03/25/2026
Here’s a Happiness Boost for today!
Mornin' friends ❤
Want to start off the day with something different.
Something good.
The Washington Post just came out with an article that put a big smile on my face.
According to a study they released lot of us DON'T decline as we pass retirement age - we actually improve. Mentally AND physically. And the vast majority of us do NOT end up in nursing homes. We remain independent. Just fine, thank you.
The keys to aging well in the study are attitude and movement. And by movement, they do NOT mean vigorous exercise.
Yes, weekly workouts are good. Having regular daily sessions geared towards strengthening our muscles and controlling our weight are even better.
But the MOST beneficial thing to our health is just moving our body around on a regular basis throughout the day, as a gentle, ongoing process. Part of a normal rhythm that keeps our hearts and lungs and digestive systems working and functioning as they should.
If you can walk, that's best. NO - not for a mile uphill in the rain. Just around the house. Especially right after you eat. It helps your body digest your meal. Get up from your chair every hour or so. If you are chairbound, move your bodies any way you can. Raise and lower your legs and arms, stretch them from side to side. The point is to move as constantly and continually as you can.
Your breathing, digesting, and most importantly, your blood flow not only keeps your body functioning, it keeps your brain functioning, too.
The other key thing is attitude. We are conditioned to believe that once we hit 60, everything goes downhill from there. But that's WRONG. We CAN get physically stronger and mentally sharper with age. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
This is excerpted from the Washington Post's article on a new study published in the journal Geriatrics, "Aging Redefined: Cognitive and Physical Improvement with Positive Age Beliefs" by Becca Levy:
“I started thinking about these examples of people thriving in later life,” said Becca Levy, a professor of epidemiology and psychology at the Yale School of Public Health and lead author of the new research. “How does that fit into this dominant belief that aging is a time of universal and inevitable decline? Are they exceptions, or are they actually kind of showing the potential of later life?”
Levy and a colleague, Martin Slade, looked at data from the Health and Retirement Study, which included several thousand participants who had been asked about their thoughts — positive or negative — about getting older. The researchers examined the participants’ cognitive health and walking speed, which is generally considered a good indicator of physical fitness, and followed participants for up to 12 years to see whether their scores improved — and if there was a link to their views on aging.
Levy and her co-author found that nearly half of the participants over 65 improved — physically, cognitively or both. And people with positive beliefs about aging were more likely to be in that group.
“Will you continue to age? Yes. Will you die? Without a doubt. But you can make it much better,” said Louise Aronson, a leading geriatrician and professor emeritus of medicine at University of California at San Francisco.
She said that while aging is inevitable, it’s not a one-way street toward decline. “Maybe you don’t lift as much weight as you did 40 years ago. But maybe you’re lifting twice as much as you did one year ago because you understood that you can influence your aging, and you had enough positivity to get yourself to do the strength training that is so transformative as we age.”
Negative stereotypes about aging are pervasive. A global survey in 2024 found that 65 percent of health care workers and 80 percent of the general population falsely believed that developing dementia is a normal part of aging.
“The stereotype of an older person is that they’re dependent, that they have cognitive impairment,” said Mark Lachs, co-chief of the division of geriatrics and palliative medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian Hospital and professor of medicine at Cornell’s medical school.
While Lachs said that may sometimes be true, “the vast majority of older people don’t have any cognitive impairment. The vast majority of older people do not have a need for assistance.”
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READ THAT AGAIN! “the vast majority of older people don’t have any cognitive impairment. The vast majority of older people do not have a need for assistance.”
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In the last couple of decades, there has been more research focused on the positive aspects of getting older. Lachs noted that judgment and wisdom improve with age, as does emotional intelligence and even happiness.
"EVEN HAPPINESS!"
Lachs said his patients are around 89 years old on average, and the people who are thriving usually have one thing in common: something in their life that gives them meaning and a sense of purpose.
“It could be politics, it could be a grandchild, it could be volunteering at the art museum, it could be animals, it could be traveling,” Lachs said.
He believes that the reason attitudes toward aging matter so much is that they can set off either a positive or negative cycle. If you feel good about yourself as you age and believe you can improve and be useful to the world, it feels worth it to invest the time and energy in working out, socializing and volunteering. That might give you confidence and a mood lift, meaning you’re more likely to do more positive things for yourself and others. There’s evidence for that in Levy’s research.
“If you have a positive aspect about aging, you might be more inclined to take care of yourself. Then you go out, you’re more likely to have friends,” Lachs said. “You have to walk to that dinner, so your mobility increases. You become engaged in that conversation, so all of these things are linked. And we know that one of the most powerful aspects of disease prevention and health and longevity is social connectedness.” In the new research paper, Levy and her co-author describe this as a “snowball” effect.
“What’s amazing about that is positivity about aging — it’s not a drug, it’s not a surgery. It’s not like you have to get some toxic treatment. It’s an attitudinal adjustment,” Lachs said. “The mind-body connection, which, you know, when I was a medical student was kind of woo-woo … it turns out that it’s as powerful as many drugs we give and without any of the side effects.”
The message, according to Slade, is “Don’t give up,” because, he added, “life can get better.”
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So there ya go.
Oh - the picture? That is Diana Nyad, 12 years ago. When she was 64 years old, and swam 110 miles from Cuba to Florida, becoming the first person to do so without a shark cage. (SHARK CAGE !?!?!?!)
It was her fifth attempt over the course of 3½ decades. She finally did it.
“I said when I did that swim, which was 12 years ago, that that was the prime of my life,” Nyad said during a phone interview this month. She felt in better shape physically and mentally than she ever had before. “And honestly, at 76, I’m even better now than I was then.” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lord love a duck! I am definitely not in HER league LOL. But dang it, I can do a whole lot better than I have been lately. Time to get moving more. Got things to do!
Hope this gave you some inspiration and motivation, too! Turn off the TV and get off the internet for a while every day. Immerse yourself in something that gives you some joy - a book or a hobby. Step outside and get some sun on your face. Play with your cat. Call an old friend. Start something new!
Don't let the news bring you down. We have built a better world before. We can help build it back, again. We know how to do it, after all.
Love you much, my friends!
