Can We Think of Ourselves as Old?
Can We Think of Ourselves as Old?
Media plays a strong role in dictating what is appropriate as we age. All too often I hear friends in their 50s or 60s asking if an outfit or a hair style is too young for them. To that I say, if you have the figure or the confidence to wear the outfit wear it. As for hairstyles, if Jane Fonda on the red carpet can wear a long blond ponytail and a slinky dress with a body to die for at 80 years of age, then all bets are off in terms of how we should age as women.
Turning 50 is just not the huge milestone it used to be. A few Hollywood stars have pushed against aging issues by becoming first-time mothers right up that big that 50 number and beyond. Thank goodness for the rebellion against the stereotype of aging that some boomers are advancing!
I love the lessons learned in the book Younger Next Year for Women- Live Strong, Fit and Sexy Until You’re 80 and Beyond by Crowley and Lodge. They talk about decay that occurs when we do slow down. They say that starts at 50, that interesting milestone again. But the twist is, according to the authors, “70% of aging after 50 is determined by our lifestyle”. They slam menopause by saying “Instead of getting old and fat and ridiculous in the thirty-or even forty-some years after menopause, you can remain essentially the same person you are today”.
They put a heavy focus on more exercise, as opposed to less, as the formula for aging younger. They add this interesting note. “The MacArthur Foundation’s studies on aging predict that of the seventy million boomers born between 1946 and 1964, approximately 3 million will live to 100, or beyond.”
That alone should start us on the path to rethinking how we will age. So, if you think you are getting old at 50, as many do, and that you can’t do things, certainly not exercise because you are almost 65, what happens? Bad habits abound and aging progresses at a faster pace than it should.
Studies on aging have been going on for decades and an interesting one was done in 1979 by Harvard University. They took men in their 70s for a 5-day retreat. They tested their cognitive functioning before and after the retreat and found that given an environment that brought the men to the most positive and younger mindset they functioned cognitively after the retreat as if they were 20 years younger.
Another famous brain researcher talks about how thinking affects the neuroplasticity of the brain. Dr. Lou Whitaker notes that negative thinking leads to depression and cognitive decline while positive thinking does just the opposite.
Its time to decide the exceptions, like Jane Fonda, the 80-old bodybuilder, the 100-year-old yoga teacher and the 99-year-old gymnasts, should be the rule. There are many more of these examples, thought to be rare oldsters. They continue to be treated as oddities, media sensations. Just as if they have achieved something no one else can.
It all comes back to how we think about aging. We know the way the media covers growing older. But each of us has an individual choice about how we think about how we will age. As a boomer, I expect to be among the 3 million that live to 100 and beyond so I’m acting accordingly. I’m doing this by speeding up my workouts and never missing a day of aerobics combined with strength training, eating food that is not processed, fried, or filled with sugar and artificial additives and I’m keeping a happy mindset.
