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MYTHS THAT AGE YOU
Published by Vicky on 2008/5/8 (147 reads)
We all grow older. No one "in their right mind" disputes that. We just began a new year. Marking such beginnings reminds us that we are aging. But how we age varies from person to person and from mind to mind. Our beliefs about aging play a significant role in how we age. In the late 1970's, Professor Ellen Langer of the Harvard psychology department demonstrated that when 75-year-old men were surrounded for one week by an environment reflecting the year 1959, they reversed many of the characteristics of aging thought to be common and inevitable. Independent judges looked at "before" and "after" pictures and rated the men as three years younger in appearance. Hand measurements showed that their fingers had actually lengthened and gained back some of the flexibility in their joints. The group could sit taller in their chairs, had a stronger hand grip, and could even see and hear better than the control group who had not been exposed to the "20-year earlier environment. " Probably the greatest Indian philosopher to ever live, Shankara, once wrote: "People grow old and die because they see other people grow old and die." Apparently, we are beginning to discover that our bodies reflect what we see in others as they age. There exist a number of myths about aging that may contribute to the aging process in a rather negative way.
Psychologist, Anderson D. Smith, Ph.D., of the Georgia Institute of Technology, lectures on the psychological effects of growing old. Many people believe that aging is a horrible experience. Smith said, "that just isn't true." "Sixty percent of the public think the elderly are lonely, but only 12 percent of the elderly actually report feeling lonely. Also the public greatly over estimates that fear of crime and finances are 'problems' for the elderly." Other studies have shown that how you age is merely a continuation of your way of life while you were younger. If you were lonely or socially isolated when young, you will be the same when you are older. If you were socially active and enjoying being alive when you were younger, you are likely to be so when old. Merely living longer doesn't determine the quality of your life. You still have choices and can learn new habits of thinking and behaving. Dr. Smith also pointed out that one's personality doesn't usually change due to aging. "If you are neurotic, extraverted and open at age 35, you will be that way at age 80." I recently read some of the letters my father sent my mother before they were married over 65 years ago. Within them he expressed some of the same personal characteristics he clearly demonstrated the last decade of his life. He died at age 91. Some other myths about aging include: poor health, senility, becoming rigid or inflexible, having no sex life, avoiding social events, living alone and living in some type of "institution." Actually, people living between the ages of 60 and 80 are more healthy than they have ever been. Consider that the average age of Americans living in 1900 was 47. Today it is 75. Clearly death by disease has been pushed back over 25 years! Scientific studies predict that if you are alive in 2010, you will live to be 120 years of age! Senility is experienced by only 5 to 10 percent of the older population. Studies have shown that certain types of memory, such as vocabulary and long- term memory based on past experiences, actually improve over the years. Short-term memory however, seems to decline. Naturally, there are certain events that people must face when they reach late adulthood: dealing with declining energy; the death of a spouse; establishing affiliation with one's peer group; adopting and adapting to new social roles and functions; and establishing good physical and financial arrangements for oneself. However, to most people these are not new adjustments. We have been adapting more or less to these situations ever since we were young. Frailty, dependency, poverty and disability are not age specific problems. They actually affect the young more often than the old. So beginning a new year, why not celebrate your ability to go through some of these situations again. After all, we've all previously "been there...done that." By Lloyd J. Thomas, Ph.D.
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