Crooked Thumb

Featured photo: Fall riding in Baker Park

It is a beautiful October day for a bike ride in Minnesota. The afternoon sun sets off brilliant autumn colors lining the bike path. Cool, dry air, and light wind make for easy riding. My right knee, which has bothered me since my ski accident last winter, feels strong. I feel great. In fact, I feel thirty years old. Brilliant! I am in the moment. Mindfulness slips and I check my odometer which reads average speed 14.4 mph and average power 108 watts. The fantasy is shattered… no I am not thirty.

Ask adults how old they feel, and most will not give the number on their birth certificate. Researchers call this “subjective age,” and the pattern is consistent: after about 40, people tend to feel roughly 20 percent younger than they are. A 50-year-old typically feels about 40, and a 70-year-old feels closer to 56. The gap is not vanity or denial. It turns out to be one of the more revealing measurements in the psychology of aging, and attitude sits near the center of it.

Research on Positive Attitude

Researchers, working with data from a community in Ohio, found that people who held more positive views of their own aging in midlife lived about seven and a half years longer on average than those with negative views. That advantage held after accounting for health, income, and loneliness. Later studies in England and elsewhere found that people who felt older than their years had higher rates of death and illness over the following decade than those who felt younger. Feeling young, in other words, predicts something real. Don’t Let The Old Man In: Seven Strategies For Adding life To Your Years

Three pathways seem to matter. The first is behavior. Someone who believes decline is inevitable has little reason to exercise. Someone who expects to stay capable keeps investing in that capability. The second is stress. Negative beliefs about aging appear to amplify the body’s stress response, and chronic stress wears on the heart and the immune system. The third is interpretation. A forgotten name is just a forgotten name at 30, but at 70 it can be read as the beginning of the end. People who take the bleaker reading tend to withdraw from challenges, and withdrawal speeds the very losses they fear.

Mentally healthy people live longer. Positive people live longer because this personality trait drives health behaviors which promote longevity. Conscientious people prioritize making good decisions. Outgoing people have a social safety net. Those with a sense of humor are less likely to stress the small stuff. Healthy people live in reality. When people think of themselves as capable of continued improvement, they improve. Healthier people are more likely to feel like living longer because life is more enjoyable when you feel well. There is a correlation between the desire to live and actual life span. The goal is not to pretend to be young. The people who seem to age best are not those who deny their reject the idea that the years dictate what they can do.  

Here are thoughts on what I think is most important on attitude and ageing.

Sense of Purpose

A sense of purpose may be one of the most reliable ways to stay young at heart. When you have something to get up for each morning, whether it’s a craft, a cause, a garden, or people who rely on you, your attention turns outward and forward rather than dwelling on what has passed. Purpose keeps you curious, and curiosity keeps you learning, moving, and connecting with others, all of which are habits we associate with youth. Research on aging supports this: people who report a strong sense of meaning in their lives tend to stay more active, recover better from setbacks, and even live longer. Feeling young, in the end, has less to do with the number of years behind you than with believing there is still something worthwhile ahead.

My personal training clients give me a sense of purpose. My wife, Sarah, and my kids give me purpose. Training for sport and adventure gives me a reason to keep moving. https://crooked-thumb.com/2024/02/11/a-purposeful-life-training-for-sport-adventure-and-life/. The competition may take days, an adventure a week or more. Preparing for those is a year-round endeavor.

Living with Flow

It sucks getting old. That phrase makes me cringe. Does it really suck? What really sucks is chronic wasting illness or… waiting to die. We choose to live or die. If you are going to live, then make it count. Living with Flow. Create a work of art with your life by living in the moment, not in the past or for the future. Embrace your uniqueness and celebrate the complexity of your being. Life flows when what we think, feel and wish for are in harmony.

Mindfulness helps with aging by keeping your attention on the present rather than on regrets or worries. This lowers stress, which is linked to inflammation, poor sleep, and cognitive decline. Calming the mind benefits the body. Above all, it fosters acceptance, letting you notice the changes of age without harsh judgment and savor what each day offers. Mindful Movement: Moving in the Present

Being Resilient

Resilience matters more with age because setbacks become more common: health changes, losses, and shifts in routine or identity. The ability to adapt, instead of being undone by these changes, protects both mental and physical health, and resilient people tend to recover faster from illness and are less prone to depression.

Resilience is learned from facing and overcoming hardship. Dealing with difficult situations and people makes us stronger. Everyone fails. It is how you come back from failure that shows your true character. The Longest Day: Ascent Magazine

Conclusion

Attitude is not a fountain of youth, but it is a lever. Expectations about aging are absorbed over a lifetime, largely from a culture that treats old age as a punchline or a tragedy. Those expectations quietly become self-fulfilling. Questioning them costs nothing. How old you feel is partly a report on your body and partly a story you are telling about it, and the story can be revised.

Forget the bike computer. This isn’t a training ride; it’s a fun ride. I don’t need to compete with that person who no longer exists. Legs spin the pedals, lungs inhale oxygen and exhale CO2. My heart pumps blood. Age is meaningless. I savor the moment of being alive, riding on a spectacular fall day.