Ageing is just a part of life, whether we like or not. The truth be told, ageing is a positive thing and getting older is just a transitional phase. But, can we control how we age and actually slow down the ageing process? Is the legendary fountain of youth inside us?
We all know that good diet and a healthy lifestyle slow down the ageing process — or at least the effects of, but what about our attitude? Does our outlook and how we approach life play a role in the ageing process? Apparently, the answer is a resounding yes.
According to a new book, by recognizing and adjusting our negative thought patterns, we can slow down and to a degree, even reverse ageing.
Nobel-winning scientist Elizabeth Blackburn and health psychologist Elissa Epel have authored a new book entitled “The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier and Longer.”
What are Telomeres?
As the authors explain, Telomeres are what we have at the ends of our chromosomes and they protect the ends of those chromosomes by forming a cap, much like the plastic tip on shoelaces, to protect them from deteriorating.
“If you think of your chromosomes – which carry your genetic material – as shoelaces, telomeres are the little protective tips at the end. They are made of repeating short sequences of DNA sheathed in special proteins.
During our lives they tend to wear down and when telomeres can’t protect chromosomes properly, cells can’t replenish and they malfunction. This sets up physiological changes in the body which increase risks of the major conditions and diseases of ageing…” – Professor Elizabeth Blackburn
In the book, Blackburn and Epel explain that certain thoughts can cause the protective telomeres to wear down and shorten, resulting in human ageing. The authors point out that while this is a natural occurrence to a degree, certain thought patterns or “attitudes” can trigger and speed up telomere deterioration, leading to an increase in the rate at which our brain ages. In short, negative thinking and demeanor does play a significant role in speeding up the ageing process.
The authors highlight some of the negative thought patterns that they believe could cause us to age faster:
1. Cynical hostility
This is a fusion of anger and heightened mistrust of others and people’s motivations.
Cynical hostility is defined by perpetual anger and thoughts that other people cannot be trusted and have ulterior motives. Someone with cynical hostility doesn’t just think, “I hate to stand in long lines at the grocery store.” Instead, they view standing on line with cynical hostility, thinking “That other shopper deliberately sped up and beat me to my rightful position in the line!” — and then they seethe over it.
People who think and behave this way, have shorter telomeres and are scientifically proven to be more susceptible to cardiovascular and other diseases.
2. Pessimism
Pessimism is the second thought pattern that has been shown to have negative effects on our telomeres. This harmful thought pattern has a direct effect on how we age and pessimistic people tend to have shorter telomeres — it also leads to age-related illnesses being more severe in the pessimist than in optimists.
3. Rumination
Rumination is the act of rehashing problems over and over and never letting go or moving on. Unlike harmless reflection, which is a normal approach to our past and current events, rumination is destructive and feels awful, trapping the person in a vicious cycle of stress and sadness.
4. Thought Suppression
Suppressing uncomfortable thoughts and feelings may seem like a good thing, but it’s not. The more you attempt not to think of a particular thought, the more it bubbles to the surface, causing more stress. Since suppression of uncomfortable thoughts and anxieties is unhealthy, tackling them with purpose and dragging them into the light would seem to be the healthier route.
5. Mind-wandering
This is about what activity you’re actually engaged in, vs. what your mind is doing. Some mind wandering is normal, but when we’re not fully engaged and our mind wanders off, perhaps wishing we were someplace else or doing something different, it has a negative effect. If we’re letting our mind’s wander, rather than focusing on the task at hand, we experience higher level of stress, even if we’re not conscious of it.
The good news is, how we age — whether slowly and in a healthy way, can be controlled. Some of these negative thought patterns and behaviors are fairly normal to a degree, so the key seems to be that we need to become acutely aware of how and what we think, as well as how we behave and react to situations. We probably can’t stop these negative thoughts completely, but we can better control them by recognizing and acknowledging them, so we can put them into a healthier perspective — into a more ‘positive thinking’ mentality.