Ellen Langer, a professor of psychology at Harvard University, has been studying the concept of mindfulness in the context of learning, creativity and health for decades. Her research explores how mind and body work and how the unity of their interaction can slow the aging process. Ellen Langer believes that where there is consciousness, there is also the body, and “if the consciousness knows it is healthy, the body will be healthy. In 1976, together with her colleague at Yale University, Professor Judith Rodin, they studied the effects of decision-making and responsibility of nursing home patients in the United States. The scientists divided the elderly into an experimental and a control group. Participants of the first group had to make independent decisions: they had to decide where to meet their relatives, what movie to watch, and, in addition, they had to choose a houseplant and take care of it. Participants in the second group also chose a plant, but they were told that the nurses would take care of it. They were also told that the nursing staff were there to help them with everything. Thus, the patients lived in similar conditions, but the degree of control varied. After three weeks, the researchers noticed an improvement in the experimental group: individual reports and staff evaluations showed that the participants had become more responsible. And after 18 months, the patients showed not only a greater level of responsibility, but also more initiative, activity, energy and communication skills than others. In addition, their physical health indicators at the initial stage of the study did not differ from the control group, and at the end of the experiment they significantly improved. But the most important thing that surprised the specialists was that as soon as the patients changed their attitude to life, the mortality rate decreased. During the entire period of the study, only seven out of 47 people died in the experimental group, while in the control group – 13 out of 44 (15 vs. 33%, respectively). Why did such a significant difference occur? Ellen Langer believes that the patients re-learned to choose, make decisions, do something new – this is how their level of awareness increased. The transformation of consciousness led to patients feeling better psychologically and physiologically. The development of mindfulness, according to the scientist, also affects depressive moods associated with old age. Together with Larry Perlmuter, professor of experimental psychology at Syracuse University in the United States, she studied how to reduce depression, improve memory and develop self-awareness using behavioral monitoring techniques (participants make a choice of several options and record their decisions). Experts have suggested that enhancing self-monitoring in this way may increase mindfulness. Four groups of retirees and nursing home patients tracked their activities in different ways over the course of a week. At the end of the experiment, it was found that the more the participants controlled themselves and the more decisions they made, the more their anxiety levels decreased; they became more independent and confident, savvy and prudent in their choices. Thus, undeveloped feelings of autonomy, self-control, and responsibility (or differently, “unawareness”) lead to an expected reality: when a person thinks he or she can’t handle anything on his or her own, he or she really becomes incapable of doing anything. Such people justify their lack of will to act by old age and seek care from others. Old age is full of prejudices that can and should be fought against.

Perhaps the most common problem blamed on old age is memory loss. However, experiments show that this process can not only be slowed down, but also reversed by developing mindfulness. Ellen Langer and her colleagues conducted mindfulness training among nursing home patients, including tests of short-term memory and mindfulness. The experimental and control groups received tokens for their answers that could be exchanged for valuable gifts, but the reward in the latter group was insignificant and therefore not motivating to participate. At the end of the study, it was found that the experimental group performed better in tests and their health levels were higher than the other patients. Two and a half years later, when the scientists came to test the long-term effects of mindfulness training, it was found that the first group had a high survival rate: only seven percent of the participants died during that period, while as many as 33 percent of the control group died.

Society has a very prejudiced view of old age, and as Ellen Langer points out, most of these prejudices are immature cognitive attitudes. And while research confirms that those who have a more optimistic image of the elderly may feel more alive and active as they age, this image of healthy aging is still not the case for everyone. How often do you hear the expressions “poor old lady”, “decrepit old man”, “old grouch” from people with negative attitudes towards old age? – Such cognitive attitudes turn out to be extremely important, and unfortunately they are held by the majority. “Old age” diseases may be genetically programmed into the body, but it is unknown how many of them are shaped by stereotypes learned in life. One thing is clear: the human body will adjust to age-related changes as long as the mind is willing to accept them. What exactly is the prejudice against old age? Ellen Langer and Anne Mulvey, an American professor of psychology, conducted a study to find out what behaviors are perceived as characteristic of the elderly – that is, can the eccentric behavior of the elderly really be explained as a manifestation of age? They asked respondents to list those behaviors that they thought might characterize people in three different age groups: 25 to 35, 65 to 75, and 76 and older. The survey showed that, from the point of view of the young, old people are perceived mainly as people involved in asocial behavior and passive activities with repulsive personal qualities. Thus, young people are more inclined to evaluate the elderly as sick people. Summarizing the results, the experts found out that 90% of the elderly felt that they were in danger of falling into senile marasmus, and this despite the fact that only four percent had an increased risk, according to medical histories. This study confirms the stereotype of the old person as disabled. Ellen Langer says it is threatening and frightening, because fears constrain people and discourage them from exploring new horizons.

The notion that aging and its attendant physical and mental degradation are inevitable with age prepares a person for a “self-fulfilling prophecy”. Such a view fits within a linear concept of time: a person is born, lives, the body gradually wears out, then dies. Yet many contemporary philosophers reject this concept in favor of others, as they believe it severely limits understanding about human development. Ellen Langer says that such a process does not extend to the level of elementary particles or units of energy: for example, the atoms that make up humans and other objects remain unchanged for a long time. The psychologist is sure that in a state of awareness the end point of human development will not look so unambiguous. It is conscious participation at every stage of life that will allow one to see more choices, formulate new goals, and expand the boundaries of age. In 1979, Professor Langer and her graduate students at Harvard tried to evoke in a group of elderly men the state of consciousness they had experienced twenty years earlier to see if the body could also “revert” to a youthful state. They recreated the atmosphere of that time: they laid out newspapers and magazines from 1959, turned on radio recordings, and the volunteers brought photographs of themselves in their youth and clothes similar to what they wore then. Participants had to live, think, talk and do things as they did when they were young and healthy. Every day Langer and her assistants met with them and discussed “current” events for 1959, reading Life and The Saturday Evening Post magazines, watching Anatomy of a Murder and old TV quiz shows, talking about the Cuban Revolution, arguing about who was the best baseball player. All week, the scientists observed the men’s gait and posture, eating, socializing, and recorded their level of independence – it was important to see if the elderly could walk unaided, pick up and put away food without waiting to be served. After such a week-long immersion in the “environment of distorted time” scientists measured all the main physiological and psychological indicators of the subjects. The results showed that the participants looked and felt younger in all respects: their memory, vision and hearing, hand grip strength, joint flexibility, gait and fine motor skills improved. These effects were not seen in the control group, whose participants also spent time in similar conditions but were not told to “live in the past.” The researchers also photographed all the participants before and after the experiment, and then asked independent experts to determine the men’s age from these photos. In their estimation, the men looked younger after the experiment. Some experts believe that the participants actually experienced a placebo effect, as Ellen Langer convinced those that they would feel like they did in 1959. They believed the psychologist’s words, and then their own positive expectations led to similar results. But the study was impressive nonetheless, and, most importantly, it shows that positive change can occur at an age when growth and development seem to be stunted and degraded. Thus, previously seemingly irreversible aging processes can be quite mobile as a result of conscious activity. And similar results can be achieved by anyone who is aging. “If one has no desire to follow limited stereotypes, one has an excellent chance to replace years of degradation with years in the name of development and purpose,” concludes Ellen Langer. Literature Langer E. “Awareness.” Photo: www.stihi.ru