Among middle-aged and older adults, those with a younger psychological state tend to have greater well-being, better cognitive function, less inflammation, a lower risk of hospitalization, and even longer lifespans.
This is the result of a new study published in Psychology and Aging - A sense of youth can help middle-aged and older adults buffer against the damaging effects of life's stress.
The study stems from an analysis of 3-year data from 5,039 participants in the German Ageing Survey by researchers at the German Gerontology Center. The
survey, aimed at German residents aged 40 and over, investigates the relationship between the stress they feel in their lives and their functional health. The results of the
study showed that, on average, participants with more stress in their lives experienced a greater decline in functional health over a three-year period. However, subjective age provides a protective buffer.
The link between stress and decreased functional health was weaker in people who felt younger than their actual age. And the older the actual age, the strongest protective effect. According to the
researchers, the findings suggest that means of making people feel younger can also actually reduce the physical damage caused by stress and improve the health of middle-aged and elderly people.
, for example, can help people feel younger by promoting messages that dismantle ageism and negative stereotypes about ageing, and promote positive perceptions of aging. In addition, more general stress reduction therapy and stress management training may also prevent functional health loss in older adults.
This research provides the easiest way to maintain health for middle-aged and elderly people - believe that you are very young. As for how to believe, here is a "Cue therapy", which is the famous self-suggestion method.
1910, the French pharmacist Emile Coue (Emile Coue) was treating a patient and found that he had no medicine on hand, so he took a bottle of distilled water to the patient and told him to drink the bottle of "potion". ', and he will be healed.
Later, the patient who took the "medicine" as prescribed by the doctor really recovered. Afterwards, Coue realized the power of autosuggestion by using the dough to make pills and appearing to have cured many ailments as well. He often advises patients to tell themselves: "I'm getting better and better every day in every way." After
, this type of autosuggestion has been called Coue therapy.
The essence of Coue's therapy is the "placebo" effect, that is, although there is no actual effective treatment, as long as the patient "expects" or "believes" that the treatment will be effective, symptoms will be relieved.
According to the paper "Powerful Placebo" published by Henry K. Beecher, an anesthesiologist at Harvard Medical School in the United States in 1955, in postoperative analgesia, cough, headache, anxiety, cold and other symptoms. , the placebo effect is actually effective for 21% to 58% of the symptoms.
Of course, many successful study books now mention "self-suggestion", telling you that you can improve yourself by reading a few sentences a day, but this is not the case. Although self-suggestion is simple, there are also points to pay attention to. In order to achieve the best effect of
self-suggestion, you need to grasp two points, one is relaxation, and the other is feeling: the more relaxed the state, the easier the brain will accept the suggestion. Referring to the reception efficiency of information.
Therefore, the best way is to read out the words you want to imply to yourself every day after getting up, before going to bed, etc., repeating about 20 times. You can choose to read Chinese or English according to your preference.
translation/Foresight Economist APP Information Group
Reference:
[1] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/05/210506163628.htm
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/%C3%89mile_Cou%C3%A9
