Written By Alan Good
Mindset. It could be a term given to seniors. “He’s set in his ways; you can’t change him!” “She’s made her mind up and it’s set in cement!”
“The number of seniors aged 65 and over is projected to increase significantly, from 2.9 million or 18.3 per cent of population in 2023, to 4.7 million, or 21.3 per cent by 2051,” according to the Government of Ontario website. That, folks, is a lot of people who refuse to budge.
Better health care and innovative ways to live at home are said to be factors in senior’s longevity rising from 70 in 1970 to 80 and beyond now. But another reason for our endurance is one perhaps garnered from positivity—a growth mindset or belief that one can improve cognitive capabilities through learning experiences and effort. Your mind is not fixed.
It is important to reframe or shift away from ideas that one is stuck or helpless in terms of learning and growth. Feeling that you cannot change or learn can reduce motivation and even stop you from accessing potential help and resources. It is important to nurture a sense of hope and potential over one’s own ability to learn in order to nurture motivation and encourage a positive feedback loop or “upward spiral” of learning and to avoid “downward spirals” of negative thinking.
This writer knows of several individuals in their seventies (including myself) who have continued their education and gone back to university. Do you know the government offers free tuition and more to seniors wanting to attend university?
But this takes a bit of effort. Some time spent on yourself. Like raising the blinds or opening a window, you can let sunshine and truth into your life. Paraphrasing James Joyce in one of his short stories, “Mr. Duffy lived a short distance from his body.”
One study explored how changing in mindset could promote changes in the body of older adults. It involved Ninety participants aged 75+ taking part of a 1-week retreat. Another so-called ‘counterclockwise’ study looked at what effects turning back the clock psychologically would have on older adults. The stated research question was, ‘If we put the mind back twenty years, would the body reflect this change?’
The studies revealed that, “participants with more positive self-perceptions of ageing at baseline had better functional health over the course of the study and lived an average of 7.5 years longer than those with more negative self-perceptions of ageing.” The studies concluded, “…positive attitudes towards age protect against dementia, even when there is a genetic disposition.”
What can you do? Consider one study revealing that even a single day of mindfulness meditation practice can down-regulate a gene that codes for inflammation–one of the greatest drivers of aging. Another showed that reducing stress can reduce the cellular damage from the highly reactive oxygen atoms known as free radicals. A third study found, most remarkably, that the telomeres within your cells–the little cuffs that cap chromosomes and erode over your lifespan–can be made to grow longer, provided your mind is in the right state to make it happen.
Well look at how to lengthen your life and live better, next time.
