Cicero and the Attitude of Aging

With all the scientific interest in anti-aging products, and all the money spent on procedures to make us look younger, healthier and more vibrant, a single reality still stands at the end of the day:  Aging is inevitable.  Being conscious of this will save you a lot of heartache (and money.)

Researchers and authors continue to discuss how best to describe ideal aging.  From Successful Aging, to Healthy Aging, to what we now call Conscious Aging, the central theme is to accept our limitations but to not let them determine who we are.

In contrast to philosophers who came before him, Cicero (106-40BC) was the first person to acknowledge aging as a period of diminished abilities but concluded that this—by itself—was not negative. Cicero had in fact articulated our current concept of psychological aging—of being conscious of the aging process and adapting accordingly.

While everyone around him searched for the holy grail of anti-aging, Cicero advocated acceptance. Reflecting his training as a diplomat, he argued that old age was a time of transition, not despair. Even though we might withdraw from active pursuits, he argued, older adults can still fulfill advisory functions. Cicero championed the belief that old age was not a disease—that we should accept our limitations and actively engage in those activities which we can still perform. It’s all about attitude. Make sure that your cup is half full.

In 2002, in a now classic study by two Yale professors, Becca Levy and Martin Slade, supported Cicero’s ideas. The researchers surveyed 660 individuals aged 50 and older on their perceptions about aging. Twenty three years later, they found that older individuals with more positive self-perceptions of aging—recorded 23 years earlier—lived 7.5 years longer than those with less positive self-perceptions of aging. This advantage remained after age, gender, income, loneliness, and functional health were included as possible factors. The findings suggest that self-perceptions influence longevity.

This year a new test is set to hit the market in Britain that measures a person’s telomeres. Telomeres are structures found on the tips of chromosomes that correlate with how fast a person is aging biologically. Predicted by Leonard Hayflick—before their discovery—telomeres tell us how many times our cells have already divided (and because the number of times is finite, we can tell how many times they can continue to replicate until they die).  Will such a test change how you behave?

It is likley that it will in a posive way. In 2005 Chris O’Brien surveyed over 3500 individuals in Britain, on how long they expected to live. On average—compared to local statistics—they under-estimated. Males estimated that thy will die 4.62 years earlier and women 5.95 years earlier than they are likely to die.  In this case, undertaking the blood test would improve our expectation of living longer. Attitude determines not just our longevity but it makes living more than just an expresssion of our telomeres.