THE ROUGH GUIDE TO PSYCHOLOGYimproving until the age of about seventy. There’s also ample evidence
that keeping the body and mind exercised can help stave off the effects
of ageing. A study of over eight hundred nuns, priests and monks, by
neuropsychologist Robert Wilson of the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease
Centre, found that those who kept their minds busy – for example by
reading the newspaper – were less likely to have developed Alzheimer’s
disease when re-examined four years later.
As well as physical alterations to the brain, there’s also evidence that
growing older is associated with changes in thinking style. Margie
Lachman at Brandeis University and her colleagues twice surveyed
thousands of Americans over a two-year period and found that people
aged over 65 were more realistic and accurate about their past and future
happiness than younger and middle-aged participants. Whereas those
under 65 tended to downplay past happiness and over-estimate future
happiness, the older participants didn’t. This more realistic outlook
probably reflects older people’s need to accept their life as they’ve lived
it, and their greater awareness of people’s ability to adjust to whatever
the future holds.
What about the feeling that time goes faster as we get older? This
is a tricky phenomenon to research. What we do know is that arousal
and excitement seem to make time feel, in the moment, as though it
is passing more quickly. Paradoxically, a day, week or month that was
The last waltz. Keeping active and alert is the best way of staving off the negative
effects of old age.