Seniors Defy Stereotypes of Decline Through Positive Mindsets

Seniors defy stereotypes of decline through positive mindsets

Aging in later life is often portrayed as a steady slide toward physical and cognitive decline. But a new study by scientists at Yale University suggests an alternate narrative - that older individuals can and do improve over time and their mindset toward aging plays a major part in their success.

Yale study challenges notion that aging means decline, finds many older adults improve over time

Aging in later life is often portrayed as a steady slide toward physical and cognitive decline. But a new study by scientists at Yale University suggests an alternate narrative — that older individuals can and do improve over time and their mindset toward aging plays a major part in their success. Analyzing more than a decade of data from a large, nationally representative study of older Americans, lead author Becca R. Levy, a professor of socia…

Study finds 45% of adults 65 and older improved over 12 years

Aging in later life is often portrayed as a steady slide toward physical and cognitive decline. But a new study by scientists at Yale University suggests an alternate narrative—that older individuals can and do improve over time and their mindset toward aging plays a major part in their success.

Your Mindset is the Secret to Aging in Reverse

Researchers find that nearly half of adults over 65 show cognitive and physical improvements, driven largely by positive beliefs about aging.

Nearly half of older adults improve in cognition or walking over time

A steady slide into frailty is the story many people tell themselves about old age. The numbers in a long-running federal survey tell a messier tale. In a new study led by Becca R. Levy at Yale University, nearly half of older adults tracked for up to 12 years improved in at least one basic marker of brain or body function. The odds of improvement rose with something that rarely gets treated like a health factor at all: whether someone started o…