CAN WE “THINK” OURSELVES TO A YOUNGER, HEALTHIER BODY?

What if the old adage, “You’re only as old as you feel,” were true? Some think it might be, that age may only be a state of mind, and they’ve got very interesting experiments to back that claim and discover a younger, healthier body in the process.

Psychologist Ellen Langer performed a rather radical experiment on a group of septuagenarians in the 1980s that is just now beginning to shed light on the relationship between the body and the mind where aging is concerned. Langer’s original experiment consisted of housing a group of men in their 70s in a monastery retrofitted to conjure the year 1959. Despite their ages, the men were treated like twenty-somethings, and encouraged to speak of events that occurred in their 20s as though they were current events. The results of the 5-day study were remarkable. The men showed greater dexterity and sat taller than when they arrived. Some even showed improvement in vision.

While this original study was never published, Langer continues to study the mind-body-aging relationship today. Read more about her innovative research here and contact Responsive Home Care, the leading provider of home care in Plantation and surrounding areas, to find out how we can help the seniors you love to thrive and live healthier, better lives.