Age is a State of Mind

"Now, here is the best part... you have a head start…
If you are among the very young at heart"

Those closing lines to Frank Sinatra's hit song "Young at Heart" were prescient in 1953. They offer sound advice for today's aging population, according to research from Purdue University.

Key takeaway: The saying "you're only as old as you feel" is proving accurate, according to Markus H. Schafer, co-author of a study that compared people's chronological age and their subjective age to determine which has more influence on cognitive ability in older adults.

  • Participants aged 55 to 74 were surveyed about aging and initially asked, "What age do you feel most of the time?" The majority identified with being 12 years younger than they actually were.
  • The people who felt young for their age were more likely to have greater confidence about their cognitive abilities a decade later, Schafer reported in the Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences, and subjective age had a stronger effect than chronological age.

Do you feel young at heart?

Youthfulness is an attitude and a way of life. Researchers characterize it as the need to love and be loved and the need to experiment and learn.

Youthfulness traits: Curiosity, inquisitiveness, imagination, creativity, open-mindedness, joy, spontaneity, enthusiasm, sense of humor, playfulness, optimism, and flexibility.

Our bodies and brains are designed to continue delighting in these traits throughout life, but programming from society, television, advertising, parents, teachers, and friends—even our own self-talk—can lead one to feel old.

So how can you maintain a sense of youthfulness?

  • Recognize you have a choice in your life. You do not have to blindly accept society’s typical norms about aging.
  • Continually learn new skills and activities to stimulate your curiosity and thirst for knowledge.
  • Socialize with others. Extroversion was a defining personality characteristic in the offspring of centenarians in a Boston University of Medicine study on personality and aging. (The average age of the children studied: 75!)
  • Nurture youthful traits with visualization exercises.

Try it now with this simple technique:

  • Close your eyes and relax.
  • Select a trait of youthfulness you want to integrate into your personality. You might have to think back to your childhood when you had an ample supply of imagination, spontaneity, or resiliency.
  • Use rich imagery to immerse yourself in this trait, expressing it as a fun-loving child.
  • Tap into the visualization daily until you truly inhabit this trait. Besides, these days, it's nice to escape to a simpler time.

Take measures today to rejuvenate your body, mind, and spirit and activate passion in your life. As old Blue Eyes crooned, "Fairy tales can come true... It can happen to you... If you're young at heart."

To help you regain access to your natural traits of youthful flexibility in the physical, mental, and emotional domains of your life, listen to the Youthful Vitality Paraliminal in the MINDTRX app.

Simply push play, close your eyes, relax, and listen. This closed-eye process activates your "whole mind" with a precise blend of music and words to help you get the most out of every minute.


Learning & Growth, Mental & Emotional Health, Physical Health, Productivity, Relationships


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