Asking your opinion on aging is not just an idle query. Does aging mean decline and disability to you? Or do you consider aging to be a time of opportunity and growth?
According to the Wall Street Journal, your attitude about aging plays a key role in how well you actually experience getting older.
“In test after test, researchers are finding that if we think about getting older in terms of decline or disability, our health likely will suffer. If, on the other hand, we see aging in terms of opportunity and growth, our bodies respond in kind,” Anne Tergesen wrote in the WSJ.
The good news is that there is a real physical and mental upside to aging with positive attitudes. On the other hand, negative stereotypes which are pervasive in America can do serious harm to all concerned.
“Psychologists and neuroscientists are identifying strategies that individuals can use to improve their mind-sets about aging, with benefits for their health and well-being. In a recent study, for example, researchers at institutions including the Yale School of Public Health found that older individuals who were subliminally exposed to positive messages about aging showed long-term improvements in self-image, strength and balance….
“Negative stereotypes about aging ‘are a public-health issue,’ says Becca Levy, an associate professor of epidemiology and psychology at the Yale School of Public Health and lead author of the Yale study. ‘What people aren’t aware of is that they have the ability to overcome and resist negative stereotypes’ and “compensate for the ill effects of automatic ageism.”
Of course, you don’t have any prejudices, right? Well, the Journal offers a really cool test on that. You can take the Implicit Association Test online.
I hope you will take it. You may be able to clear up any ageist stereotypes you may be favoring without being aware of them.
The Journal piece encourages us to accept the aging process. “ … it’s important not to go overboard and expect an entirely positive experience of aging. The key is to hold both positive and negative in balance and really understand and own the aging process.
On average, individuals ages 40 and older report feeling 20% younger than their actual ages—a tendency that can serve a useful psychological purpose.
“By distancing yourself from your age, you also distance yourself from negative age stereotypes,” says David Weiss, assistant professor of sociomedical sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York.
But age denial can also leave us vulnerable to the harmful impact of negative age stereotypes down the road—for example, if we suffer a disability or are confronted by evidence that others view us as old, experts say.
Moreover, “denying one’s age may be psychologically harmful in that it disassociates us from various important developmental tasks that should take place in later life,” says Prof. Weiss.
Okay, if you feel that you’re getting your head on straight about aging, I recommend you get your butt moving along those lines, too.
Regular readers know that I am 79 years old and live an active life. I want to encourage you to adopt a two pronged attack to aging and aging concepts. Check out my Page – Important facts about your brain (and exercise benefits) for more important info on aging and your mental capacities. I believe very strongly that regular exercise is the closest thing to the fountain of youth for us. After all, we are only organic machines. We need to be nourished intelligently and move our bodies often. Use it or lose it is truly the law of the body.
Tony
Wellness Secrets of a SuperAger 
I don’t want to get old and see no point in my case. That’s how I feel about aging
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It seems to me that the more things you can find to feel good about, the better your life will be.
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This is extremely helpful. I’m 74, very fit, but have subscribed to the attitude of being in the last phase of life. I have alluded to this in this blog. But in general I think in negative terms about many things. Keep reflecting on what I can no longer do.
I need to change my game. I will change my game!
Thank you, Tony.
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Thanks, Paul. Glad you found it useful. There is a lot to dealing with the mental aspects of our life. Maybe more so in old age.
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You may still have twenty years to live. That’s a very long last phase!
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Amen to that.
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So long as I retain my fitness, both psychological and physical, and Jean is with me then on we go,
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Amen to that.
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It’s interesting to hear that our assumptions about what ageing will be like can so affect our health. It’s hard not to think ageing is a drag, especially as I am dealing with parents who are having end-of-life issues and major health crises. But in fact, the health crises are a result of not having taken care of themselves and are a good reminder to me to keep eating right and getting what exercise I can. Thanks for the reminder!
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This is a real conundrum. Being both younger and thinking about later years. I think it’s a very rare person who can do both at a younger age. Yet it is also terribly important to be fit, to exercise, not to smoke, eat well, and more, in one’s middle years.
If you are aware of this dilemma then you are doing much better than most!
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Great post. I think it would be interesting to see how people would age (mentally and physically) if they didn’t know their age or have pre-conceived ideas about aging.
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Thanks for sharing. I think you make a good point. I believe that ‘age is just a number’ statement is very true. I know I feel younger now at 79 that I did at 55.
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Tony, please carry on spreading the word. P.S. Are you my twin?
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Thanks, Rachel. I appreciate your support and comments. Not sure about being twins.
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Both 79, chances are 365:1.
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Indeed. A real long shot. Wait. Are you saying we have the same birthday??
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No, just both 79. Humor lost in the telling!
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I apologize for my thick-headedness …
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In connection with knitting, I was hoping my typing on the keyboard with One finger (nowadays), wriggling my toes and rolling my eyes could be counted as exercise! 🙂
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If you find you heart rate going up, you are succeeding in exercising. If not, back to the drawing board.
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Hahaha!
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