Today's 75-year-olds are cognitively fitter and happier than the 75-year-olds of 20 years ago

Older adults today show higher levels of cognitive functioning and well-being than older adults of the same age 20 years ago. This has been found in a collaborative study among several research institutions in Berlin, including the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Max Planck Institute for Human Development (MPIB), and the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). The result will be published in the scientific journal Psychology and Aging.

25 mar 2015--For all of those who are worrying about getting old, here is some good news: Old age is getting younger. On average, today's 75-year-olds are cognitively much fitter than the 75-year-olds of 20 years ago. At the same time, the current generation of 75-year-olds also reports higher levels of well-being and greater life satisfaction. "The gains in cognitive functioning and well-being that we have measured here in Berlin are considerable and of great significance for life quality in old age," comments Ulman Lindenberger, Director of the Center for Lifespan Psychology at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. The researchers relate the gains to sociocultural factors such as education. In their opinion, the increase in well-being is also due to better physical fitness and higher levels of independence in old age.

"However, we expect that these positive historical trends are attenuated at the end of life," adds Denis Gerstorf, Professor for Developmental Psychology at the Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. During the final stage of life, the increase in good years of life is likely to give way to a rapid and marked drop in both cognition and well-being. Current studies by Gerstorf and colleagues examining old people's last years of life support this view.

More information: "Secular changes in late-life cognition and well-being: Towards a long bright future with a short brisk ending?" www.diw.de/documents/publikati… 97.de/diw_sp0738.pdf

Provided by Max Planck Society

Psychological well-being is important for physical health

In a comprehensive review  published in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics Carol Ryff described how major research findings have supported the link between psychological well-being and physical health.

02 feb 2014--The model of psychological well-being was developed more than two decades ago to address neglected aspects of positive functioning such as purposeful engagement in life, realization of personal talents and capacities, and enlightened self-knowledge.

The conceptual origins of this formulation are revisited and scientific products emerging from 6 thematic areas are examined: (1) how well-being changes across adult development and later life; (2) what are the personality correlates of well-being; (3) how well-being is linked with experiences in family life; (4) how well-being relates to work and other community activities; (5) what are the connections between well-being and health, including biological risk factors, and (6) via clinical and intervention studies, how psychological well-being can be promoted for ever-greater segments of society.

Together, these topics illustrate flourishing interest across diverse scientific disciplines in understanding adults as striving, meaning-making, proactive organisms who are actively negotiating the challenges of life. A take-home message is that increasing evidence supports the health protective features of psychological well-being in reducing risk for disease and promoting length of life. A recurrent and increasingly important theme is resilience - the capacity to maintain or regain well-being in the face of adversity.

More information: Ryff C.D. Psychological Well-Being Revisited: Advances in the Science and Practice of Eudaimonia. Psychother Psychosom 2014;83:10-28. DOI: 10.1159/000353263

Provided by Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics

Experts urge US to measure, pursue our happiness

A smiley face balloon floats over Revere Beach in Revere, Mass. as beachgoers head for the water on Sunday, July 16, 2006. According to a report released in December 2013 from the National Academy of Sciences, which advises the U.S. government, by gauging happiness, there'd be more to consider than cold hard cash when deciding matters that affect daily lives. The panel of economists, psychologists and other experts assembled by the academy recommended that federal statistics and surveys, which normally deal with income, spending, health and housing, should include a few extra questions on happiness. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

A panel of experts thinks the U.S. government should be more in touch with Americans' feelings.

09 dec 2013--By gauging happiness, there'd be more to consider than cold hard cash when deciding matters that affect daily lives, according to a report this week from the National Academy of Sciences, which advises the government.

The panel of economists, psychologists and other experts assembled by the academy recommended that federal statistics and surveys, which normally deal with income, spending, health and housing, include a few extra questions on happiness.

"You want to know how people are doing?" said panel chairman Arthur Stone, a professor of psychology at New York's Stony Brook University. "One of things you may want to do is ask them."

Asking how people feel can be as important as how much they are spending, Stone said.

For example, economists have something they call the "misery index" which adds the unemployment and inflation rates, but doesn't include how people feel. If you want to know misery, the question to ask is "how much suffering is going on," he said.

The panel suggests a series of questions to measure daily happiness and general well-being, asking how often you smiled, were stressed, laughed or were in pain. Example questions ranged from a simple yes-no "Yesterday, did you spend time with friends or family?" to a more complex 1-10 rating for "Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays?"

Over the past decade, these types of questions have shown to be valid scientifically, said Carol Graham, a Brookings Institution economist who was on the panel.

The report said the answers can help governments shape policy on basic benefits, such as retirement age and pensions, care for the chronic and terminally ill, unemployment and working conditions. It cited a study by one of the Nobel Prize-winning panelists that showed people's feelings about commuting problems helped officials decided whether or not to create commuter toll lanes on highways.

People laugh as they take part in performing a group exercise during a laughter yoga class in St. Albans, England on Sunday, June 9, 2013. Laughter Yoga was started in India in 1995 by medical doctor Madan Kataria, in response to a body of scientific research which shows that laughter is extremely good for physical, emotional and mental well being. According to a report released in December 2013 from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, which advises the U.S. government, by gauging happiness, there'd be more to consider than cold hard cash when deciding matters that affect daily lives. The panel of economists, psychologists and other experts assembled by the academy recommended that federal statistics and surveys, which normally deal with income, spending, health and housing, should include a few extra questions on happiness. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

In terms of collecting happiness data, the United States government "is a bit of a laggard" behind other industrial nations, said John Helliwell, an economist who co-directs an institute that studies well-being at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

In one of the few surveys where the government does ask, the U.S. is a pretty happy nation. Last year, about 87 percent of Americans considered themselves very happy or pretty happy.

But it's far behind No. 1 Denmark, a host of northern European countries, Canada, Israel and Mexico. The United States ranked 17th in a world happiness ranking report directed by Helliwell, which was based on international surveys and came out in September.

When governments and academics study happiness they find that money isn't everything. Many of the richest countries, including the United States, weren't in the Top 10 in self-reported happiness in the report.

"Having no money is terrible for everything," said Graham, author of several books on the economics and measuring of happiness. But after people make "a comfortable amount of money," it doesn't add too much to happiness, she said.

That's what a study last week in the journal PLoS One found. It used worldwide surveys and found that as people made more money worldwide they got happier—but only to a point. That point is just shy of $36,000 a year per person, or $144,000 for a family of four.

Once people reached that point, happiness measurements level off and even go down ever so slightly, said study lead author, Eugenio Proto, an economist at the University of Warwick. According to the study, in general, people in the U.S. passed that "bliss point" a few years ago, however federal income figures don't show nearly that high a household wealth level.

Happiness studies, Helliwell said, "keep reminding you that there is much more to life than income and housing."

More information: National Academy report: bit.ly/18JeagO
World Happiness report: bit.ly/18oZb8X
PLoS One study: bit.ly/1blYY38

© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

First ever global 'index' to measure wellbeing of older people

A professor at the University of Southampton working with HelpAge International and an international expert group has developed the Global AgeWatch Index to help highlight the varying quality of life and wellbeing that older people experience in countries around the world.

03 oct 2013--With the support of the United Nations Fund for Population, Global AgeWatch Index 2013 is the first quantitative measure of its kind to focus on the wellbeing of older people on a worldwide scale. The Index compares the experiences of older people from 91 countries around the world and ranks them in order of quality of experience.

Professor Asghar Zaidi, from the Centre for Research on Ageing at Southampton, was consultant of the project commissioned by HelpAge International. He says: "The Global AgeWatch Index is the beginning of a process in which we are gathering all the available evidence of the lives of older people around the world.

"It follows the footsteps of the Human Development Index of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and presents, in an accessible and engaging way, a 'dashboard'1 of indicators that measure the multidimensional quality of life and wellbeing of older people in a range of different socio-economic contexts."

The Index recognises that income, health, personal capabilities and an enabling social environment are all important aspects of the wellbeing of older citizens. By analysing national policies and strategies, it finds that:

• Sweden is the best place for older people.

• It is closely followed by Norway, with Japan the only non-European and non-North American country in the top 10.

• Mauritius is the top African country.

• Chile leads a cluster of Latin American countries that includes Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Panama – which do well in the Index.

• The worst place for an older person is Afghanistan. Just above it come Pakistan, Tanzania and Jordan.

• The UK is ranked at 13, next to Ireland (12) and Australia (14) but five positions higher than France (18).

The Index focuses on older people's income security, health status, employment and education capabilities and the enabling environment of societies in which they live. It builds a strong case for better policies and services to improve their lives in many countries – especially in developing countries.

By 2050 the number of older people in the world will have risen to more than two billion and the Index, and the two reports based on it (co-authored by Prof Asghar Zaidi with HelpAge International staff), emphasise that such 'stock taking' work is absolutely essential in developing new ways to tackle the global challenge of population ageing and to empower older people to hold their leaders to account.

Silvia Stefanoni, Interim Chief Executive of HelpAge International, says: "The world is rapidly ageing: people over 60 years of age already exceed children under 5, and by 2050 they will outnumber children under 15. However, the continual exclusion of ageing from national and global agendas is one of the biggest obstacles to meeting the needs of the world's ageing population.

"By giving us a better understanding of the quality of life of women and men as they age, this new Index can help us focus our attention on where things are going well and where we have to make improvements."

Professor Zaidi from the University of Southampton adds: "We expect the Index to become an important research and analysis framework for practitioners and policy-makers alike, as it will facilitate cross-national comparative research on the quality of life and wellbeing of older people, and help identify data and knowledge gaps on issues of ageing. We need to give more and more importance to such data gathering work – in fact, since the lives of older people are at stake, we can't afford not to."

The Index does not simply demonstrate the best and worst places for people to grow old, but is also a tool to encourage countries to recognise the challenges of their ageing populations. It reveals some surprising global and regional comparisons and indicates Gross Domestic Product per capita, a proxy for country's wealth and standard of living, does not necessarily lead to better welfare outcomes for older people:

• The G20 economies are spread right across the full range of the Index.

• The fastest ageing G20 countries – India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia and Turkey, where older populations are set to more than double over the next 40 years - are in the bottom half of the Index.

• The tremendous economic growth of the BRICS2 countries has not necessarily resulted in higher benefits for older people: Brazil and China rank relatively high in the Index, while India and Russia fare less well.

• Sri Lanka at 36 ranks much higher than its South Asian neighbour Pakistan, at 89, despite having similar levels of GDP - Sri Lanka scoring significantly higher on age-friendly environment.

Professor Zaidi and HelpAge International developed the Index in close consultation with an international, multidisciplinary advisory group that provided overall guidance on the concept, methodology and use of the Index. These experts represented United Nations agencies (such as UNFPA, UNDP, WHO, ILO3), as well as academic, civil society and other sectors with specialised knowledge on issues linked with ageing and wellbeing of older people.

The data used to construct the Index comes from the World Bank, World Health Organization, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, International Labour Organization, and Gallup World Poll database.

Future work of the Global AgeWatch programme will include yearly updating of all the relevant data and also coverage of additional countries. A breakdown of data by gender is high on the agenda for future development of the Global AgeWatch Index, and there is also an aspiration that the Index will be extended to include a domain on political and civil rights of older people.

For an in-depth analysis of the Index results, including a table of overall country rankings (page 17), see the Insight Report, downloadable from: http://www.helpage.org/global-agewatch/ (a summary is available at: http://bit.ly/17Wt5ia )

For a detailed description of the methods, and the indicators used, see the Methodology Report, downloadable from: http://www.helpage.org/global-agewatch/

More information: 1 To interact with the Index 'dashboard', please visit: www.helpage.org/global-agewatch/

2 BRICS are five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa

3 United Nations Population Fund, United Nations Development Programme, World Health Organisation, International Labour Organization

Provided by University of Southampton

Positive feelings may help protect cardiovascular health

Over the last few decades numerous studies have shown negative states, such as depression, anger, anxiety, and hostility, to be detrimental to cardiovascular health. Less is known about how positive psychological characteristics are related to heart health. In the first and largest systematic review on this topic to date, Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers found that positive psychological well-being appears to reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular events.

19 april 2012--The study was published online April 17, 2012 in Psychological Bulletin.

The American Heart Association reports more than 2,200 Americans die of cardiovascular disease (CVD) each day, an average of one death every 39 seconds. Stroke accounts for about one of every 18 U.S. deaths.

"The absence of the negative is not the same thing as the presence of the positive. We found that factors such as optimism, life satisfaction, and happiness are associated with reduced risk of CVD regardless of such factors as a person's age, socioeconomic status, smoking status, or body weight," said lead author Julia Boehm, research fellow in the Department of Society, Human Development, and Health at HSPH. "For example, the most optimistic individuals had an approximately 50% reduced risk of experiencing an initial cardiovascular event compared to their less optimistic peers," she said.

In a review of more than 200 studies published in two major scientific databases, Boehm and senior author Laura Kubzansky, associate professor of society, human development, and health at HSPH, found there are psychological assets, like optimism and positive emotion, that afford protection against cardiovascular disease. It also appears that these factors slow the progression of disease.

To further understand how psychological well-being and CVD might be related, Boehm and Kubzansky also investigated well-being's association with cardiovascular-related health behaviors and biological markers. They found that individuals with a sense of well-being engaged in healthier behaviors such as exercising, eating a balanced diet, and getting sufficient sleep. In addition, greater well-being was related to better biological function, such as lower blood pressure, healthier lipid (blood fat) profiles, and normal body weight.

If future research continues to indicate that higher levels of satisfaction, optimism, and happiness come before cardiovascular health, this has strong implications for the design of prevention and intervention strategies. "These findings suggest that an emphasis on bolstering psychological strengths rather than simply mitigating psychological deficits may improve cardiovascular health," Kuzbansky said.

More information: "The Heart's Content: The Association between Positive Psychological Well-Being and Cardiovascular Health," Julia K. Boehm and Laura D. Kubzansky, Psychological Bulletin, online April 17, 2012

Provided by Harvard School of Public Health