Member-only story
Age Wise
Fear of Getting Old Can Make You Age Faster
A positive perspective on aging predicts better health and longer life
Your well-being later in life and even how long you live may depend on whether you fear getting older, or if you instead embrace aging and maintain a positive outlook about your future self. Mounting research suggests that the sooner you shun negative stereotypes about aging, the better chance you’ll have at good health and longevity.
A new study tackles a piece of this research puzzle, finding that dwelling on the prospects of aches, pains, and mental challenges that may (or may not) come with age presages those very outcomes. The self-fulfilling prophecy can be exacerbated by a reduced ability to handle stress, which can make physical and mental woes worse.
But the scenario is preventable.
“Better self-perceptions of aging are good for your health, regardless of how much stress you have, or how much stress you perceive you have,” says Dakota Witzel, lead author on the paper and a doctoral candidate at Oregon State University.
Learning to deal with stress, in turn, might improve your perceptions of aging, Witzel tells me, citing a separate study last year by a different research team.
