You’ve probably heard that some people, like old wine, mellow with age. As it turns out, this is true of all of us because of the way our brains age. Researchers have discovered that older people generally have better emotional control and a more positive outlook on life.
They theorize that the human brain is designed to shift from a more aggressive, competitive mode in youth to a more cooperative mode in later life. In the past, this may have been biologically advantageous as old people, no longer of reproductive age, shifted their attention to suppor of their kin, which indirectly assured survival of their genetic information.
Brain scans have revealed that older people simply process emotions differently, which may account for the improvement in emotional control. As Ilchi Lee write in his book “In Full bloom” In the older people, more areas of the brain are shown to be active during the experience of emotions, especially in response to negative emotional stimuli. This finding suggests that life experience may provide additional brain connections to help neutralize negative emotions more quickly.
Overall, older people are healthire mentally than younger people. Incidence of neurosis decreases, and older people are less likely to report feelings of despair and worthlessness.
That being said, mental health is not automatic for older people. In fact, depression is common and the occurrence of suicide is more common among older people than it is among middle-aged people, especially among older men. Just because the older brain is better equipped to deal with negative emotion does not mean it is immune to emotional difficulty. After all, there are many aspects of aging that are difficult to handle, including death of friends, one’s own physical decline, and the sense of aimlessness that can accompany retirement. It is best to prepare yourself with a strategy for emotional well-being in order to make the most of your brain’s natural wisdom as you age.
-Excerpt from In Full Bloom by Ilchi Lee & Jessie Jones, PHD.
