Want to live an an extra 7.5 years?

At a time when good news headlines are rare, here’s some really great news: your positive attitude to life can add an extra 7.5 years to your lifespan. We all know that having positivity makes for a more enjoyable life experience, but a longer one too? If that sounds too good to be true, then read on: an article in BBC Science Focus Magazine recently reported that many scientists from across the world are coming to the same conclusion: your mindset can shape your biology.

So this should come as very welcome news to all of us (even if you may have intuitively known and lived this way for a long time already. It’s good to have external validation!) and particularly for us outdoor activity types, as exercise and the beliefs around what’s possible with ageing and exercise are central to having these extra years on your lifespan. The question posed with the new findings is how much could a change of attitude change your life?

David Robson’s article in the BBC Science Focus Magazine reports that ‘Your attitude towards ageing can reduce the toll time takes on your brain and body. It’s a statement that sounds ridiculous, but the science backs it up. Think, for a moment, about your hopes and fears for the future. Do you see your 60s, 70s or 80s as a time of growth and opportunity? Will ageing bring wisdom, status and friendship? Or do you see yourself becoming more lonely, helpless and grumpy as you get older?’

‘Quite incredibly, those beliefs may predict how you fare in the decades ahead, determining everything from the health of your memory to your risk of cardiovascular disease through a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. Your views about ageing may even influence your lifespan by as much as 7.5 years’.

“The topic has been studied for the past 20 to 30 years and we now have a lot of consistent evidence,” says Dr Serena Sabatini, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Barcelona. “It’s one study after the other, all showing the same results.” Dr Matthew Hill, an assistant professor of sport and exercise sciences at Coventry University in the UK, agrees. “The evidence base is pretty robust.”

Dr Becca Levy is a professor of public health and psychology and the author of a fascinating book on this topic,  Breaking the Age Code. Referencing various longitudinal studies on aging and retirement, she argues these studies offer stunning confirmations about the mind-body connection. “When we internalize negative stereotypes about aging, our bodies respond accordingly…Cultivating a positive attitude towards aging can have profound effects on cognitive function and overall health.” Levy demonstrates that many health problems formerly considered to be entirely due to the aging process, such as memory loss, hearing decline, and cardiovascular events, are instead influenced by the negative age beliefs that dominate in Western countries particularly. Levy further concludes that “stereotypes developed within cultures over hundreds of years CAN be changed…Our beliefs about aging are not passive observers; they are active participants in shaping our reality.”

One example based on a Baltimore longitudinal study of aging, which began in 1958, found that measures of people’s attitudes to ageing, taken before they turned 50, could strongly predict the risk of heart disease up to 38 years later. Levy also ‘ turned her attention to Alzheimer’s disease, showing that people with positive attitudes towards ageing were considerably less likely to develop dementia. The differences were not only visible in their scores on cognitive tests, but could also be seen in physical differences within the brain’.

Robson reports that ’ An Ohio Longitudinal Study on Aging and Retirement had tracked the trajectories of more than 1,000 participants since the mid-1970s. To measure attitudes towards ageing, the study’s founders had asked their participants to state whether they agreed with a series of statements, such as: Things keep getting worse as I get older; I have as much pep as I did last year; and, as you get older, you’re less useful’. When Levy and her colleagues examined the fates of these people, they found that someone’s beliefs could predict their overall risk of death over the following years. On average, someone with a rosier view of ageing lived for around 7.5 more years than those who were more pessimistic, even after the researchers had controlled for factors like socioeconomic status, loneliness and their health at the start of the study’.

At RAW Travel we have seen many inspirational and extraordinary individuals over the years, many of whom have continued walking either long or difficult trails well into their late 70s or even 80s. I personally know of a Canadian gentleman who is now age 90 and still continues to travel and walk in the Himalayas; I first met him on a trail in a high and remote part of Nepal when he was 83 – he wasn’t with a group mind you, but solo! (If I ever think I’m having a tough day on the trail, I think of him and that memory soon shuts down any negative inner dialogue!) One of our most treasured clients was a renowned cardiologist who was still walking on trips with us in his late 80s and a great advocate for the benefits of people staying active. When I led groups I’ve also seen ladies in their 80s who have had more stamina (and positivity) than people 40 to 50 years younger than them in the same group.

To quote again from David Robson’s article relating to a study on ageing and exercise: ‘The AgingPlus project at Colorado State University took a similar approach to changing people’s attitudes towards ageing. The participants in the intervention, with an average age of 60, were given a 4-week course that was designed to increase their physical activity. Unlike other fitness regimes, however, the modules also explained how to identify and question some of the most negative assumptions about ageing, including the common beliefs that senior citizens are frail and absent-minded’.

‘To reinforce these ideas, they were taught concepts such as neuroplasticity – the brain’s capacity to adapt and change throughout our lives – alongside practical strategies to adopt new fitness goals. As hoped, those taking the AgingPlus programme started exercising more…By the end of the course, they were less likely to endorse statements such as “It’s normal to be depressed when you are old” and “The human body is like a car: when it gets old, it gets worn out”. They also felt more empowered to control their trajectory, which was reflected in their responses to statements such as “No matter what point in life you’re at, you can always influence your own ageing.” Importantly, the degree to which someone’s mindset changed could predict how much they exercised over the following weeks: the positive attitudes to ageing proved to be a strong motivator for healthier behaviour.’

I feel with a RAW Travel audience, this may well be ‘preaching to the converted’, as so many of our clients are embracing an active lifestyle that requires a degree of positivity in the first place. If so, let’s celebrate these findings and congratulate ourselves for already making positive choices by taking active trips for our travel – not only will we have more rewarding travel experiences along the way and stay strong mentally and physically, it seems we‘ll also live longer into the bargain!

This insight draws on an article published in the September edition of BBC Science Focus magazine by David Robson. David is an award-winning science writer and author of The Intelligence Trap, The Expectation Effect and The Laws of Connection.