Could the way you think about aging actually influence how long—and how well—you live? In this episode of Love of Aging, Candace, Liz, and Laureen explore research suggesting that a positive attitude toward aging can affect longevity, physical ability, and even recovery from serious injury. They examine how positive and negative messages about getting older can influence us, share a personal story of recovering from a broken ankle despite discouraging predictions, and offer practical ways to challenge ageist assumptions, improve your self-talk, and surround yourself with positive messages about growing older.
Older age is seen by people of all generations as a celebration of cumulative wisdom, life experiences, and the freedom to go for it. That’s our vision at Love of Aging. We founded Love Of Aging in 2020 because we actually love aging. And although that is not the prevalent narrative, we know that we are not alone in this. Why not use our own lives as laboratories and engage our communities in the experiment? Scientists have confirmed that attitude has a significant impact on every aspect of aging, from health to happiness.
We worked in the attitude education business for a combined total of 100+ years. Looking out at the wide cross-section of people in our lives, we see that our network has a lot to share, too. It is from this distinct and potent perspective that we approach the topic of aging. Join Co-founders Candace Shivers, Liz Dietz, and Maureen Charles for the Love of Aging Podcast, where art, science, and attitude meet. Scientists have confirmed that attitude has a significant impact on every aspect of aging, from health to happiness.
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Love Of Aging (00:01.902)
Hello, welcome to the Love of Aging podcast. I’m Candace, one of the co-founders of Love of Aging, and I’m about to turn 80. These are my fellow co-founders. Hi, I’m Liz and I’m 73. And I’m Laureen, also known as Mo, and I am 66. Welcome to Love of Aging, where art, science, and attitude meet.
Hello, today Liz and I will be discussing the topic of aging and attitude and how attitude affects your longevity and your physicality and your healing. We’re going to be doing some myth busting and give you some tips. So we’re going to start with attitude and longevity. The famous Ohio longitudinal study on aging and attitude found that people
with positive attitude toward aging lived an average of nearly eight years longer than people who don’t have a positive attitude toward aging. Now that same study showed that yes, if you manage your blood pressure, your cholesterol levels and keep those healthy, you gain an average of four years. Not eight, but four.
And of course, non-smoking adds three years to your life. So what’s our tip from all of this? Of course, comp continue to manage your cholesterol and your blood pressure levels. For goodness sake, don’t smoke. And have a positive attitude toward aging. Now, here’s number two. So this one has to do
with messaging.
Love Of Aging (02:02.594)
There was a study done of people’s swing time, older adults, right? Now, what do I mean by swing time? Well, swing time is the time that your foot is off the ground when you walk. How long is your foot off the ground when you walk? Now, why did they measure that? Well, swing time can be an indicator that you’re getting frail, could be an indicator that you’re having balance issues. In this particular study,
They took a large sample of older adults and they measured their swing time. Then they had every person in the study, each person played a simple computer game. Unbeknownst to them, however, they were divided into two groups, and each group was fed subliminal messages. So group one got subliminal messages that were
Positive messages about aging, like they heard words like wise, astute, accomplished. Group two were getting messaging that was negative, negative messaging messaging regarding aging. So what words like senile, decrepit, diseased.
After they finished playing their game, they had them walk again and they re-measured their swing time. And they saw a huge difference between the two groups. So group one, getting all the positive messages, they increased their swing time. They walked like people who were wise, astute, and accomplished. Group two, they actually had shorter swing time.
They started walking like they were senile, diseased, and decrepit. And the researchers concluded that looking at all factors, the only difference, the only thing that changed that impacted people’s physicality were those subliminal messages and the unconscious thoughts that were generated by the subliminal messages. So what’s tip number two? Tip number two is.
Love Of Aging (04:31.64)
Pay attention to the messaging around you and make sure you’ve got lots of input that’s positive around aging. Surround yourself with the people who are have a positive attitude around aging. And over there where you are, make sure your self talk is positive. Don’t buy into that messaging that says you’re getting senile or having a senior moment or all those words that are just bombarded with. Make sure your
Having you’re talking to yourself positively about your aging. Okay. Now I’m gonna have Liz come on and she’s gonna talk about aging, attitude, and healing. Okay. Thanks, Mo. I’ve got some exciting news. Researchers studied how our attitudes about aging affect our recovery from acute injuries.
They most people assume that older adults do not recover well in the wake of an acute injury, but that is a myth. In a large five-year study, people over 70, 81% fully recovered from serious disabilities. Not only that, those who had a positive attitude towards aging had a much greater likelihood.
Of a complete recovery with than those with a negative attitude. I experienced the power of positive age beliefs firsthand when I broke my ankle a few years ago. I had orthopedic surgeons looking at my ankle, giving me opinions, and most of them were not very positive. They said I should prepare myself not to have a full recovery.
Now, I took on my own love of aging, and I decided there was no way I was gonna let this stop me. My love of aging kicked in, and I gave myself a serious talking to. I became my own cheerleader. Five months later, my injury was healed completely, and my foot and ankle were working better than ever. To celebrate, I took on walking the Camino de Santiago.
Love Of Aging (06:52.896)
And I was loving aging every step of the way. So here’s tip number three. If you sustain an injury, don’t buy into the myth that older adults don’t heal well. Meet that crisis with crisis with positive beliefs about what you are still capable of. Thank you for joining us. We hope to see you on future Love of Aging podcasts.
Until we meet again, have a positive attitude towards aging. Love of Aging is the premier online education platform where art, science, and attitude meet. You can find us at www.lovofaging.com.