20 Mistakes You’re Too Old to Make After 40

Is life begins at 40 a myth?

They say that with age comes wisdom, but for many people in their 40s, even having a few decades of life experience doesn’t grant immunity from mistakes. While a new decade can be the catalyst for healthier life choices for some, others simply become even more set in their ways, making it easy to get complacent and continue repeating the same errors over and over and over again.

“Can you imagine knowing what you know now, at age 40 or beyond, in your teens, 20s, and 30s? All those silly breakups with boyfriends or girlfriends wouldn’t have mattered so much, you would have never started that career only because you thought it would make you a ‘ton’ of money, and you would have probably worn sunscreen, taken time out for yourself, and shown yourself more self-love,” says Dr. Jaime Kulaga, Ph.D., LMHC. “As we age, we tend to contemplate our overall life more, as a whole, than we do early in life.

Early in life, you are creating experiences that you will soon learn from. In your 40s and beyond you have often created so many experiences and learned so much that you now have time to begin reflecting on how these experiences and learning lessons have shaped you.”

So, how do you avoid looking back 40 years from now and feeling little more than a nagging sense of regret? Here’s a compiled 26 mistakes you’re too old to make after 40, giving you a cheat sheet for a happier, more fulfilling life.

1. Not contributing to your 401K

While it may seem daunting to contribute cash to your 401K if you’re already on a tight budget, not doing so is essentially just throwing free money in the trash, especially if your employer offers a partial match. If you make $50,000 a year and contribute 10 percent of your annual salary with a five percent match and seven percent rate of return, even if you don’t start saving until age 30, you’ll still have over a million dollars in your account if you retire at 65.

2. Living beyond your means

Though there may be little you can do about your lackluster paycheck, there’s plenty you can do to keep from spending yourself into a hole. Regardless of how much money you make, by the time you’re in your 40s, it’s time to have a monthly budget in place so that those days of living paycheck to paycheck are over once and for all.

3. Getting into relationships to avoid being alone

Whether you just haven’t found the right person yet, are recently divorced, or kind of see yourself as a solo flier, by 40, you’re wasting both your time and that of the people you date if your only reason for getting into relationships is to avoid being alone. While there’s still plenty of time to find a relationship that works for you in your 40s, it’s also well worth it to learn to enjoy your own company just as much as the company of others.

4. Jumping on fad diets

It’s never too late to start working to improve your health, but by 40, it’s time to put the fad diets to bed. In addition to being stressful and hard to follow in the long run, researchers from UCLA have found that, while it is possible to lose up to 10 percent of your body weight on a diet, virtually all dieters gain the weight back over time.

5. Not getting regular check-ups

Your parents forced you to get to the doctor on a yearly basis as a kid, and rightly so. By the time you’re in your 40s, there’s no excuse to avoid your yearly checkup — in fact, making sure you get to the doctor for an annual physical, as well as when any new health issues arise, can mean the difference between life and death.

6. Basing your self-worth on what other people think

It’s hard not to fall prey to the judgments of others, but letting what other people think of you will never let you figure out what you really want out of life.

“When you base your self-worth on what other people think of you, you’re giving up your control to outside factors,” says Kulaga. “You will find that you start chasing what you ‘think’ other people want. This takes you off your goal path, and it can lead you to superficial happiness that doesn’t last but a very short while — in some cases, only minutes (for example, waiting for ‘likes’ on social media to come in). When you do what you know is right for you and your life, you find long-lasting happiness and fulfillment.”

7. Skimping on sleep

There are few things more refreshing than a good night’s sleep. And while your increasing work and family commitments in your 40s may make it harder to log those long hours in bed, it’s essential to at least try. According to researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, a lack of sleep is related to a reduction in lifespan, so if you want another 40 years to look forward to, there’s no time like the present to start getting eight hours a night.

8. Not wearing sunscreen

Each year, 5.4million cases of basal and squamous cell carcinoma are diagnosed each year in the U.S. alone, in addition to 91,270 melanoma diagnoses. That is to say: if you’re not wearing sunscreen on a regular basis — that is to say every day, rain or shine — you’re putting your health at risk with a mistake you’re old enough to know better than to make.

9. Drinking too much

The occasional glass of beer or wine likely won’t cause you harm, but by the time you’re in your 40s, it’s time to stop partying like a college kid. In addition to increasing your risk of esophageal, stomach, liver, and colon cancer, by the time you’re in your 40s, you’re well past the age of excusing your hangover at work as a matter of simply “not knowing your tolerance.”

10. Not reading

The most interesting person in any given situation isn’t necessarily the one with the wildest stories — it’s the person who’s read the most books. Unfortunately, according to the Pew Research Center, a staggering 27 percent of U.S. adults haven’t read so much as a single word in a book in the past 12 months. And considering that reading has been shown to reduce stress, improve your vocabulary, and even reduce your dementia risk, forgoing books is hardly a mistake you can afford to keep making after 40.

11. Putting work above everything else.

Work may occupy a large percentage of your time in your 40s, but prioritizing it over your relationships or health is a mistake you’ll come to regret. No matter how much you enjoy your work, your job will never love you back, and you’ll never get the time you spent sitting behind that desk.

12. Not exercising

While getting up early to hit the gym in the morning may not be the most fun you have all week, if you’re not getting regular exercise after your 40th birthday, it’s a mistake you’ll live to regret. In addition to reducing your risk of heart attack and stroke, research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggests that regular exercise can help you live significantly longer, even if you don’t start working out until later in life.

13. Neglecting your mental health

While you may make your physical health a priority, if you’re over 40, it’s high time you addressed your mental health, too. Considering that mental health issues can affect your relationships, your work life, and your physical health, there’s no time like the present to have them addressed by a professional.

14. Thinking you’re too old to do the things you want

They say age is nothing but a number, and in many ways, that’s true. However, for many people entering their 40s, it also means they suddenly assume they’re too old to do all the things they had planned for themselves. “When you assume you are too ‘old’ to embark on that dream, all you do is put off happiness for another month, year, or decade. You’re in charge of your life. Society isn’t. If you want to go back for your four-year degree at 60, do it. You can dream at any age, and, you can make dreams come true at any age,” says Kulaga.

15. Getting behind the wheel after a few drinks

While you may think you know your tolerance pretty well, there’s no excuse to get behind the wheel after you’ve had a couple of drinks, especially decades after your 21st birthday has come and gone. However, considering that approximately one percent of licensed drivers — and countless others who haven’t been caught — have been busted for DUI or DWI, it’s clear this lesson hasn’t caught on as much as we might have hoped.

16. Not spending enough time with your family

By the time you’re in your 40s, your parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents are likely getting up there in years. And with that in mind, there’s no time like the present to start making more time for them if you have healthy relationships with them. You’ll never regret making time for them before they pass.

17. Sitting all-day

Hitting the gym for a few hours a week may not be enough to keep you healthy in the long run. If you’re over 40, it’s essential you break up those hours spent sitting in your chair with some movement. Considering that sitting for too long has been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and even early death, it’s time to break things up with a standing desk or under-desk exercise machine. It’ll also work wonders on any lower back pain you might have.

18. Not having life insurance

While 40 may be relatively young by most standards, tragedies happen all the time. An accident or illness could mean that your loved ones are no longer able to pay their bills, but a good life insurance policy can help you prevent that doomsday prophecy from coming true.

19. Letting your eyesight deteriorate

While wearing glasses isn’t exactly the end of the world, letting your eyesight go unchecked in your 40s is, without a doubt, a pretty major mistake. Getting your eyes checked on a regular basis can keep those minor eye health issues from turning into debilitating ones.

20. Avoiding the scale

Watching your weight creep up as you approach middle age probably isn’t your favorite activity, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t hop on the scale from time to time. While your weight may not define you, keeping an eye on it can help you from gaining too much or can alert you when you’re dropping pounds without trying — the latter a potential sign of a more serious health issue.

21. Holding onto meaningless grudges

Those grudges you’ve been holding onto for years are well worth ditching by the time you’re in your 40s. In addition to putting unnecessary walls between you and people who’ve instigated some kind of perceived slight, researchers at Johns Hopkins University have even found evidence to suggest that holding on to grudges can increase stress and may even make you more likely to die prematurely.

22. Spending time with toxic people

By the time you’re in your 40s, your life may be reaching its halfway point. And unless you want to spend the next 40 years bogged down by bad relationships and struggling to remember why you got into them in the first place, cutting toxic people out of your life is key.

23. Quitting jobs without a backup plan

It may seem like a dream to walk out the door of your dead-end job and never look back, by the time you’re in your 40s, it’s pretty clear that doing so without a backup plan is a mistake. Before you quit your job in search of greener pastures, it’s time to make sure you’ve got some reasonable possibilities lined up so you can keep the lights on — job hunting certainly doesn’t get easier after 40, after all.

24. Letting debt build

According to the Federal Reserve, the average American household carries upwards of $6,200 in credit card debt. If you want to ensure a healthy financial future — even a possible retirement — it’s time to start paying off those balances at the end of every month, or at least attempting to save up enough to do so, or you might regret it going forward.

25. Smoking

While fewer Americans are smoking than ever, if you’re among the few who continue to light up, you’ll definitely regret it down the line. Even if you don’t end up suffering from emphysema, lung cancer, or any of the other ailments related to smoking, knowing that you neglected your health for so long is an undeniable mistake.

26. Sabotaging good relationships

Sometimes, it’s hard to believe we’re worthy of the good things that come to us, but continually sabotaging healthy relationships because you’re worried something bad will happen is a mistake you can’t afford to keep making in your 40s. Whether your relationships are romantic or platonic, it’s important to nurture the good relationships in your life and avoid messing up anything good.

After all that, I’d say.. Life doesn’t begin at 40 after all.