Why do old people's hands shake?!

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Many reasons. I can elaborate on one: My husband, age 69, has "tremors". It is an inherited condition - his mother also had it in her 60s. It can be inherited as early as age 30s, but may not be inherited at all. His hands shake some, but not uncontrollably, just enough to make writing difficult. He tried drugs to control it, but the side effects were worse than the tremors, so he opted out (and it was very slow and difficult tapering off the medication). It doesn't really bother him, and he jokes about his carpentry skills! Other than tremors, he's in excellent shape - we travel, hike, canoe, rebuild all our decks, cut & split firewood, etc.

There are many medical conditions like Parkinson's that cause tremors, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to explain those.

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