You’re going to be heartened by the exceptional research results coming out of the Stanford Center of Longevity; I certainly am. An important study sponsored by the Center and conducted by Dr. Laura Carstensen shows that as time passes, subjects report a more positive sense of well-being and more emotional stability. As we age, our overall well-being and resilience increases. Yes!
Study subjects ranging in age from 18 to 94 were asked to record their emotional states at five randomly chosen times every day for one week, and then, Dr. Carstensen took the same sampling with the same participants five years later and then again five years after that. Dr. Carstensen’s scientific focus is on brain function and the expression of emotion, and her findings give us insights into how we experience our lives over an extended time. The research shows that the participants expressed a greater degree of well-being and more emotional consistency as they grew older (Paul, 2011). Now, don’t get carried away: there’s no reason to gloat to young people who feel superior because they have more supple knees or slimmer waistlines. I just think it’s important for people approaching and over 50 to read scientific evidence that, in many ways, proves that life gets better as we get older. As humans age, they feel happier and less vulnerable to their emotional highs and lows.
This research amplifies another study’s findings sponsored by the Center involving brain scans and emotional triggers (2004). Younger and older subjects’ brain activity was measured while they responded to photographs they were shown depicting cheerful, distressing and neutral images. The younger subjects ages 18 to 29 reacted equally to cheerful and distressing images, but the older subjects ages 70 to 90 reacted more strongly to the cheerful images. These study results and others reveal that older adults gain more control of their emotions and feel more resilient in emotionally challenging situations. The news just keeps getting better.
The media has regular print, Internet-based and broadcast television features focused on “our youth-obsessed culture,” and their blogs, videos and one-hour investigative pieces explore the increase in elective surgeries or the gazillion-dollar-a-year health and fitness industry as evidence that we are scared to death (pardon the expression) to grow old. Perhaps you should save your money and focus on the upside. The research from Stanford’s Center and others—from serious science—suggests that people develop a deeper sense of well-being as our bodies and brains age.
Happily Yours,
Doctor Mell
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Paul, A. M. (May, 2011). “Love the age you are: The mind.” The Oprah Magazine. Ed. S. Casey. 212-3.
