When Tinkerbell is dying and Peter Pan asks all children to clap their hands if they believe in fairies, I can’t quite resist clapping my hands. It’s not like the cowardly lion’s fearful exclamation of ‘I do, I do, I do, I do, I do believe in spooks.’ Instead it symbolizes a hopeful joy that there are good things around us – and that they are often made stronger by believing.
What about belief in Aging (with Pizzazz)? Evidently, the idea is more than a fairy tale and that belief can play a large role in our quality longevity.
In 2001 when I first wrote about genetic mapping there was a whopping record of 16,300 discovered genetic ‘maps” (retrospectively a rather simple term). I may write more about this at another time, but there are now more than 3.1 million Single Nucleotide Polymorphism maps (DNA sequence variants, sometimes described as “linkage maps”) and this number is probably out of date even as I write it down. These discoveries indicate causes of diseases, personal traits, methods of bodily repair and even longevity.
Quantum Physics of Choice
Genetic mapping may be exciting and reassuring, but not the total picture. Each new finding adds a piece to the puzzle. But genetic engineering is far from a simple science, and more importantly, it is sometimes an inconclusive picture despite its many impressive details. Most engineers would probably agree, as Quantum Physics has shown us, that just as the observed is influenced by the observer, genetic results CAN be greatly influenced by environment. Our lifestyle choices influence our lifespan. Our observation of this influence is the beginning of our control. Just by watching, we begin to influence our health and control of it. A lot depends on us — even more if we believe it does. To paraphrase the French Physiologist and father of the ‘blind study’, Claude Bernard, the context in which we live and think determines everything.
An on-going Ohio longitudinal study exploring aging and retirement (OLSAR) found that people who had a positive mental attitude in the belief that they would live longer demonstrated a 7.5 year gain over those who did not. The original study (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2002, Vol. 83, No. 2, 261–270) which looked at 660 Ohio adults found that not only did this positive attitude outweigh other influences, it did so significantly. While I wouldn’t promote exploring this, the outcome was even stronger than for typical links like gender, tobacco use, loneliness and even exercise.
Speaking about individuals with less positive outlooks, one of the lead authors and epidemiologist at Yale University, Becca Levy, explained that the earlier you can adopt a good belief (attitude) about aging, the better.
“People have this overall image of what the aging process [will be] like. You see these expectations of how they are going to do over time,” says Levy about those with a more negative outlook. “By the time they become old”, she says, “they’ve already internalized [these negative stereotypes].”
The authors also suggest that these stereotypes about aging may be changing in society as a whole, and this may help the individual. In an ABC interview, Dr. Richard Suzman, from National Institute on Aging in Bethesda, MD adds “One of the biggest findings we’ve had is that disability in the older population has been declining. Many declines in function occur at a much later age than had been previously thought and are often the result of specific diseases that can be prevented or treated.”
All this to say that you don’t have to totally disintegrate as you age and it is best to refuse and refute this cultural programming. You and I have good reason to believe that quality longevity is not pie-in-the-sky. [Ooooh, there is that pie again.]
Others Believe
Social and medical science sources are not the only ones interested in this longevity issue. Others also wish to encourage belief and change necessary behaviors. Consider these points. They are not all positive in an upbeat manner, but they are all positively supportive of the fact we are living longer.
- Scientists found a species of jellyfish Turritopis that do not die of old age. They have begun experiments with the mechanism.
- In June (2015), Salim Ismail, a former Yahoo innovation director (currently executive chairman of Singularity University) spoke at a conference on finances of the future. There he made a statement that has been picked up by several news sources: “We’re adding three months to life per calendar year.” He added that “it’s not an ‘if’, it’s a ‘when’, and the point in time is in the 15-20 year range.”
- Ric Edelman, chairman and CEO of Edelman Financial Services proclaimed “the first person to reach age 150 has already been born. How do I talk to a client preparing to retire at 65 using the traditional model and with planning software that only goes to age 95?“ [i]
- Similarly, Bill Bachrach (chairman and CEO of Bachrach & Associates financial advisory consultants) asks “how do you sit down with someone in their 30s or 40s and tell them that they are going to live to 100 or 120 and haven’t prepared financially for that?” [ii]
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If insurance companies, futurists and financial advisors are looking to plan now, perhaps we all should.
Belief in line with Mission
Your first action is getting your beliefs in line with your mission. Anyone who has ever set a goal knows that if you don’t believe it can happen, it won’t. Period. One of my favorite thoughts about the power of belief is the old one about bumblebees. If you haven’t heard it before, here it is as told by Marilyn vos Savant (once in Guinness book for highest recorded IQ):
The bumblebee could be our model.
The humble bumblebee is an aerodynamically unsound little creature.
His body is far too big, while his wings are far too small;
worse, he has no feathers, but only hair.
Judging by his qualifications, we would be sure he could not fly.
Not knowing what we ‘know.’ He flies along on his merry way.
They fly because they think they can.
Hard to believe in fairies like Tinkerbell?
It may seem rather impractical to change how we think about almost anything once we reach the second 50-year mark. But there is hope. We really don’t have to believe in fairies to benefit in our attempt to Age with Pizzazz for a long time. If you can accept quantum physics and research outcomes supporting the longevity-belief connection in your head, but still can’t ‘feel it in your heart’, you certainly won’t be alone. In the strictest sense, we might not ‘have the faith’ yet, but we can still make progress. We can take it out of the realm of the gospel-tent (so to speak) and proceed with an action approach.
2 suggestions to consider for getting beliefs in line with goals.
1. ‘Act as If.’ The old saw is still sharp. Rely on it. Action is powerful and can change what we feel inside. In your own word and thought, act as if you DO believe you can live a very long, quality-filled life. Keep ‘self-talk’ positive on this subject.
2. Be an Aging with Pizzazz Rebel. Play this game. Pick out the aging-negative things people say in your life every day and call them on it. Things like ‘at your age’ which usually means that you should respect some kind of artificial boundary on your capabilities. Or ‘What do you expect at your age?’ I heard a woman say that her doctor asked her that when she was in for a knee problem. She answered she expected her knee to be as good as her other one of the same age. Further, do not accept 40 as ‘middle age’ when you expect (hopefully) to live well beyond 80 years old. And while you can politely smile or chuckle, reject the Over-The-Hill jokes and black balloons as just another dark thought. If you don’t want to challenge or actually confront someone about such statements because it just isn’t your style, at least keep a mental note. As with quantum physics, just the observation can change the influence.
Finally, just to prove you are playing the game and AT LEAST ‘acting as if’, the next time Peter asks for help, clap those hands. It just may improve your odds, along with Tinkerbell’s.
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Endnotes:
[i] New retirement age is not 65, not 80, not 95: It’s higher. Eric Rosenbaum | @erprose . http://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/03/new-retirement-age-is-not-65-not-80-not-95-its-higher.html (access 8/28/2015)
[ii] Ibid.
