Thinking Differently About Aging

As we age, our bodies slow down. Joints ache and the mind can seem a bit fuzzier. Aging is inevitable, right? A landmark study conducted in Peterborough, New Hampshire challenged that assumption decades ago, revealing that treating elderly people as if they’re younger could reverse some signs of aging.

The study placed eight men in their seventies and eighties in a house retrofitted to look as if it were 1959. All signs of modern life were eliminated. They listened to old albums, watched Bob and Ray on TV, and were encouraged to speak about their younger, more agile days, in the present tense.

One week later, the men demonstrated greater joint flexibility and manual dexterity. Their posture improved and they reported less arthritis, suggesting that believing that you’re young again could have physical benefits. Ellen Langer is a professor of psychology at Harvard University. She conducted the study in 1979, and has since studied how our attitudes can re-engineer the rules of aging. We spoke to her about this study and her new book Counter Clockwise.

When the elderly men in Ellen Langer’s study walked into a house retrofitted to look and feel like 1959, a Nintendo Wii was nowhere to be found. It’s hard to imagine senior citizens playing Wii tennis or balancing on Wii fit, but more and more nursing homes are using video games to help seniors keep their minds sharp and their thumbs agile. Producer Jessica Meyers visited a skilled nursing home in Berkeley, California to learn more. You can hear her report at the Public Radio Exchange.

(Photo by StevenM_61 via Flickr/Creative Commons)