advancing age; the toll of growing older
Set phrase often used with verbs like 勝てない or には勝てない to express that one cannot fight the effects of aging. Conveys a sense of gradual, inevitable decline.
I can't fight the advancing years; lately I don't recover from fatigue as easily.
My father, too, has been slowed by age and can't run like he used to.
A noun meaning 'old age' or 'aging' in a general sense. 寄る年波 focuses on the gradual, wave-like encroachment of age.
Literally 'the waves of age that come upon one.' 寄る means 'to approach' or 'to come near,' and 年波 combines 年 (year/age) with 波 (wave), evoking the image of waves steadily washing ashore.