Have you ever heard someone say, “you’re only as old as you feel”?
A recent New York Times article takes aim at this concept.
‘The Times’ suggests our “subjective age” may be more important than our biological age.
What is “subjective age” you ask? It is your opinion of ‘how old’ you feel. For example, I’m 31, but I feel like I’m 19. I feel that I have an abundance of energy, aches and pain rarely if ever occur, and I sleep like a baby. I subjectively feel my physical age is 19 even my biological age is 31 year old.
Things that stood out to me in the article
- Answer the question, “How old do you feel, most of the time?” The answer tends to reflect on the state of people’s physical and mental health.
- When people are asked to describe other people their age, they tend to show distaste for those in their peer group.
- As people age, they generally become happier and more satisfied.
- Scientists are finding that people who feel younger than their chronological age are typically healthier and more psychologically resilient than those who feel older
- They perform better on memory tasks and are at a lower risk of cognitive decline.
- In a study performed in 2018, a team of South Korean researchers scanned the brains of 68 healthy older adults and found that those who felt younger than their age had thicker brain matter and had endured less age-related deterioration
My opinion
There is quite a bit of power in autosuggestion. If you say something out loud it will manifest itself in some way, shape, or form. I just watched my 78 year old grandmother dance all night at my cousin’s wedding. She doesn’t exactly have the best knees and feet in the world either. Not once did she mention ‘being old’ or her age. Point is, she’s living instead of trying not to die. This mentality makes huge difference in our outlook on life.
So, how old do you feel?