By: Jennifer Beach, LSW, MA, C-SWCM
Over the past 25 years I have had, and continue to have, the opportunity to meet, talk to and work with many individuals between the ages of 55 and 102. What I’ve learned is, we are each uniquely different. Our ideas, beliefs, backgrounds, life experiences, outlooks and attitudes are as different as all of us are. Over the years, I have noticed people’s attitudes and outlooks about “getting older” really makes a difference in life quality as they age, even with people who have significant challenges.
Recently, I had lunch with a woman who is in her upper 80s. Her mobility is significantly impaired due to arthritis and other comorbidities. She sometimes uses a cane but feels she does not need one. She lives in the same multi-level home she has been living in for 35 years. Even though the yard work, maintenance and upkeep of her home is beyond her abilities at this time, along with managing the stairs, she does not see any reason to leave: “They will have to drag me out,” she stated.
Later the same day, I stopped to see another woman in her upper 80s coping with her own physical and medical challenges. This woman had decided about 10 years prior to simplify her life by selling the family home and moving to a smaller, more financially affordable and manageable property. She wanted to be able to bring in assistance and support when it was needed. She recognized the changes in her life and wanted to be in control of her future as much as possible.
Research supports that how people envision their evolution through the years affects their emotional wellbeing, their cognitive capacities, and their susceptibility to physical illness. The attitude we hold affects how we may age. A study at Trinity College Dublin in 2011, found that negative attitudes about aging affect both physical and cognitive health in your later years. Most evident was that participants in the study who held positive attitudes towards aging had improved cognitive ability as they aged.
According to the lead researcher Deirdre Robertson, “The way we think about, talk about and write about aging may have direct effects on health. Everyone will grow older and if negative attitudes towards aging are carried throughout life they can have a detrimental, measurable effect on mental, physical and cognitive health.”
The study, summarized in Medical News Today, resulted in these major findings:
- Older adults with negative attitudes towards aging had slower walking speed and worse cognitive abilities two years later, compared to older adults with more positive attitudes towards aging.
- This was true even after participants’ medications, mood, life circumstances, and other health changes that had occurred over the same two-year period were accounted for.
- Negative attitudes towards aging seemed to affect how different health conditions interacted. Frail, older adults are at risk of multiple health problems, including a decline in cognition. In the TILDA sample, frail participants with negative attitudes towards aging had worse cognition compared to participants who were not frail.
However, frail participants with positive attitudes towards aging had the same level of cognitive ability as their non-frail peers. Studies show that how we perceive aging, and our lives, affects our longevity. Individuals with a positive outlook and attitude on aging while they are young have a greater chance of living longer and enjoying a better quality of life as they age. This is something most of us truly are not aware of.
Our culture tends to dread aging and talk negatively about aging. We are setting the stage for a “difficult old age” if we continue to tell ourselves this. Just think, we can change our attitude today simply by accepting and looking forward to living a long life the best that we possibly can! In the words of Winston Churchill, “Attitude is a small thing that makes a big difference.”
Original Article: https://www.northeastohioboomer.com/blogs/its-true-attitude-matters/