‘Old’ Is Just A Mindset, According To Harvard Psychologist Who Says You Can Think Yourself Younger
Neskuchniy071 Vladimir | ShutterstockGetting older is typically seen as an unavoidable decline. It's often portrayed as another standard part of life that we can't change, but it turns out that aging might not be something we just have to roll over and accept.
Research shows that our mental state also plays a role, and that our beliefs about age can shape real outcomes. Experts say that allowing yourself to think and behave as a younger person can really make you look and feel that way.
A Harvard psychologist says that 'old' is just a mindset, and you can actually think yourself younger.
Though the idea had been introduced in previous research, it was solidified by Ellen Langer, PhD, who conducted an experiment in 1979 to test how the mind can influence the body. The Harvard psychologist placed a group of older adult men in a monastery designed to look like a house would have in 1959. The men were then told to behave as if it were actually 1959 and they were 20 years younger.
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After just a week in this environment, the men showed significant physical and mental differences. They stood up straighter. They were stronger and more flexible. Their hearing and vision improved, and they performed better on intelligence tests. They truly appeared to be younger.
All of the evidence pointed to the fact that aging is not a permanent process. "Wherever you put the mind, the body will follow," Langer said at a recent lecture. "At the end of the [monastery] study, I was playing football — touch, but still football — with these men, some of whom gave up their canes. It is not our physical state that limits us."
Other recent research also supports Langer's findings from her study.
Langer's study ignited a wide interest in examining the variety of factors that contribute to the aging process. Proving this point, a 2018 study published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience found that people who feel younger than their biological age may have brains that age more slowly.
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Researchers analyzed the brain health of 68 adults between the ages of 59 and 84 using imaging and cognitive tests. Participants who reported feeling younger than they actually were seemed to score better on memory assessments and experienced fewer symptoms of physical and mental conditions. These people also typically had more gray matter in certain regions of the brain, something that is more often seen in younger brains.
While the brain can't truly reverse in age, these studies still highlight that there is a strong association between thinking and feeling younger and having better health and overall well-being. This evidence could suggest that having a positive mindset can help you feel younger and healthier, even as you age.
Your limits do not have to be determined by how old you are, and you're far more likely to have a longer, happier life if you take advantage of every moment and don't let anyone tell you what you can or can't do.
Kayla Asbach is a writer with a bachelor's degree from the University of Central Florida. She covers relationships, psychology, self-help, pop culture, and human interest topics.
