Special Notice: Beginning Next month this Newsletter will be called Ageless Aging. I mention this so you can adjust any filtering program you might have on your email.

Today I'd like to talk about the importance of your psychological age. No, this is not about 'maturity'. Psychological age refers to how old you 'feel'.

Research shows your psychological age is really important. It can speed up, slow down and even reverse the biological aging of your body.

My sister had a birthday last month. I emailed her about it and she replied saying that this year she decided she would now be 47 ( That is 15 years younger than her chronological age).

I thought that was a great idea because I recently read a study done by a Harvard University professor back in 1979. Yes, 1979! .

This Harvard study should have been in all the papers and on the news. but it wasn't. If fact most people still know nothing abuot it.

In the study they offered a group of men a free vacation as long as they agreed to daily medical tests eg. blood work etc.

As with all scientific studies, they divided the men into two groups. The one group was told to bring their things and they would be transported to the vacation spot. The other group was told that when they packed their things they could not bring ANYTHING from after 1959 (That was twenty years earlier).

The men agreed. The first group arrived and went to a lodge. Each day they underwent medical tests but otherwise they were free to enjoy themselves any way they wanted. Their only inconvenience was the daily check up.

But things were different for the second group. When they reached their lodge, they found that their quarters were decorated in 1959 style. Newspapers and magazines were no later than 1959. They were even told that they could not talk about anything that happened after 1959.

The researchers wanted to find out if how we see ourselves,how we think about ourselves (our psychological age), affects our biological age.

At first there were no real differences in the test results for the two groups. Then after about 3 days the medical tests began to show some differences. The 1959 group was showing biological markers of younger men.

In fact by the end of the vacation, this group showed remarkable changes. Their memories were better, they were more active and self sufficient, stiff joints had become more flexible, their vision improved, even their fingers had lengthened. (Our fingers shorten as we age.)

And to top it off when an outside group was asked to review before and after vacation pictures of all the men, they often placed the 'after pictures' of the men in this second group as 'having been taken a few years earlier' - so the men even looked younger.

When I first read about this study, I was amazed. It seemed impossible. Still there have been some additional studies showing that the age you 'think you are', the age 'you decide you are' actually affects your body.

You know that there are men and women in their eighties who look and act much younger ...just as there are those who look and act much older than their chronological age. So now you know that you can reset your inner clock by up to 12 or 15 years. Pick an age - begin to say to yourself I feel like XX again. Start walking like that age. Think of yourself as having many more productive years ahead of you. Invest in yourself, in your energy - you can be as young as you think you are. You can be younger than your chronological age.

A few weeks ago I made a decision about my 'psychological age' - the age I would think of myself as being. A few days later I was astonished to realize that I was walking faster (Walking speed tends to slow with age) and I was more upbeat - thinking of projects I wanted to do. And you know people began to notice. They began to say things like, "Your looking good" or "You seem so much more energetic." I even got an invite to tour a nearby research facility with a suggestion that I might want to use it for my studies.

I hope you will reconsider your psychological age. Why not choose to be younger than your chronological age? Why not choose to take this step towards Ageless Aging?

And if you notice any differences in the days or weeks after making your choice, do feel free to contact me.

I am adding a page to the web site about psychological age and it would be nice to be able to share some experiences (Of course your comments would be anonymous - unless you give me permission to use your initials or your name.)

Until next month.....

Kate