Recently, I read this interesting study, which reports that people with positive age beliefs recovered from MCI (mild cognitive impairment)*１.
Researchers at Yale University conducted this study, involving 1716 participants with a mean (SD) age of 77.8 years from 2008 to 2020. They assessed participants‘ age-beliefs (such as “The older I get, the more useless I feel”), and divided them into two groups; positive age-belief group, and negative age-belief group. The positive age-belief group with MCI at baseline was likely to recover from MCI 30.2% greater than the negative age-belief group. Fascinating!!
There is also a study that demonstrates how ageism affects older adults’ health *2. Negativity does harm us. We need to be mindful of what thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, we feed ourselves with. People tend to just think about food for our well-being but forget about integrating and internalizing healthy ideas/beliefs for our health. Don’t be discouraged even if you have MCI. It’s possible to reverse and transform it with developing a more positive mind. We cannot and should not underestimate the importance of our body- mind connection.
*1 Levy BR, Slade MD. Role of Positive Age Beliefs in Recovery From Mild Cognitive Impairment Among Older Persons. JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(4):e237707.
doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.7707
*2 Allen JO, Solway E, Kirch M, et al. Experiences of Everyday Ageism and the Health of Older US Adults. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(6):e2217240. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.17240
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