Your bad attitude about aging could add 7.5 years to your life
When Yale professor Becca Levy began conducting her decades-long research on the psychology of aging, she would routinely ask people to think of five words to describe an older person. In the US, the most common answer was “memory loss.” In China, it was “wisdom.”
Levy’s findings are timelier than ever. For the first time in history, there are now more people worldwide over the age of 64 than under the age of 5. Some have even referred to it as a “silver tsunami” or “gray wave.” The good news: No matter your age, Levy’s research shows your age beliefs aren’t fixed. Levy found we all hold positive beliefs about aging — they just need activation.
Tanaka lives in a nursing home on an island in the Okinawa region of Japan, and she’s the world’s oldest living person. Born in 1903, Tanaka worked in her husband’s rice shop from the age of 19 until the age of 103, according toToday, she’s treated as a celebrity in Japan, even starring on Japanese reality TV. And on Keiro No Hi, a national holiday in Japan which translates to “Respect for the Aged Day,” her entire town throws her a party as elders nationwide are celebrated.
People with a positive take on aging live an average of 7.5 years longer than people who view aging negatively. One of the many benefits of aging? Finally having time to travel.The study spanned over 20 years, and Levy found that participants with the most positive age beliefs were living on average 7.5 years longer than participants with the most negative age beliefs.
John Basinger began memorizing “Paradise Lost” in his 60s, a type of positive-thinking task that can improve memory performance.When John Basinger was on the verge of turning 60, he set a goal to put any “Senior Moment” birthday card to shame: He planned to memorize and perform all of John Milton’s epic poem “Paradise Lost,” totaling more than 60,000 words.
Ray Parks Jr., left, a member of the National Theater of the Deaf, discusses production with John Basinger.In her lab, Levy found that older participants who were primed with positive stereotypes of old age — including words like “wise” and “alert” — for ten minutes improved their performance on a subsequent memory task. Meanwhile: Participants primed with negative stereotypes, like “senile” and “confused,” saw a decline in memory performance.
Madonna Buder stands in the waters of Kailua Bay on the Big Island of Hawaii at the start of the 2002 Ironman Triathlon World Championship.She’s now known as the “Iron Nun,” and has completed more than 350 triathlons since, including one recently at the age of 91. She’s the current world record holder for oldest woman to ever finish an Ironman Triathlon, which she earned at the age of 82.
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