By Julie E 
Photo Credit ( Greetyimage )
Subjective age' has a significant impact on individuals's physical and mental well-being, as most people feel younger or older than they actually are.Take a moment to imagine if you had no official birth certificate and that your age was determined solely by your inner feelings. What is your estimated age?
The years that have gone by since you were born are an immutable truth, just like your height or shoe size. However, common experience indicates that we frequently have different experiences with ageing, with many people feeling younger or older than they actually are.
This attribute is attracting more and more attention from scientists. They are discovering that knowing your “subjective age” may be crucial to comprehending why some people seem to thrive as they age while others seem to wane. According to Brian Nosek of the University of Virginia, “the degree to which older adults feel significantly younger than they are may determine important daily or life decisions for what they will do next.”
What is your life’s prime?
The super-athletes over sixty
The remarkable ability of the elderly mind to reproduce
Its significance goes beyond that. Numerous studies have even demonstrated that your subjective age can predict a number of significant health outcomes, such as your mortality risk. You are “only as old as you feel” in some very serious ways.
In light of these intriguing findings, numerous academics are currently working to identify the various biological, psychological, and social elements that influence how each person experiences ageing and how this information could lead to longer, healthier lives.
Hirschfeld, Javier/Getty Images Most people feel younger than their actual age after their mid-20s. (Source: Getty Images/Javier Hirschfeld)Hirschfeld, Javier/Getty Images
Most people feel younger than their actual age after their mid-20s. (Source: Getty Images/Javier Hirschfeld)
Decades have gone into developing this new understanding of the ageing process. The 1970s and 1980s saw the publication of some of the first research that mapped the difference between felt and chronological age. What started out as a trickle of interest has now become a flood. Over the past ten years, a plethora of new research has examined the possible physiological and psychological effects of this disparity.
The relationship between our personalities and perceived age has been one of the most fascinating areas of this research. It is now widely acknowledged that as people age, they tend to become less outgoing and receptive to new experiences. These personality changes are more noticeable in those with older subjective ages and less noticeable in those with younger hearts.
We don’t become immature indefinitely just because our subjective age is lower.
However, it’s interesting to note that those with younger subjective ages also exhibited good changes associated with normal ageing, such as becoming less neurotic and more conscientious. As a result, they continue to appear to acquire the wisdom that comes with more life experience. However, it doesn’t come at the expense of youth’s vigour and excitement. We’re not stuck in a lifelong state of immaturity because we have a lower subjective age.
As we age, feeling younger than your years also appears to be associated with a lower risk of depression and better mental health. Better physical health, including a lower risk of dementia, and a lower likelihood of hospitalisation for sickness are also associated with it.
At the University of Montpellier, Yannick Stephan analysed data from three longitudinal studies that collectively followed over 17,000 middle-aged and older participants.
The majority of people believed they were eight years younger than they actually were. However, there were severe repercussions for those who felt they had aged. Even after adjusting for other demographic variables including education, race, and marital status, feeling 8–13 years older than your actual age was associated with an 18–25% higher risk of death and a higher burden of disease during the research periods.
Hirschfeld, Javier/Getty Images People who have a younger subjective age are less likely to experience dementia as they age, and they may even be at lower risk of dying. (Source: Getty Images/Javier Hirschfeld)Hirschfeld, Javier/Getty Images
People who have a younger subjective age are less likely to experience dementia as they age, and they may even be at lower risk of dying. (Source: Getty Images/Javier Hirschfeld)
Subjective age provides a wealth of information regarding our health for a variety of reasons. A lower subjective age may indicate that you enjoy a wider variety of activities (like travelling or picking up a new interest) as you get older, which could be a direct effect of the underlying personality changes. For instance, research has shown that patterns of physical activity are predicted by subjective age, according to Stephan.
However, the process that relates perceived age to mental and physical health most likely works both ways. You are likely to feel older if you are sad, forgetful, and physically susceptible. This could lead to a vicious cycle whereby both physiological and psychological factors contribute to poorer health and a greater subjective age, which in turn makes us feel even older and more susceptible.
The greatest study of the relationship between subjective age and mortality to date is Stephan’s analysis, which is now being published in the journal of Psychosomatic Medicine. These significant effect sizes necessitate careful consideration. Stephan claims that these correlations are on par with or even more significant than the influence of age.