If you wear a smiling face, people are more likely to judge your age as younger. That’s according to a study published in Psychology and Aging, online, Sept. 5, 2011.
In the study, 154 young, middle-aged, and older adults guessed the age of 171 faces of young, middle-aged, and older men and women with various expressions portrayed on a total of 2,052 photographs. Each face displayed either an angry, fearful, disgusted, happy, sad, and neutral expression.
The results showed facial expressions had a big effect on the accuracy of age estimates.
Compared with other facial expressions, the age of neutral faces was estimated most accurately. Frowning, angry or fearful faces were judged older than they really were.
Meanwhile, the perceived age of happy or smiling faces was most likely to be judged younger!
But there is more to a smile than this… If you maintain a happy, cheerful disposition, you really are likely to live longer. If you surround yourself with friends and arrange your furniture how you want it, believe it or not, that has an impact on how long you will live!
There is so much to learn about aging, much of it counter-intuitive. It will surprise you.
For example the saturated fat and cholesterol story is worthless and misleading. Vigorous exercising may not bring you the health rewards you hoped for, but actually put you in an early grave.
How you feel and the emotions you experience have far more impact on how long you live than most physical “risk factors”. Having a stated purpose and feeling good about yourself could be worth up to 30 extra years. Whereas avoiding smoking adds only a few years.
You’ll be surprised at what the real science tells us about aging. You’ll want to know more about this, I’m sure, because we are all growing older by the day.
Forget genes. That’s another red herring (one of the worst). Genes have almost nothing to do with how long you live. Why am I so sure? Because genes can be turned on and off like a tap. Even if you had a supposed bad gene, it doesn’t have any effect, if you live the right lifestyle.
Walter Breuning, who holds the age record for the USA, lived to 114 years. But both his parents died in their 50s! What does that tell you about genes? They don’t amount to anything.
What matters is how you conduct yourself. With just what we know now it has been estimated that there is enough science to enable the average person to live for 300 years.
But there are so many ridiculous myths about aging, you must steer clear of these dangerous untruths. Remember my big saying—I use it a lot—the commonest cause of death is ignorance.
Live long and live well, by reading my superb anti-aging manual. It’ll put a real smile on your face, as you learn the secrets of aging well.
Read more here: http://www.outinfrontmedicine.com
If you are in your 50s or 60s now, statistics say you have a better than 50/50 of reaching 100 years. Don’t mess up and arrive there in a crumbly condition, weakened, just because you didn’t follow all the good advice available to you right now!
Remember, getting old is not what age is about. Getting old is caused by bad lifestyle. Ask any of the sprightly centenarians around (and there are 10,000s of them!) Make sure you are one too!
http://www.outinfrontmedicine.com
Be well, live long,
Prof.