Can the power of positive thinking really help slow ageing and make you live longer? There’s good reason to believe it can, says one science writer.
In his book The Expectation Effect: How your Mindset Can Transform Your Life, David Robson says that attitudes towards ageing can affect the process itself.
“People who see the ageing process as a potential for personal growth tend to enjoy much better health into their 70s, 80s and 90s than people who associate ageing with helplessness and decline, differences that are reflected in their cells’ biological ageing and their overall life span,” he writes in an edited extract for The Guardian.
David points to studies by researchers such as Ellen Langer and Becca Levy, which found that staying positive about ageing can hold back physical and cognitive decline, and extend lifespan.
In particular, Becca’s research showed that in the Ohio Longitudinal Study of Aging and Retirement, which followed more than 1,000 older people from 1975 onwards, participants with a more positive outlook lived on average 7.6 years longer than people with negative views on ageing.
According to David, this is due in part to behavioural factors – people who believe that getting older makes you frail and helpless are less likely to exercise as they age, for example – but also attributable to psychological ones: smaller challenges will seem larger and more threatening, which causes stress, raises blood pressure, and leads to poorer health down the track.
“Various studies show that our mindsets are malleable. By learning to reject fatalistic beliefs and appreciate some of the positive changes that come with age, we may avoid the amplified stress responses that arise from exposure to negative stereotypes and we may be more motivated to exercise our bodies and minds and to embrace new challenges,” he says.
So don’t let your age hold you back from living the life you want to lead – it seems that in some ways, you really are as young as you feel.
