Your Age Doesn’t Matter But Your Attitude Does

At the recent National Council on Aging Age & Action Conference, I watched a presentation by Betsy Abramson, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Institute of Healthy Aging. She reviewed research done by Prof. Becca Levy, researcher at the Yale School of Public Health which describes the importance of your attitude in how well you age. Betsy described how the more positive associations you have with aging, the better you do – better memory, less chance of dementia, more likely to recover from disability.

Prof. Levy’s research concludes that people with positive perceptions of aging live 7.5 years longer than those who don’t. After I asked about her talk, Betsy kindly sent me several buttons to encourage others to ‘Ask Me About 7.5.’

For people who ask, Betsy suggested I respond with some conclusions from Prof. Levy’s research, that people who have positive perceptions of aging:

• experience much higher rates of recovery from illness and injury
• have better brain performance and improved memory
• have a greater sense of control over their lives and a greater will to live
• are more likely to talk to a doctor about health problems, get preventive care such as blood pressure screenings and flu shots, and pursue health promotion programs

Need more convincing? See How Your Attitude About Getting Older Can Affect How You Age. Your age doesn’t really matter as much as you may think, but your attitude about aging definitely does!