"As I lost myself in the music and dancing, I looked around at my fellow cruisers, all about my age, all smiling and singing and laughing. The majority of cruisers were over 50, and about half were over 60. We are aging! But I thought to myself: At this moment, I don't feel that way. Under the stars, I see myself as a young woman, dancing free and easy. I see myself through younger eyes than others see me."
"And this is good for us. A systematic review of dozens of studies found that those of us who subjectively feel younger than our chronological age have better mental health, and this predicts better physical health in the future. 3 This is not to say we can control our aging or mortality; many of us suffer debilitating physical losses as we age."
Music and dancing can create moments of joy that make people feel young and restore a sense of wonder. A music-themed Caribbean cruise produced intense pleasure, with older adults dancing and experiencing youthful self-perception despite chronological age. Many people over 40 report feeling younger than their years, and the gap between subjective and chronological age widens with increasing age. Feeling younger correlates with better mental health and predicts improved future physical health. Subjective age does not erase physical decline or mortality risk, but the internal experience of youthfulness can influence mental well-being and health trajectories.
Read at Psychology Today
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