No surprise here: you are as old as you feel. Really

If you remember the lyric “…This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius", you'll know that a lot of time has passed since that particular sunrise. Not to put too fine a point on it, many of us have travelled a good way down the road of life.

We all know that our health - anyone's health - is heavily influenced by the choices we make, like what and how much we eat, what other substances we might put into our bodies, and how much we exercise (both our bodies and our brains). Yes, genetics plays a role, but not as much as most people think.

The thing is, even as we're aware of the downsides of living all those years, we're also aware of the benefits. In general, people get happier as they age (as long as they are relatively healthy). Perspective matters, and as you get older, you tend not to waste time on the unimportant stuff.

But how old are you, really? We've all seen 70 year-olds who look much younger, and 45 year-olds who seem ready to retire. How old do you feel, how old do you look, or act? And most importantly, how old do you think?

Here's a good, common-sense archival article from Psychology Today that addresses 'how old is old?'. A couple of stats are American, but the gist of the article translates well into Canadian. Eh?

Read the article, then put on that old tune (and try not to laugh at the clothes and hair).  And this, from the philosopher Blaze Krautner: act as old as you feel, not as your are.

 Longbottom New