Old age is a joy. Scientists believe they have found the main ingredient of the “elixir of youth”

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Research shows that a positive attitude toward aging can lead to a longer, healthier life, while negative beliefs can have an extremely detrimental effect. Multiple studies now spanning five decades have concluded that we would all do well to embrace old age with a more positive attitude, as it can act as a powerful elixir of life.

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< p>People who see aging as a potential for personal growth tend to be in much better health in their 70s, 80s, and 90s than people who associate aging with helplessness and decline. These differences are reflected in the biological aging of their cells and overall lifespan.

Of all the claims British author David Robson explores in his new book on the mind-body connection, The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset can change your life”, the idea that our thoughts can affect our longevity was the most amazing.

For example, in one experiment conducted in 1979, a group of men and women in their 70s and 80s underwent a variety of cognitive and physical tests before being taken for a week to a nearby monastery that had been renovated in the style of the late 1950s. Everything has been carefully selected for historical accuracy, from the magazines in the living room to the music playing on the radio and the movies available to watch.

The researchers asked participants to live as if it were 1959. They had to write their biography for that era in the present tense and were told to act as independently as possible. (For example, not asking for help to carry your belongings into the room.) The researchers also organized twice-daily debates in which participants were asked to talk about the political and sports events of 1959 as if they were happening now. The goal was to make them feel younger through all these associations.

To create a comparison, the researchers held a second retreat a week later with a new group of participants. Although factors such as decor, diet, and social interactions remained the same, these participants were asked to recall the past without acting as if they were reliving that period.

Most participants showed some improvement from baseline to posttests. after the end of the experiment, but the greatest positive was found precisely in the representatives of the first group, who more fully immersed themselves in the “world of 1959”. For example, sixty-three percent made significant gains on cognitive tests. Their vision became sharper, their joints more flexible, and their hands more dexterous as the arthritis inflammation subsided.

The next experiment was conducted by Becca Levy of the Yale School of Public Health. In one of her earliest articles, she examined retirement data in Ohio. She has studied over 1,000 participants since 1975.

The average age of participants at the start of the survey was 63, and shortly after joining the retiree cohort, they were asked about their views on aging. For example, they were asked to rate their agreement with the statement: “As you get older, you become less useful.” Surprisingly enough, Levy found that, on average, people with more positive attitudes lived 22.6 years after the start of the study, while people with worse interpretations of aging lived only 15 years.

The latest results suggest that age beliefs may play a key role in the development of Alzheimer's disease. Tracking 4,765 participants over four years, researchers found that positive expectations about aging halved the risk of developing the disease, compared to those who saw old age as an inevitable period of decline. Surprisingly, this even applies to people who carried the APOE gene variant, which is known to make people more susceptible to the disease. A positive attitude can counteract inherited morbidity, protecting against disease.

If you associate your advanced age with frailty and disability, you may be less likely to exercise as you age, and this lack of activity will undoubtedly will increase your susceptibility to many diseases, including heart disease and Alzheimer's disease.