About a year ago, I posted a blog titled “Counting the Days.” I wrote, “according to the Social Security Life Expectancy Calculator, I’m predicted to live another 7,000 days or so. Of course, it may be a lot fewer than that.”
Or it may be a lot more. And it seems I have some control over how many remaining days I will live– and you do, too.
No, this is not advice about eating well, exercising regularly, getting plenty of sleep…you know all about that drill.
We simply need to feel like we’re younger than our actual age.
You’ve seen the aphorisms on Hallmark birthday cards: You’re only as old as you feel or Age is only a state of mind.
What if this turns out to be partially true?
A recent research letter in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association)
reported that older people who said they felt three or more years younger than their chronological age had a significantly lower death rate during the subsequent eight years, compared to those who felt their age or those who felt more than a year older than their age.
Skeptical? So was I.
After all, the study reported correlations (perceived age is associated with longevity), rather than causal relationships (perceived age causes longevity). I figured that the people who felt younger than their age probably were less depressed, more socially engaged and more active than the comparison groups, factors we know can lead to a healthier and longer life.
But then I read on. Even after statistically accounting for those key health factors, the research showed that feeling older than one’s chronological age continued to be a significant independent predictor of mortality.
How old do you feel you are?
Sounds like important stuff for those of us who sure would like to live longer.
Do any of you reading this blog have ideas about how to feel younger and reap the apparent payoffs?
I feel as old as I have always felt! I cannot attach an age to it because I have never felt any different. When I am sick, I feel more fragile but not older. When I am tired, I actually feel younger and wish someone would send me to my room! I will take everyday I am given if I feel as old as I have always felt.
Hmmm. I can honestly say that when I was 17, I didn’t feel as old as I do today, a half century later. But today, I also don’t feel a half century older!
I agree with Patty! Honestly, until someone asks me my age, or tells me theirs, my “age” is just not salient to me. I admit to being occasionally surprised when I have to write down my birth year, or just my age. Seeing it in writing sometimes provides reflection on what it might mean. But still, I don’t know what it would mean to “feel my age.”
I love it. You will live long and well, my friend!
For me, so much depends on my internal dialogue at the dawn of each morning. When I wake up, am I going to go through my list of responsibilities for the day and mull over the current way my body may feel on a particular morning. Will I dwell on concerns over particular family members and whats currently affecting them?
Am I going to add my list with concerns over world events or worse yet, reach for my phone, turn it on and bombard myself with the latest vitriol making the rounds?
What I find best is to get up shortly after awakening, enjoy a cup of hot water and lemon, then meditate for at least fifteen minutes if I have the luxury of time. If not, I meditate in the shower as I gear up for the day. I visualize a whole, healthy body and mind. I encircle myself in a healing purple, green and gold light. This light fills every cell in my body, every muscle, every bone deep into my bone marrow. I give thanks. For everything. I express gratitude for the new day and the vitality of my body even it if it not feeling the least bit vital!
Once dressed and breakfast done, I feel like a new person. Doesn’t matter at that moment what works in my body and what may not be up to perfection. Doesn’t matter what else may be manifesting and swirling around me. All that matters is now I am fully oxygenated, feel calm, balanced and ready for whatever is to come my way. And that alone, makes me feel my age or a few years younger. I do not feel old because I jump started my inner coffee pot with breath.
It has worked for me for years now. Breath and the visualization that healing light and energy fill me to the brim every early morning.
May sound too new agey but quite honestly…..it is vital for me and many I know.
Age does happen. Aging will happen, it is inevitable. But making sure you have time for calming the mind and nourishing the body, however that may be for each of us, can give us some wiggle room to feel younger longer.
Robin, these are truly words of wisdom, and so well spoken. Thank you!
I have always perceived that I felt, looked, and acted younger than my years. And compared to many other women my age, I think that is true. However now, the difference between my chrono age and perceived age may be shrinking. Why? the creeping in of a few health issues likely. But I do know for sure, and the research backs me up, that remaining physically active, really active, is critical to feeling young. What I do feel is a little different slant, and that is a feeling of mortality, for me and for my husband. I feel acutely aware that we don’t have forever and we need to act every day on the quality of the relationship and the enrichment of our lives together.
Oh my dear, I could have said those very words. I, too, feel that slant of mortality and the awareness of needing to appreciate every moment we have together. Thank you for that!