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

[highplainsdem]

https://ysph.yale.edu/news-article/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 Dr. Becca R. Levy, PhD, a professor of social and behavioral sciences at the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH), found that nearly half of adults aged 65 and older showed measurable improvement in cognitive function, physical function, or both, over time.

The improvements were not limited to a small group of exceptional individuals and, notably, were linked to a powerful but often overlooked factor: how people think about aging itself.

-snip-

The authors also examined potential reasons for why some people improve and some do not. They hypothesized that an important factor could be participants’ baseline age beliefs — or, specifically, whether they had assimilated more positive or more negative views about aging by the start of the study. In support of this hypothesis, they found that those with more positive age beliefs were significantly more likely to show improvements in both cognition and walking speed, even after accounting for factors such as age, sex, education, chronic disease, depression, and length of follow-up.

-snip-

Much more at the link.

The study is at https://www.mdpi.com/2308-3417/11/2/28 and it's Open Access.

I found the study and the Yale article after first seeing a Washington Post article published today - https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2026/03/25/aging-positive-mindset/ - but that's paywalled, and there were other articles about the study.

This is important news for anyone, and since so many DUers are boomers, I thought it should be in GD rather than a smaller forum.

I've noticed the study's findings in my own family - the older adults having the most trouble with their health are the ones who talk the most about falling apart with age being normal...and who then do the least to try to counter those health problems.

I've long been a believer in benefits of positive thinking - it enabled me to get through recovery from a bad back injury in my early 30s that had left me with nonstop pain and serious depression for a while, needing to use an overbed table as a desk.

It's good to see this study.

[GenThePerservering]

1. I agree!

My view on aging is that I don't have one - you just keep going.

Thanks for posting the info!

[Prairie_Seagull]

2. In my case,

I going to have to fake it till I make it. One forgets the power of positive thinking these days.

Great reminder highplainsdem.