With a wave of baby boomers approaching retirement age, the force of numbers may one day develop positive views on aging, or at least temper pessimism about growing old. If so, a change in perspective will bring benefits.
Negative stereotypes can be physically harmful, researchers have discovered. Putdowns and insults hamper seniors’ memory and create stress, based on findings by psychologist Thomas Hess of North Carolina University in Raleigh. Exposure to words such as grumpy, feeble and senile evidently causes anxiety, he postulates. Study participants who were forewarned about the negative test aspects took the slurs in stride.
Becca Levy of Yale University determined that people with a positive attitude about growing old live on average seven and a half years longer than individuals with pessimistic points of view. The upbeat people are less likely to become frail, according to studies by Glenn Ostir of the University of Texas in Galveston.
Robert Butler, head of the International Longevity Center in New York City, invented the word “ageism” in 1974 to reflect society’s negative stereotyping of the elderly in movies, TV and the press. His organization has sponsored workshops for journalists about the science and lifestyle aspects of aging with the goal of reversing false assumptions.
Youngsters acquire the stereotypes early, says gerontologist Sandra McGuire of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. By the time children are about 11, their attitudes are set. “We have to get to these kids earlier,” she adds. “We take far too many kids to nursing homes and not enough to senior activity centers.”
Then there’s the school of thought that aging has benefits. For example, the things you couldn’t have when you were young you no longer desire.
Absence to love is what wind is to fire. It extinguishes the small; it inflames the great.Do you think so?
Posted by: jordan retro 11 | 07/19/2010 at 12:43 AM