2023-06-16 18:47:28
Adults who feel and act accordingly younger live longer, are healthier, and are less likely to be depressed.
A report by the Washington Post revealed that many people live with a feeling that they are younger than their real age, and according to Professor Marcus Wechstein at Humboldt University in Berlin, “Those who feel younger live in better health.”
The professor of psychology and his colleagues analyzed data from a census conducted in Germany since 1996, in which 14,928 adults were monitored over a 24-year period, between the ages of 40 and 85.
On average, the participants felt 11.5% younger than their actual age, for example a 60-year-old feels like he is in his early 50s.
The other scientist participating in the study, Jacob Hoffman, a professor of clinical psychology at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, confirmed that a person’s feeling of being younger removes some pressure from him.
In light of the improvement in health conditions in general, and the increase in the average human life, such a feeling of being young is increasing.
Among the explanations for this feeling, according to Wechstein, is that some people, with the onset of old age, try, with a kind of psychological distance, to belong to groups far from the elderly.
The report indicated that people’s feeling regarding their age is linked to the cultures rooted in the regions in which they live. Countries such as Japan, China and South Korea accept the elderly better.
The actual age of a person should not only be treated as a sign of old age, as a person’s mental state can affect his actual age, even in the short term.
Another study revealed that if older people feel dissatisfied if they listen to sad music or read sad material, they will feel that they are getting older, and vice versa.
According to the Washington Post, another study showed that if an older person was informed that he performed well on a memory test compared to his actual age, he would actually live with the feelings and actions of a younger person.
Wechstein also said that thinking negatively regarding aging, if a person has bad stereotypes regarding the elderly, it is likely that he will suffer from depressive symptoms and feel that he is older than his actual age.
He explained that there are educational programs that are very productive and change perceptions regarding aging, and these programs work to change stereotypes regarding aging, such as the idea that the elderly are considered by nature to be more forgetful.
The professor of psychology also emphasized that part of a healthy life journey is managing expectations well. For example, we cannot bet on ourselves when we are sixty years old in front of people in their twenties.
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