I came across a study recently that found a strong relationship between people’s self-perceived age and their cardiovascular health. This study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association – Internal Medicine in December 2014, basically says that older people who reported feeling younger had a far lower death rate than those who said they felt older. That’s very interesting! Simplifying this one more step – this study basically says that if you believe you are younger (than your age), then you will be!
How did the researchers determine this? They started by asking a large group of people, aged 52 and older, the simple question, “How old do you feel you are?”. The real average age of the group was 66, and the average self-perceived age of the group, based on the above question, turned out to be 57.
The researchers then divided this large group of individuals into three subsets: those who felt three or more years younger than their actual age, those who felt more than a year older than their chronological age, and those who felt roughly their age – two years younger or one year older.
The researchers then followed these individuals over several years and found some very interesting results which are actually quite shocking! After adjusting for variables like physical disabilities, baseline health and certain health behaviors, those who felt older than their actual age had a 41 percent “greater mortality hazard”!
What’s the lesson here? Use any adage you want – “As within, so without”… “You are what you think”… “Age is a state of mind”… you’ve heard them all before. Now there seems to be some solid scientific evidence to this.
If you feel older, you are older. If you feel younger, you are younger. Further to that, if you feel older than your actual age, you may be feeling and thinking yourself to an earlier grave!
As you go throughout your day (week, month, year, life), think younger. Feel younger. Be younger. Will yourself younger this year! Add years to your life. And add life to your years.
Tawnya and Chris Wilkinson
Nurse Next Door
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