What words do you associate with aging? Wisdom? Senility? Illness? Experience? What many of us don’t realize is that our attitudes about aging influence our health and well-being in old age, and even our life expectancy – a compelling example of the self-fulfilling prophecy (see pp.62–65) in action.
Researchers from Yale University found that retired people who considered themselves to be as energetic, happy, hopeful and useful as they were when they were younger lived more than seven years longer than those who reported more negative perceptions of aging. As a single factor, positive self-perception of aging had a greater effect on life expectancy than any one of the conventional health measures, such as blood pressure, cholesterol level, weight and frequency of exercise.
It is important to realize how much influence you have over your aging process. Exercising regularly (see pp.84–6) helps to improve your mood and counteract loss of muscle tone, lung capacity and bone mass. You should also exercise your mind. Mental stimulation often comes as a matter of course in our working lives, but in retirement we may have to seek it out. You could read books to boost your concentration levels, do quizzes to test your recall, or tackle crosswords to flex your problem-solving skills – it doesn’t matter, just so long as you don’t let your brain get flabby.
Don’t make the mistake of perceiving old age as a time when you’ve got nothing left to offer or look forward to. Stay in regular contact with friends and family and involve yourself in your community – for example, by doing volunteer work. Make a virtue of the extra time available to you by taking on new projects – perhaps learning to paint, writing a book, studying for a degree or raising money for charity. A sense of challenge fuels our enjoyment of life.
Remember also that you have accumulated much wisdom, which can be of benefit to younger people as they face problems similar to ones that you have overcome. Be available to advise younger members of your family or the children of your friends: sharing your wisdom is a great boost to your self-esteem.