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March 5, 2026<\/p>\n
2 min read<\/p>\n
Add Us On Google<\/span>Add SciAm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Is the key to better aging all in our mind?<\/p>\n Many older adults improve their physical and cognitive health over time, overturning the idea that aging equates to a decline<\/p>\n By Claire Cameron edited by Jeanna Bryner<\/span><\/p>\n Xavier Bonghi via Getty Images<\/p>\n Cheese and wine aren\u2019t the only things that get better with age: many older adults also show significant improvements in their physical and cognitive health over time, according to a new study. The reason why seems to lie in how they think about aging.<\/p>\n People who viewed getting older positively were more likely to show improvements in their cognitive skills and their walking speed. By contrast, folks in the study who held more negative ideas about aging tended to see a decline in these skills. That suggests people\u2019s beliefs can have a dramatic effect on their biology, the researchers say.<\/p>\n \u201cOur findings suggest there is often a reserve capacity for improvement in later life,\u201d said study co-author Becca Levy, a professor of social and behavioral sciences at Yale University, in a statement. \u201cAnd because age beliefs are modifiable, this opens the door to interventions at both the individual and societal level.\u201d<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n Levy\u2019s previous research has shown that a person\u2019s views about aging may predict their risk of developing memory and sleep problems, cardiovascular conditions and even biomarkers linked to Alzheimer\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n The new study included more than 11,000 adults aged 65 and up and was published on Thursday in Geriatrics. Over the course of 12 years, 45 percent of the participants saw a positive development in either their scores on a cognitive test or their walking speed\u2014a critical measure of fitness. Many others saw no change in their cognitive skills over the study period.<\/p>\n Notably, when the researchers averaged the participants\u2019 scores, they saw an expected decline in ability as people aged. But on the individual level, that picture didn\u2019t hold up for everyone.<\/p>\n \u201cMany people equate aging with an inevitable and continuous loss of physical and cognitive abilities,\u201d Levy said. \u201cWhat we found is that improvement in later life is not rare, it\u2019s common, and it should be included in our understanding of the aging process.\u201d<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, I\u2019d like to ask for your support. Scientific American<\/span> has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a Scientific American<\/span> subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm <\/span>always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.<\/p>\n If you subscribe to Scientific American<\/span>, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.<\/p>\n In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can’t-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world’s best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.<\/p>\n There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you\u2019ll support us in that mission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" March 5, 2026 2 min read Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAm Is the key to better aging all in our mind? Many older adults improve their physical and cognitive health over time, overturning the idea that aging equates to a decline By Claire Cameron edited by Jeanna Bryner Xavier Bonghi via Getty Images Cheese and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[2822,613,364],"class_list":{"0":"post-46139","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-age","9":"tag-heres","10":"tag-people"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n
It\u2019s Time to Stand Up for Science<\/h2>\n