![]() ![]() Their vision became sharper, their joints more flexible and their hands more dextrous, as some of the inflammation from their arthritis receded.Īs enticing as these findings might seem, Langer’s was based on a very small sample size. Sixty-three per cent made a significant gain on the cognitive tests, for example, compared to just 44% in the control condition. Most of the participants showed some improvements from the baseline tests to the after-retreat ones, but it was those in the first group, who had more fully immersed themselves in the world of 1959, who saw the greatest benefits. While factors such as the decor, diet and social contact remained the same, these participants were asked to reminisce about the past, without overtly acting as if they were reliving that period. To create a comparison, the researchers ran a second retreat a week later with a new set of participants. ![]() The aim was to evoke their younger selves through all these associations. (They were discouraged from asking for help to carry their belongings to their room, for example.) The researchers also organised twice-daily discussions in which the participants had to talk about the political and sporting events of 1959 as if they were currently in progress – without talking about events since that point. They had to write a biography of themselves for that era in the present tense and they were told to act as independently as possible. The researchers asked the participants to live as if it were 1959. If you believe that you are frail and helpless, small difficulties will start to feel more threatening Everything at the location, from the magazines in the living room to the music playing on the radio and the films available to watch, was carefully chosen for historical accuracy. In 1979, she asked a group of 70- and 80-year-olds to complete various cognitive and physical tests, before taking them to a week-long retreat at a nearby monastery that had been redecorated in the style of the late 1950s. The first hints that our thoughts and expectations could either accelerate or decelerate the ageing process came from a remarkable experiment by the psychologist Ellen Langer at Harvard University. “There are different labs in different countries using different measurements and different statistical approaches and yet the answer is always the same.” If I could turn back time “There’s just such a solid base of literature now,” says Prof Allyson Brothers at Colorado State University. ![]() The science, however, turns out to be incredibly robust. Of all the claims I have investigated for my new book on the mind-body connection, the idea that our thoughts could shape our ageing and longevity was by far the most surprising. Photograph: Alberto Terenghi/IPA/Shutterstock ![]()
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