Can turning back the clock affect ageing?
Posted: August 22nd, 2010 | Author: admin | Filed under: Health | 2 Comments »
What would happen if you could turn back the clock and relive the life you led in your 20s or 30s? Tests carried out by Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer in the 1970s, about to be replicated by the BBC in a new television show featuring the likes of Sylvia Syms and Lionel Blair, claim to demonstrate that if old people were allowed to relive their pasts, it could reverse ageing.
In Langer’s study, 16 men in their late 70s and 80s lived for a week as though it were 1959. They listened to reports of the launch of the first US satellite and Castro’s advance into Havana and watched Sergeant Bilko on a black and white TV. In just one week, they showed dramatic improvements in their independence, hearing, memory, dexterity and strength of grip, appetite and general well-being.
People asked to choose in which photo each man appeared younger consistently selected the after shots.
Langer challenges the idea that the limits we assume and impose on ourselves are real. With only subtle shifts in our thinking, in our language, and in our expectations, she believes that we can begin to change the ingrained behaviours that sap health, optimism, and vitality.
Strong stuff but maybe something we should bear in mind before throwing out the G-Plan or the Ercol.
I agree absolutely! I have lived my life as if I were still young (it’s a mental state), refusing to ‘grow-up’ or ‘act my age’ and even though I’m almost 57, I have men in their early thirties asking me out because I’m fun and young looking.
I’m not sure revisiting 1959 would invigorate me much. Outside toilet at home and no central heating, wrestling with Latin and algebra at school, sister bringing annoying girls round all the time – not much to be said for all this. Mind you, I had gone into long trousers. It was a bit of relief when I became a grumpy old man to be honest, though I do miss squeezing the spots.