s and 50s. "I'd drive to places I could have walked in 10 minutes. I thought I was saving time. I was actually shortening my life."

The research shows 15 minutes of daily walking adds three years to life expectancy. It reduces heart disease, improves mood, maintains mobility, protects cognitive function.

Walking looks too simple to matter. That's why most people skip it. The people who didn't skip it are grateful now.

3. "I Wish I'd Built Strength Earlier"

"I did cardio for 30 years," a 68-year-old woman told me. "Aerobics classes, treadmill, elliptical. Never touched a weight. Now I have osteoporosis and I'm weaker than I should be."

This regret was especially common among women, but men mentioned it too.

"I thought lifting was for young guys trying to look good," a 72-year-old man said. "I didn't realize it was the key to staying functional. Now I struggle to carry groceries. My balance is off. I'm paying for all those years I skipped resistance training."

Muscle mass declines 3–5% per decade after 30. This accelerates after 60. The loss leads to frailty, falls, fractures, loss of independence.

The only way to slow it: resistance training.

It doesn't have to be heavy barbells. Bodyweight exercises count. Light dumbbells count. The point is loading your muscles regularly so they don't disappear.

"Start at 30," one 71-year-old told me. "If you're past 30, start now. Don't wait until you're weak to realize strength mattered."

4. "I Wish I'd Listened to Pain Sooner"

"I pushed through everything," a 69-year-old told me. "Knee pain? Push through. Back pain? Push through. I thought ignoring pain made me tough. It made me broken."

This regret came up constantly. People who treated pain as an inconvenience rather than a signal. People who delayed seeing doctors. People who let small problems become permanent damage.

"I needed a knee replacement at 62," one man told me. "My doctor said if I'd addressed the issue 10 years earlier, I might have avoided surgery entirely. But I kept running on it because I didn't want to slow down."

Pain is information. The people who age well learned to listen to it early. They got things checked out. They modified exercises when something hurt. They treated their bodies like machines that needed maintenance, not punishment.

"Your body tells you when something is wrong," a 73-year-old told me. "The people who age well listen. I didn't. I wish I had."

5. "I Wish I'd Worried Less"

This one surprised me. I expected regrets about diet or exercise. But multiple people said their biggest health regret was stress.

"I spent 30 years anxious about everything," a 71-year-old told me. "Work, money, the future, what people thought of me. I was in a constant state of low-level panic. Now I realize that stress probably did more damage than anything else."

Chronic stress raises cortisol, increases inflammation, damages cardiovascular health, weakens the immune system, and accelerates aging. The research is overwhelming.

"I look at people my age who were calmer, who didn't take everything so seriously," she continued. "They're healthier than me. They look younger. I can't prove the stress caused my problems, but I believe it."

A 74-year-old man put it simply: "I wish I'd learned that most of what I worried about never happened. And the things that did happen, I handled. All that worrying was just poison I fed myself for decades."

What This Means for You

These aren't obscure regrets. They're not about exotic supplements or cutting-edge protocols.

Sleep more. Walk daily. Build strength. Listen to pain. Stress less.

That's it. That's what people at 70 wish they'd prioritized at 40.

The cruel part is how simple it sounds - and how easy it is to dismiss. These habits don't feel urgent when you're young. The consequences are invisible for decades. By the time you see the cost, you've already paid most of it.

But you're reading this now. You know what they wish they'd known.

The question is whether you'll act on it, or end up with the same regrets.

Every person I talked to said some version of the same thing: "I thought I had more time. I didn't."

You have time. Use it.

Today's FL10 Minute Workout: Outlive The Meeting

Location: Home, Office, Anywhere

Zone: Longevity / Mobility / Functional Strength

Each Exercise: 2 Minutes

• Deep Squat Hold (hip mobility + ankle flexibility - the #1 longevity movement)

• Single Leg Balance (each leg 1 min - fall prevention + proprioception)

• Cat-Cow to World's Greatest Stretch (spine health + thoracic mobility)

• Slow Reverse Lunges (joint-friendly leg strength + balance)

• Dead Hang Position or Standing Shoulder Stretch (decompression + grip/shoulder health)

Total Time: 10 Minutes

Continue the 10 minute streak. I share workouts in my newsletter.

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This content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not a substitute for professional care. Always listen to your body and consult a qualified healthcare professional before making changes to your diet, exercise routine, or health practices - especially if you have existing conditions or injuries.