LINE ON LIFE
4/28/96
How to Age Successfully *
David A. Gershaw, Ph.D.
Since most Americans
fear aging, we have become obsessed with being young. If we cannot be young, at
least we want to look young. Along with this, we hold a stereotype of elderly people
as being hump-backed, shuffling, and impaired both mentally and physically. We
view aging as a negative process. However, research by psychologists and
gerontologists (those who study aging) finds that lifestyles the elderly can
tell another tale.
Aging can be done
successfully — if you have a positive mental attitude. William Rakowski, Brown
University Center for Gerontology, studied about 1,400 people over 70 who were
having health problems that were not life-threatening. Some blamed their aches and
pains on aging, while others blamed external factors that could be changed a
virus or too much exercise. Those who blamed aging were 78% more likely to die
than those who blamed external factors.
This positive mental
attitude is developed over a lifetime. The characteristics you develop by the
age of 30 are likely to be those you display when you are 70. "If someone is inflexible at the age of
30, he or she will probably be so at age 70." The stereotype of the
grumpy, inflexible "old goat"
is more related to that personŐs specific character than it is to the general
process of aging.
Another component of
successful aging is to continually challenge yourself. A 10-year on-going
psychological study in California assigned 175 people to either a control
condition or to be foster-grandparents for neurologically impaired children.
Their average age was 72. To function as foster-grandparents, they had to
engage in many activities the controls avoided. They had to walk several miles
a day, engage in social interactions with the children, and deal with heavier
physical demands. The foster-grandparents have shown more complex brain
activity, better memory and better sleeping patterns than they had before becoming
involved in the program. This was not found with the controls.
In contrast to the
stereotype, memory
losses are not significant. Frank Benson, a UCLA neurologist,
indicates, "Memory in older persons
is probably better than they think it is." Older people do gripe that
they are more forgetful. Even so, when memory tests are given, they perform
well.
Memory does decline
slightly in our 60s and 70s. However, cognitive losses in memory can be
countered by expertise
— knowledge that individuals have in specific areas. This knowledge
remains intact with age. In some cases, it may increase. Mental stimulation can
help the brain to retain and expand it abilities. Denise Park, director of the
Southeastern Center for Applied Aging Research in Georgia, supports this.
"Although a
decline in processing abilities occurs with older persons, increases in
knowledge may be the basis for wisdom."
Throughout
our life span, successful living is
making the most of what we have.
In 1990,
psychologists Paul and Margaret Baltes published a book, Successful Aging. They have developed a model of successful aging
that involves "selective
optimization with compensation." In the face of inevitable
restrictions of aging, "selection" involves
focusing on high priority areas of life. These are areas that give older people
a feeling of satisfaction and personal control. "Optimization"
is deciding to take on behavior that will enrich and enhance the abilities they
still have. This helps them make the most of what they want out of life. "Compensation"
involves using resources — either their own or others — to
gain their objectives. This can involve casting aside vanity to get hearing
aids or bifocal glasses. It may mean purposefully becoming dependent on others
for routine needs, so you can save energy for things you want to do. Even in
nursing homes, clients can allow themselves to be dressed by a nurse, so they
can engage in favored activities — like playing the piano — later.
Another 10-year,
ongoing study is being done by the Philadelphia Geriatric Center. The study is
using 1,800 older and younger people and focused on happiness. They have found that older people were just as likely to
be happy, elated, contented and interested as younger ones. Subjects 65 or over
were less anxious than younger subjects. Older subjects made the best of the
aging process by learning to avoid situations and people that are distressing
or exhausting. They focused on activities and attachments that are pleasing to
them. They sought emotional goals that brought satisfaction, usually involving
more intimate bonds with family and friends.
There is no exact
formula to guarantee successful aging. However, anthropologist Robert
Rubinstein of the Philadelphia Geriatric Center seemed to sum it up well.
"Successful aging
is reaching for whatever is just beyond your capability — and not buying
into the prevailing myths of aging."
* Adapted from Pamela
MargoshesŐ article, "For many, old age is the prime of life," APA Monitor, May, 1995, pages 36-37.