Feeling Young

Analysis: Feeling young/old may impact health.
The Washington Post (12/29, Stein) "The Checkup" blog reports, "Ellen Langer, a psychologist at Harvard University who studies how the mind influences the body, reviewed the scientific literature with two colleagues for evidence that feeling young can actually make you more youthful." The authors concluded, "Taken together, the research 'supports the general mind/body hypothesis that when a younger mind is primed, a younger body can accompany it.' While the mechanism remains unclear, the researchers speculated that such cues can 'make one unconsciously or consciously aware of old age and set in motion a series of physiological processes that can have real effects on short-term and long-term health.'"