How old are you versus how old do you feel? Not on a bad day, not on your best day. Just in general. In spite of a really bad year and a half I still don't feel my age. Do I dress too young? My voice is young sounding so callers still ask for my mother on the phone. I do sometime wonder who that woman in the mirror is. It couldn't be me! Is there any benefit to having a youthful attitude?
The December 2014 issue of the JAMA, Journal of the American a Medical Association, published a synopsis of a study addressing this question. 6489 individuals with a mean age of 65.8 years were asked "How old do you feel you are?" Self perceived age was then compared to actual age and participants were followed for a little more than 99 months.
Most participants felt younger than their actual age: 69% felt more than three years younger than their real age; 25% felt just about their real age; and 5% felt more than one year older than they actually were.
Even when depression, cognitive function and real physical condition were considered, the mortality rate remained unaffected by those issues. If you felt younger, you lived longer. Interestingly, perceived age wherein you thought of yourself as older had a significant effect on cardiovascular deaths but no association with deaths caused by cancers.
So...think young, dress young. Do young things. It's all about your attitude unless it's all about cancer.
The December 2014 issue of the JAMA, Journal of the American a Medical Association, published a synopsis of a study addressing this question. 6489 individuals with a mean age of 65.8 years were asked "How old do you feel you are?" Self perceived age was then compared to actual age and participants were followed for a little more than 99 months.
Most participants felt younger than their actual age: 69% felt more than three years younger than their real age; 25% felt just about their real age; and 5% felt more than one year older than they actually were.
Even when depression, cognitive function and real physical condition were considered, the mortality rate remained unaffected by those issues. If you felt younger, you lived longer. Interestingly, perceived age wherein you thought of yourself as older had a significant effect on cardiovascular deaths but no association with deaths caused by cancers.
So...think young, dress young. Do young things. It's all about your attitude unless it's all about cancer.
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