How to stay feeling young
We all know people who seem decades – younger than their biological age. Children’s book author Susanne Gervay is one of them. She’s 66 but feels more in her mid-20s.
In her spare time she’s often jogging around her local park or doing laps at the pool. That is, when she’s not zipping around the country on book tours.
International adventures are still on the cards, too. Her most recent sojourn was to Turkey, where she attended a literary festival then hit the road with her daughter for two weeks.
The pair went hot-air ballooning at sunrise, climbed rocky mountains and gorged on Turkish delights and sesameroasted peanuts. ‘‘I’m supposed to be old and scared, but I’m not,’’ she says.
While Susanne has long-term friends she cherishes, most of them are now retired, which places them in a ‘‘really different life’’ to the one she’s currently living.
She consequently spends a lot of time with younger friends, especially when she’s touring or attending festivals.
At those festivals, she often finds herself crammed into a room with a bunch of writers and illustrators. They surround themselves with ‘‘heaps of pizza and wine, and tell very risque stories’’.
She’s sometimes aware she’s one of the older ones in the group. ‘‘But they don’t seem to notice, so that’s OK,’’ she adds, chuckling.
Gervay may feel young at heart because she lives a youthful lifestyle – or it may be that her brain is ageing more slowly than her peers’. That’s what research in the June 2018 edition of journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience suggests.
It found that older people who feel younger than their age showed fewer signs of brain ageing on MRI scans compared to others.
They were also more likely to score higher on a memory test, view their health as better, and be less likely to report symptoms of depression.
‘‘We found that people who feel younger have the structural characteristics of a younger brain,’’ says researcher Jeanyung Chey. This difference remained robust even when accounting for other possible factors.
Sydney psychologist Emi Golding says a great place to start to follow a youthful lifestyle is to work on your energy levels, as being physically active has a ‘‘huge’’ influence. It forms a positive feedback cycle whereby the more active we are, the more energised we feel.
It’s also useful to nourish your mind. Golding recommends starting the day with a positive mindset by practising affirmations or gratitude.
Wake up focusing on what you’re excited about that day, rather than what ails you.
You can further sharpen your brain by doing crosswords and Sudoku puzzles, and fostering a mindset of curiosity – which she suggests leads to new activities, people and experiences.
Try to branch out from your usual social group, too. If you always spend time with the same people, you’re likely to adopt their way of seeing the world. Spending time with a range of people of differing ages can also keep you on your toes.
Adopt youthful characteristics such as risktaking behaviour, says Golding, though don’t throw caution to the wind.
Marrying your maturity with an appropriate level of risktaking (‘‘saying yes to something you wouldn’t normally do’’) can yank you out of your comfort zone.
Regardless of how many years Susanne Gervay has under her belt, she believes she’ll always feel young at heart. She sees people her age succumbing to the wearying laments, aches and pains of growing older. ‘‘They’ve gone to that next stage; they’re more in their golden years.’’
Meanwhile, she still feels firmly planted in what she terms her ‘‘green years’’. ‘‘I’m never going to change. I always think I’m going to, but I never do.’’
– Sydney Morning Herald
People who feel younger than their age showed fewer signs of brain ageing.