Depends on the person.

I became really dense about the time my son reached 16. When he reached 24 I miraculously recovered.

I always look up front when I board an airliner, and am always happy when there's a 'gray hair' flying; no substitute for experience in this business (and no, I'm not close to 65...).

My AME told me at my last 1st Class that I am 'way ahead of [my] cohort' i.e., in better shape, and she's very thorough. So age is relative - one guys 35 is another's 50 - that's what medicals are for.

Haha. My ame many years ago told me that he had just given an extremely fit pilot his first class medical. The man walked out of his office and had a heart attack on the side walk and died. Age had no bearing on it at all.

Don't rely on your FAA Medical as a statement of good health. If you are serious about your health make sure you have "other" checkups as well independent of your FAA protocol. There are many walking time bombs out there and the FAA medical protocol is not designed to catch them before they explode. FAA medicals are not preventive medical check-ups. Cardiac issues, diabetes can remain undiagnosed for many years under current FAA protocols.

That is the nature of heart attacks: they are unpredictable. The only correlations are between smoking and stress; there is no research (contrary to popular opinion) that they, and heart disease in general, are related to factors such as cholesterol levels.

Cholesterol in itself isn't bad at all. In fact it is needed for good health. It's the type that you have particle wise that makes the difference. Also big are the Triglycerides (unhealthy fat in your blood). Added sugar in your diet is toxic to your overall health. Many people with perfectly good cholesterol numbers have heart attacks. Genetics play a big part as well.

The Western diet and especially the American diet is really a recipe for disaster. If you ever get to watch the documentary "FED UP" it will be quite an eye-opener. The stuff that the food industry is putting out and the rise in obesity in this country (and elsewhere) is shocking.

Real food is good food and anything coming in a box............

Gray hair has nothing to do with experience.
How many gray hairs are newer hires?
Maybe he has sat mindlessly in that seat for 20+ years and never had a real issue.
Maybe he is older and slower now and couldn't handle the "issue" like he could in the past.

Caution letting your AME get too thorough.
Let you regular doc get thourough and find any problems.
That way they get fixed and aren't reported immediately to OKC.

I'd like to see stats on that. And "healthy" is thrown around pretty loosely and "runner" could mean he jogged .5 mile twice a week. My wife is a dietician and while I never lecture people on how they should eat I'm always surprised when people tell me what they eat and how it's healthy.

That's being said in regards to the post title. Apparently my company had a line pilot who's 68 pulled off a trip (dudes as sharp as they get too) because of some new safety rating in addition to ARGUS/WYVERN that doesn't allow for pilots over age 65. Anyone else heard of this happening or know of such safety standard?

It's not running and being healthy that does them in ... it's bragging about these things.
That invites the Karma Fairy to strike!