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Some of us are lucky enough to still experience those times when we notice we are feeling really good - much younger and fitter than we know we are. Sadly as we age these times tend to be followed by aching bodies and the sad realization that we really, truly, can't still do what we did at 25. Or is that really true?
In 1979 Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer was working on the connection between mind and body in aging, and conducted a fascinating experiment that we are only just learning about. In this experiment a group of men in their seventies and eighties were asked to take part in "a week of reminiscing". One group sat and talked about what they did twenty years earlier, while the other group were put in a specially staged environment that had movies, music and props from 1959. This group were asked to discuss whatever they thought about in the present tense, as though they really were in 1959. The environment was also deliberately free of any devices that might typically be present where older people gather, and the men had to do everything for themselves, from carrying their suitcases in to cooking their own meals.
What she found was that the first group had a good time, but showed no physical changes for better or worse. On the other hand, the men in the second group showed marked physical improvements in lowered blood pressure, improved vision, hearing and cognitive function and mobility - all things we tend to believe aren't reversible. This was an astonishing result, but as anecdotal results aren't considered to be valid data, the factual report published in 1981 didn't attract much public attention.
Now Dr. Langer is ready to share these stories. Her research into the mind-body connection as we age has continued, and she has formulated her theory about what happens. She says, "My own view of aging is that one can, not the rare person but the average person, live a very full life, without infirmity, without loss of memory that is debilitating, without many of the things we fear." For those of us at midlife, this is a fascinating idea!
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