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Age Wise
Anti-Aging Secret Revealed: Embrace Getting Older
A pro-aging mindset will help you enjoy rather than fear the inevitable
Maria Shriver this week revealed an anti-aging secret that people of all ages need to know about: “I’m pro-aging — and officially ditching the term ‘anti-aging’ from my vocabulary,” she writes on Oprah Daily. “The old storyline about aging — how we need to ‘fix’ ourselves or do everything in our power to look the way we did when we were in our 20s and 30s — needs a major revise.”
Amen. And then some.
The idea that we must fight aging is rooted in fear, which produces stress and anxiety which — and here’s the rub — accelerates aging of the body and brain.
You will get old. I will get old. We all will get old. And then we’ll die. Meantime, shouldn’t we all try to live a little instead of worrying incessantly about something we can’t change, particularly on the cosmetic front?
Aging is not so bad after all
An anti-aging mentality fuels billions of dollars in spending on mostly worthless anti-wrinkle creams, hair-loss remedies, and plastic surgeries, not to mention magical memory potions, all of which leave most folks another year older and deeper in fear of aging. Years are spent pasting veneers of youth on aging exteriors instead of doing things that actually help the mind and body stay youthful, like developing good eating habits, good sleep hygiene, staying physically active, and choosing these healthy lifestyles over medications as much as possible.
Shriver’s revelation, coming at age 66, reflects a reality that surprises many people as they get older: Being old is not so bad. In fact, it can be pretty damn fine.
Several studies have shown that, on average, older people are happier than young adults, and much happier than people in middle-age. The reasons are plenty, from having fewer responsibilities and less stress to finding more time to pursue joyful activities. But older people, even if their parts don’t work so well or they’re plagued by chronic ills, also have the sort of perspective Shriver has gained:
