When Getting Dressed Takes Twice as Long

It is not a sign of decline. It is a signal worth listening to. And there is a lot you can do about it.

A reader named Carol, 74, sent me a note a few months ago. She said she used to get dressed in ten minutes flat. Shower, clothes, shoes, out the door. Now it takes closer to forty-five. The buttons on her favorite blouse have become a small battle every morning. Pulling on socks requires sitting on the edge of the bed and taking her time. She mentioned it almost as an aside, like it was too small a thing to bring up.

Then she added: “I don’t know if it’s just me, or if I should be worried, or if I should just get rid of all my nice clothes and buy tracksuits.”

It is not just Carol. And it is not just you, if you have noticed the same thing.

The moment you do notice it, a question settles in. The kind that does not go away on its own.

Okay. So what can I actually do about this?

That is the right question. And the answer is more practical than most people expect, because the difficulty is not random. It has specific, well-understood causes. And once you understand what is actually happening in your body on a slow morning, the solutions become obvious.

First: This Is Not Decline. This Is Biology.

Before we get to the practical steps, there is something worth understanding, because it changes how you think about everything that follows.

For most people, a slow morning feels like a verdict. Like the body has started losing ground and getting dressed is the daily proof. That interpretation is wrong, and it matters that it is wrong.

What is actually happening has a name. During sleep, the synovial fluid that cushions your joints thickens. It becomes less effective at lubrication. When you wake up, your joints are not yet working at full capacity. In research, this is called the gel phenomenon, and it is a normal, measurable process that occurs across the adult lifespan and becomes more pronounced with age.

For most people under 50, it resolves within minutes. For most people over 65, especially those with any degree of arthritis or joint wear, which is the majority, it can take 30 to 60 minutes to fully ease. This is why the first task of the morning is harder than the same task would be at noon. It is not a sign of how the rest of your day will go. It is your body asking for a warm-up it has not received yet.

Add to this the normal changes in fine motor control that come with age. A study published in the Journal of Hand Therapy found that grip strength declines by roughly 20 to 30 percent between the ages of 50 and 80. The pincer grip, the one you use to work a button, pull up a zip, or fasten a clasp, is especially affected. This is not damage. It is the same kind of gradual change as shifts in eyesight or hearing. If you want to understand what is happening in your hands specifically, and what you can do about it, this article goes deeper.

And then there is morning fatigue. Many older adults experience lower cognitive and physical alertness in the first hour after waking, distinct from poor sleep. The tasks you do on autopilot at midday require more conscious effort at 7am. Getting dressed, which is actually a fairly complex sequence of decisions and small movements, can feel unexpectedly demanding at that hour.

None of this is a sign that something is wrong. All of it is a sign that mornings deserve a different kind of attention than they used to.

Let that land for a moment. Because once you understand that this is biology, not failure, the question shifts from what is happening to me to what can I do about it. And there is quite a lot.

Tip 1: Warm Up Before You Get Dressed. Your Joints Are Not Fully Awake Yet.

Because morning stiffness is a lubrication problem, movement is the most direct fix. Five minutes of gentle movement before you attempt buttons, zips, or tight fastenings makes a measurable difference. Not because it is exercise, but because it stimulates the production and circulation of synovial fluid.

This does not need to be a formal routine. While still sitting on the edge of the bed:

• Rotate your wrists slowly in both directions, ten times each

• Open and close your hands into fists, several times

• Roll your ankles, flex and point your feet

• Roll your shoulders forward and back

• Take five slow, deep breaths, which activates circulation throughout the body

Warm water helps as well. Many people find that washing their hands with warm water, or stepping into a warm shower before dressing, noticeably eases hand stiffness. This is not incidental. Heat increases tissue flexibility and promotes synovial fluid movement in the small joints of the hand.

The key insight: you are not fighting your body in the morning. You are meeting it where it is and giving it what it needs to get going. That is a completely different relationship with your morning than most people have.

Tip 2: Rethink Your Fastenings. Small Swaps Have Real Returns.

You do not have to replace everything you own. But it is worth looking at the specific items that have become consistently difficult and asking honestly whether the daily friction is worth it.

Magnetic button replacements are now widely available and look identical to regular buttons from the outside. A tailor or alteration service can replace the buttons on a favourite blouse or shirt in a single appointment. From the outside, no one will know. From the inside, the morning battle disappears.

Other changes worth considering:

• Elastic shoelaces let you keep the shoes you love without the daily wrestling match. They look like regular laces and you never need to tie them again.

• Zip pulls extend the tab on any zipper, giving you something easier to grip. Available online for a few dollars.

• Front-fastening bras eliminate the behind-the-back clasp entirely.

• Side-zip trousers or skirts are far easier than overhead or back-zip styles.

None of these changes are visible to anyone else. They are private adjustments that protect the energy and dexterity you have, rather than spending both fighting with fastenings that were designed for hands twenty years younger.

Tip 3: Let Your Morning Sequence Follow Your Body. Not the Other Way Around.

Most people get dressed early in their morning routine, often before they have had a drink, before they have moved around, before their joints have warmed up. There is no rule that says this has to happen first.

If you find that waiting 20 to 30 minutes, having a cup of tea, moving through your kitchen, and letting your body come online before attempting buttons and zips makes dressing significantly easier, then do that. The morning routine exists to serve you, not the other way around.

A simple resequence for most people:

1. Wake up and do the in-bed or edge-of-bed gentle movement described above

2. Make a warm drink and move around the kitchen while it brews

3. Wash your hands or shower with warm water

4. Dress now, when your joints are warmer and more responsive

The same physical tasks, in a different order, with a different outcome. The body has not changed. The approach has.

Tip 4: Lay Out Your Clothes the Night Before. Decisions Cost Energy You Do Not Have Yet.

This is practical for one underrated reason: it removes decision-making from the hardest part of your day.

Decisions cost cognitive energy. When you are stiff, moving slowly, and not yet fully awake, having to stand in front of a wardrobe and choose what to wear adds real load to a moment that is already demanding. Small decisions compound. By the time you have figured out what to wear, you may have already spent energy you needed for the rest of getting dressed.

Five minutes of choosing the night before, when you are more alert and unhurried, buys you a calmer, faster morning. Lay out everything, including underwear, socks, and shoes. Remove the decisions entirely from the morning sequence.

This is not a coping strategy. It is what people with demanding mornings, athletes, surgeons, parents of young children, have always done. Reduce the variables. Protect the energy.

Tip 5: Take Fit Seriously. The Right Clothes Work With You.

Fit is a practical matter, not a vanity one. Clothes that are slightly roomier are easier to get on and off, without being the compromise they might seem. What to look for:

• Natural stretch fabrics, which give with movement rather than resisting it

• Wider neck openings, which eliminate the overhead struggle

• Loose-fitting sleeves, which do not require precise arm placement to thread through

• Elasticated waistbands, which remove the button-and-zip sequence entirely for everyday trousers

Many clothing brands now offer what they call adaptive or easy-wear ranges, originally developed in occupational therapy settings, that are indistinguishable from regular clothes in appearance. These are not medical garments. They are well-designed clothes built with a more honest understanding of how bodies actually work.

The honest question worth asking about any item in your wardrobe: does wearing this leave me feeling more capable and comfortable, or does it start my day with a fight? You are allowed to retire the fight.

Tip 6: Use the Tools That Exist. That Is What They Are For.

There is a category of dressing aids that most people do not know about until an occupational therapist mentions them, at which point they usually say: why did no one tell me about this sooner?

• Button hooks give you leverage for small buttons without requiring a precise pincer grip

• Long-handled sock aids allow you to put on socks without bending forward

• Long-handled shoehorns guide your foot into a shoe without crouching

• Dressing sticks help manoeuvre sleeves and trouser legs without full range of motion

These tools exist because getting dressed is a task that requires specific fine motor and flexibility demands that not everyone has at the same level every morning. Using one does not mean you are dependent. It means you are staying independent.

The grab bar does not replace your balance. It protects the balance you have, so you keep using it. A button hook works exactly the same way.

Putting It Together: You Do Not Have to Change Everything at Once

Reading a list like this can feel like a lot. Six changes. Where do you start?

Any one of these, done consistently, is better than all of them done perfectly for a week and then abandoned.

Start with the one that addresses your biggest friction point. If buttons are the main battle, start with Tip 2. If the first 20 minutes of the morning are consistently the hardest, start with Tip 1 and Tip 3. If you are regularly exhausted before you finish dressing, look at Tip 4.

Build one change until it feels automatic. Then add another. Over a few weeks, the compound effect of smaller friction, warmer joints, and better-sequenced mornings adds up to a noticeably different start to your day.

Carol, by the way, replied to my response. She ordered a button hook and a sock aid. She switched two blouses to magnetic closures. And she started having her tea before she got dressed instead of after. She said the mornings feel different now.

She kept the nice clothes.

A Note on What This Is Not

These adjustments reduce friction and protect energy. They give your mornings every possible advantage.

They are not a cure for significant arthritis, nerve damage, or acute pain. If your morning difficulty involves strong pain, swelling in the joints, stiffness that lasts more than an hour on most days, or a sudden and noticeable change in what you can manage, that is worth mentioning to your GP. An occupational therapist can also assess your specific morning routine and offer tailored recommendations, often covered by health services. They are very good at exactly this.

But for the slow mornings that most people over 65 are navigating quietly and alone, these changes are not small comforts. They are the difference between starting the day feeling capable and starting it feeling already behind.

That is not a small thing.

What is the hardest part of your morning routine right now? Or is there a change you have already made that made a real difference? Tell me in the comments.

A note on product links: The links throughout this article are provided to help you see what these products look like and the kinds of features we’re referring to. They’re not specific recommendations, just a helpful starting point for your own research. You’re free to find similar products at local stores or other online retailers. If you do choose to purchase through one of the links, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.