Feeling Younger Than Your Age May Be Good for Your Health
Odds are the age you feel does not match up with the number of candles you blow out on your birthday cake. Middle-aged and older adults tend to feel younger than their chronological age, research shows. Many adults feel a few years to decades younger, and this may be a good thing.
A younger subjective age is correlated with better overall health and can serve as a “biopsychosocial marker” predictive of healthy aging beyond chronological age, studies show.
This perception of youth is, in one sense, a denial of reality.
“You’re not accepting who you are, you’re sort of lowballing it, you’re lying to yourself to make yourself feel better — that should be less healthy,” said Yaakov Hoffman, a clinical psychologist and associate professor of social sciences at Bar-Ilan University, Israel.
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