Breaking the Age Code: How Your Beliefs About Ageing Determine How Long and Well You Live

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Ageism robs us of optimism for the longer lives we have created, and it disables the future of the young and the old.Becca Levy shows us how this happens, and how we solve it.We need to collectively follow her prescriptions.When we do so, we will create the potential of longer lives that young people can look forward to and older people can live their fullest in.” Doc: Yes, we are excited to present our research—and, uhh, "oldster" is an example of the endemic ageism in— John Basinger who, at the age of 59 set himself the challenge of memorising the entire Paradise Lost by John Milton. This is a 60,000 word poem, equivalent to a full length novel. It took him 8 years, but at 80 he could still remember all of it. Despite the entrenched negative age stereotypes that permeate American society, Levy is convinced they can be dislodged and replaced by more-favorable views of aging and older people.

Yale professor and leading expert on the psychology of successful aging, Dr. Becca Levy, draws on her ground-breaking research to show how age beliefs can be improved so they benefit all aspects of the aging process, including the way genes operate and the extension of life expectancy by 7.5 years.This exciting new book gives all of us who are aging an opportunity to find ways to positively influence our destiny.Readers can use insights from this book to increase opportunities to shape a better and longer life. The eternal legacy of Maggie Kuhn, the founder of Gray Panthers and one of the most important and effective activists of the 20 th century is richly demonstrated in this book.” According to research carried out – The Ohio Longitudinal Study, combined with the NDI (National Death Index) – people with the most positive views on ageing live an average of 7.5 years longer than those with negative views.

The World Health Organization has called ageism the most prevalent and socially acceptable form of prejudice and discrimination today,” says Levy, who has testified before the U.S. Senate on the adverse effects of ageism. She also has contributed to briefs submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in age-discrimination cases and has participated in United Nations discussions of ageism. Dislodging the stereotypes The most important takeaway from my research is that we know age beliefs are malleable,” Levy says. “We can increase our awareness of them, challenge some negative ones, and strengthen some positive ones.” This is the question that led leading expert and researcher Dr Becca Levy to discover a fascinating truth: just changing the way you think about ageing can add years to your life.Breaking the Age Code is a landmark work, presenting not only easy-to-follow techniques for improving age beliefs so they can contribute to successful aging, but also a blueprint to reduce structural ageism for lasting change and an age-just society. While Levy’s research underscores the value of celebrating our advancing years as a time for creativity, exploration, and accomplishment, today’s reality is often quite different. All too frequently, personal views, cultural stereotypes, and institutional biases about aging are tilted in a negative direction. This book will shatter some of your basic assumptions about ageing - and how we can lead longer, healthier and happier lives. Becca Levy is the world's foremost expert on the psychology of ageing, and she shares rigorous, remarkable evidence that one of the best ways to stay mentally and physically fit is to rethink your stereotypes about what it means to be an older person. Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author People can be just as creative in older life, with many artists and writers exhibiting more depth and emotional resonance in their later works. For example, Michelangelo’s two Pietas (one done in his twenties, the next in his seventies), Joseph Turner, and George Eliot, to name a few. Breaking the Age Code tells us about: Age beliefs impact our health in ways big and small,” says Levy, who became interested in psychology as a U-M undergraduate. She completed her graduate work at Harvard, and is now a professor of epidemiology and of psychology at Yale.

Breaking the Age Code is less a self-help manual than a manifesto for a revolution Anna Maxted, The Times In the Western world, ageing is seen as limiting and there’s often a dismissive attitude to the elderly. Youthfulness is exalted and older people are often dismissed. For example, if an older person is depressed it’s often brushed off as a natural part of ageing and not taken seriously by doctors. Some Nuggets from Breaking the Age Code Levy has produced a manifesto to inspire us to fight against the scourge of ageism and its negative effects on older adults, and our society. The book is a call to action and provides practical and proven methods to help older adults develop more positive views of their lives, and to inspire all of us to stand up against ageism in our personal life, workplace, and social media. This book will be remembered as a turning point in the fight against ageism.” Age discrimination can limit access to work opportunities, housing and even health care – and that's not just a problem for older people. "We are all aging and we all have loved ones who are aging," Levy says. It is hard to write a book on science aimed at the popular market. Science is all about detail and logical exposition, and good science is generally messy. We saw that as we watched science play out in real time and headlines during the first year of COVID. Explaining science accurately in the language of average readers is difficult, and few are good at it (Stephen Hawking springs to mind). A common approach is to break the complex story into nuggets of information and to use personal stories to humanize difficult-to-digest data This reaches bottom in Internet sales pitches of health products that keep the reader stringing along until the price tag finally comes clear (“but today you get two for one”). But it’s a tried and true technique that has made self-help books popular. Which makes it an editor’s go-to option. I can’t help but imagine the meeting between the author and her agent or publisher:

The time has come to shift from an age-declining to an age-thriving mindset, according to Levy, who presents a blueprint for overcoming structural ageism in her book. Stunning revelations and powerful, scientifically-proven advice on how to live a healthy and vibrant long life from the world’s leading expert and pioneer in the field of ageing. Just changing the way you think about getting older can add 7.6 years to your life. Write down every portrayal of aging that you come across," says Levy — from advertising to TV shows to casual conversation. This can reveal the areas in your life where explicit and implicit biases might lie. "Questioning the negative portrayals," says Levy, "is really important." This book differs from other books I've read on ageism in that the myths are countered by scientific studies. The studies are summarized so that the reading is easy but they are endnoted so that those with ability to sift through empirical research can go to the original and test methods and results. Though the studies appear throughout the book they are handily listed in an appendix at the end: myth plus studies it refutes plus endnote number. Most memorable is the discussion of life expectency: people with a positive view of aging live 7.5 years longr than those with negative views. I chose the audiobook edition for myself because it is more realistic to listen to a book while driving than to actually get "me time" at home to read a physical book.