.... Managing depression
... happiness - What is it anyway?
... resisting stress
What does it take to age successfully? It's a question researchers have only begun to explore in earnest in the past 20 years, ever since it became clear that our understanding of ageing was no longer sufficient in a world increasingly filled with active adults in their 80s, 90s and beyond.
What those researchers have found is thoroughly fascinating. Yes, nutrition and exercise are key elements of a healthy, disease-resistant body. But what matters as much as, if not more than, the daily details of food and fitness are the attitudes and mind-sets that guide your lives. As it turns out, good health may or may not make us happy, but happiness without question contributes enormously to good health.
This is an important point. For too long now, the medical community has scoffed at the notion of a 'mind-body connection', as have many people. But the research is in, and it is irrefutable: your thoughts and emotions greatly affect your physical well-being. Put simply, there is no cheaper and
easier way to improve your health than to smile regularly.
Happiness -
What is it, anyway?
On any given day, we all tend to be a bundle of emotions and moods, from angry to ecstatic, from bored to bubbly. It's naive to think that we should be constantly smiling. Concepts such as joy, purpose and self-worth are far too complicated to reduce a simple 'Are you happy?' If only there were some type of measuring machine, like a blood pressure kit, that could tell us our happiness levels on a numbered scale. Now that would be useful!
Surprise Researchers haven't created such a machine, but they have come up with the next best thing: they're identified the specific attitudes, lifestyle choices and personal traits that best contribute to both long life and long health. We call them the:
Fabulous 5 traits
TRAIT 1 Resilience in response to life's changes and challenge
TRAIT 2 A healthy, active social life
TRAIT 3 The ability to prevent or manage depression
TRAIT 4 Embracing some form of spirituality or higher purpose
TRAIT 5 The skill to defuse the stresses of daily life
Research definitively shows that people who exercise these five traits are far less susceptible to the diseases and breakdowns of ageing. Better still, they actually do seem to be more joyous, more purposeful and more active.
It's no surprise that these positive psychological traits are deeply enmeshed in the cultures of long-lived people. On the Japanese island of Okninawa, home to the world's largest concentration of healthy happy people over the age of 100, people embrace a 'don't worry, be happy' phiolosphy of life called taygay that minimises stress and protect people's emotions from life slings and arrows.
Okinawans also practise a deep, meditative spirituality that links them with their ancestors, their gods and the universe. They stay connected with friends, family and neighbours. Okinawan village life is based on the value of yuimaru, or mutual assistance. Friends, work colleagueaus or neighbours meet regularly in groups called moasis, where everyone puts a little money into a pot, and whoever needs it most takes it home. Elder Okinawans are proud of their status and revered by their communities - something Western cultures would do well to imitate. For them, there's no word for 'retirement', and most older people do not feel lonely.
The benefits of positive attitudes and practices like these don't manifest themselves in the distant future. Optimism, resilience, social activities and faith make today better. And, as revealed in Okinawa, they also make your more likely to enjoy life many years from now.
The bottom line: if you think that living a healthy lifestyle is just about food and exercise, you are badly mistaken. Everyday attitudes are as important to your health, short and long term, as anything else you can do.
So read on. We'll explore each of the Fabulous 5 attitudes in detail and show you specific, easy ways to embrace them. Remember: making a change is easier than you think, if you go about it one small step at a time. you can improve your mind-set, your social life and your direction. The first step is merely gathering enough courage and conviction to take a first step. The second one will follow much more easily.
make today better - and add years to your life
TRAIT1 Resilience
When Dutch researchers asked 600 people aged 85 and over to identify the key components of successful ageing, they came up with one that surprised even the experts: psychological health. But rather than defining psychological health as the lack of depression or other mental-health conditions, they told researchers it meant being able to adjust to circumstances, focus on gains rather than losses and appreciate your blessings. We have another word for it: resilience.
Resilience is why certain children who grow up surrounded by poverty or cruelty still manage to get into top universities and become successful. It's why some people rebuild after storms and flooding, despite the challenges and hardships. It's why you say of someone who's just been diagnosed with cancer or who has just lost a husband or whose business has just failed: "I can't believe how well she's handling this'. We like to think of a resilient person as a human rubber band - able to be stretched almost to breaking point and still snap back.
Resilience isn't positive psychology' or 'always looking on the bright side'. It's about accepting that life will always present challenges and being able to focus on dealing with them successfully. One measure of resilience is what psychologists call 'sense of coherence', meaning having the ability to define life events as less stressful, the motivation to cope and the capacity to mobilise resources to deal with stresses encountered. A strong sense of coherence is associated with both physical
and mental health, and may even enhance survival. In one major European study of more than 20,000 people aged 41-80, it was linked with a 24 percent reduction in the risk of stroke over a seven-year follow-up period, after taking account of age, risk factors, social class, educational level and the number of adverse events that had occurred in someone's life. In another study of nearly 6,000 Finnish men, a strong sense of coherence almost halved their risk of developing diabetes over the following two decades.
Everyone has some measure of resilience. Older adults, who have had decades of coping with challenging situations, may even be best placed to create and maintain a resilient attitude. If you're faced with financial trouble, for instance, you can think back to another similar time and draw strength from the fact that you managed the situation then, so you can manage it now.
Resilience really comes into play when you're confronted with stress. If you're resilient, studies find, you recover from stress faster, reducing the damaging impact it can have and readying yourself more quickly for the next challenge.
Researchers have identified certain common traits of resilient people. How many apply to you? Resilient people:
... happiness - What is it anyway?
... resisting stress
What does it take to age successfully? It's a question researchers have only begun to explore in earnest in the past 20 years, ever since it became clear that our understanding of ageing was no longer sufficient in a world increasingly filled with active adults in their 80s, 90s and beyond.
What those researchers have found is thoroughly fascinating. Yes, nutrition and exercise are key elements of a healthy, disease-resistant body. But what matters as much as, if not more than, the daily details of food and fitness are the attitudes and mind-sets that guide your lives. As it turns out, good health may or may not make us happy, but happiness without question contributes enormously to good health.
This is an important point. For too long now, the medical community has scoffed at the notion of a 'mind-body connection', as have many people. But the research is in, and it is irrefutable: your thoughts and emotions greatly affect your physical well-being. Put simply, there is no cheaper and
easier way to improve your health than to smile regularly.
Happiness -
What is it, anyway?
On any given day, we all tend to be a bundle of emotions and moods, from angry to ecstatic, from bored to bubbly. It's naive to think that we should be constantly smiling. Concepts such as joy, purpose and self-worth are far too complicated to reduce a simple 'Are you happy?' If only there were some type of measuring machine, like a blood pressure kit, that could tell us our happiness levels on a numbered scale. Now that would be useful!
Surprise Researchers haven't created such a machine, but they have come up with the next best thing: they're identified the specific attitudes, lifestyle choices and personal traits that best contribute to both long life and long health. We call them the:
Fabulous 5 traits
TRAIT 1 Resilience in response to life's changes and challenge
TRAIT 2 A healthy, active social life
TRAIT 3 The ability to prevent or manage depression
TRAIT 4 Embracing some form of spirituality or higher purpose
TRAIT 5 The skill to defuse the stresses of daily life
Research definitively shows that people who exercise these five traits are far less susceptible to the diseases and breakdowns of ageing. Better still, they actually do seem to be more joyous, more purposeful and more active.
It's no surprise that these positive psychological traits are deeply enmeshed in the cultures of long-lived people. On the Japanese island of Okninawa, home to the world's largest concentration of healthy happy people over the age of 100, people embrace a 'don't worry, be happy' phiolosphy of life called taygay that minimises stress and protect people's emotions from life slings and arrows.
Okinawans also practise a deep, meditative spirituality that links them with their ancestors, their gods and the universe. They stay connected with friends, family and neighbours. Okinawan village life is based on the value of yuimaru, or mutual assistance. Friends, work colleagueaus or neighbours meet regularly in groups called moasis, where everyone puts a little money into a pot, and whoever needs it most takes it home. Elder Okinawans are proud of their status and revered by their communities - something Western cultures would do well to imitate. For them, there's no word for 'retirement', and most older people do not feel lonely.
The benefits of positive attitudes and practices like these don't manifest themselves in the distant future. Optimism, resilience, social activities and faith make today better. And, as revealed in Okinawa, they also make your more likely to enjoy life many years from now.
The bottom line: if you think that living a healthy lifestyle is just about food and exercise, you are badly mistaken. Everyday attitudes are as important to your health, short and long term, as anything else you can do.
So read on. We'll explore each of the Fabulous 5 attitudes in detail and show you specific, easy ways to embrace them. Remember: making a change is easier than you think, if you go about it one small step at a time. you can improve your mind-set, your social life and your direction. The first step is merely gathering enough courage and conviction to take a first step. The second one will follow much more easily.
make today better - and add years to your life
TRAIT1 Resilience
When Dutch researchers asked 600 people aged 85 and over to identify the key components of successful ageing, they came up with one that surprised even the experts: psychological health. But rather than defining psychological health as the lack of depression or other mental-health conditions, they told researchers it meant being able to adjust to circumstances, focus on gains rather than losses and appreciate your blessings. We have another word for it: resilience.
Resilience is why certain children who grow up surrounded by poverty or cruelty still manage to get into top universities and become successful. It's why some people rebuild after storms and flooding, despite the challenges and hardships. It's why you say of someone who's just been diagnosed with cancer or who has just lost a husband or whose business has just failed: "I can't believe how well she's handling this'. We like to think of a resilient person as a human rubber band - able to be stretched almost to breaking point and still snap back.
Resilience isn't positive psychology' or 'always looking on the bright side'. It's about accepting that life will always present challenges and being able to focus on dealing with them successfully. One measure of resilience is what psychologists call 'sense of coherence', meaning having the ability to define life events as less stressful, the motivation to cope and the capacity to mobilise resources to deal with stresses encountered. A strong sense of coherence is associated with both physical
and mental health, and may even enhance survival. In one major European study of more than 20,000 people aged 41-80, it was linked with a 24 percent reduction in the risk of stroke over a seven-year follow-up period, after taking account of age, risk factors, social class, educational level and the number of adverse events that had occurred in someone's life. In another study of nearly 6,000 Finnish men, a strong sense of coherence almost halved their risk of developing diabetes over the following two decades.
Everyone has some measure of resilience. Older adults, who have had decades of coping with challenging situations, may even be best placed to create and maintain a resilient attitude. If you're faced with financial trouble, for instance, you can think back to another similar time and draw strength from the fact that you managed the situation then, so you can manage it now.
Resilience really comes into play when you're confronted with stress. If you're resilient, studies find, you recover from stress faster, reducing the damaging impact it can have and readying yourself more quickly for the next challenge.
Researchers have identified certain common traits of resilient people. How many apply to you? Resilient people:
- Adapt to change easily
- Feel in control of their lives
- Are able to bounce back after difficult times
- Have close, dependable relationships
- Remain optimistic and have a sense of humour, even in the face of challenges
- Can function well under pressure
- Have a sense of confidence and strength in themselves as individuals
- Believe things happen for a reason
- Can handle uncertainty or unpleasantness
- Know where to turn for help
- Like Challenges
- Enjoy taking the lead
- Have hobbies and enjoy other activities.
Even if you're on the low end of the resilience scale, you can take steps today to build your inner resilience. while the following tips provide to start, every other tip throughout this session will also add to your resilience.
Laugh at least five times a day Humour and resilience are actually quite similar. After all, what is humour but the ability to make light of real life? Laughter keeps you optimistic, helps you to cope, reduce stress and reminds you of what's important in lie. If you don't have a sense of humour, now is the time to work on one. Start with the professionals: watch comedies on TV, rent funny films, read funny books. Be less stern and more playful with your family. Have animated conversations about unimportant subjects with friends. Learn the art of the gentle tease - and be open to teasing in return. Come bedtime, look back on your day and think about whether you laughed enough. Then vow to laugh more tomorrow. Just one warning: avoid sarcasm, mockery and any other forms of humour that degrade or hurt others. Humour, when twisted improperly, can be more bitter than sweet.
Choose laughter over anger Let's be honest there's no shortage of people and things that can make us angry, be it the government, a rude shop assistant, your spouse insensitive comment, the mess in the living room, the inconsiderable drive in front of you, your boss and so on. In every case, you have a choice: become angry, or don't. We recommend choosing the latter. Anger solves nothing. But it does accomplish something: it ruins your mood, hurts your health and gets in the way of constructive responses. Resilient people avoid anger. Rather, if they can control the situation, they work to improve it - and if they can't control it directly, they find ways to cope with it. So the next time anger starts to sweep over you, shut it down, smile at the absurdity and frustrations of life and get busy fixing things.
Have empathy This is closely related to the tip on controlling anger. Most people to what they do by choice. People who take the time to ponder the other side's perspective almost always sidestep anger and respond constructively.
Laugh at least five times a day Humour and resilience are actually quite similar. After all, what is humour but the ability to make light of real life? Laughter keeps you optimistic, helps you to cope, reduce stress and reminds you of what's important in lie. If you don't have a sense of humour, now is the time to work on one. Start with the professionals: watch comedies on TV, rent funny films, read funny books. Be less stern and more playful with your family. Have animated conversations about unimportant subjects with friends. Learn the art of the gentle tease - and be open to teasing in return. Come bedtime, look back on your day and think about whether you laughed enough. Then vow to laugh more tomorrow. Just one warning: avoid sarcasm, mockery and any other forms of humour that degrade or hurt others. Humour, when twisted improperly, can be more bitter than sweet.
Choose laughter over anger Let's be honest there's no shortage of people and things that can make us angry, be it the government, a rude shop assistant, your spouse insensitive comment, the mess in the living room, the inconsiderable drive in front of you, your boss and so on. In every case, you have a choice: become angry, or don't. We recommend choosing the latter. Anger solves nothing. But it does accomplish something: it ruins your mood, hurts your health and gets in the way of constructive responses. Resilient people avoid anger. Rather, if they can control the situation, they work to improve it - and if they can't control it directly, they find ways to cope with it. So the next time anger starts to sweep over you, shut it down, smile at the absurdity and frustrations of life and get busy fixing things.
Have empathy This is closely related to the tip on controlling anger. Most people to what they do by choice. People who take the time to ponder the other side's perspective almost always sidestep anger and respond constructively.
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