Is it happy to grow old? And how to grow old? Is it possible to change the way we perceive old age for the better? Prof. Ehud Bodner from the program for master's studies in gerontology, answers these questions
The interdisciplinary nature of the field of gerontology is also reflected in the variety of practitioners. They come from all corners of society and all wild medical professions.
Old age can be a good time in life. For example, a phenomenon confirmed in many countries around the globe is the "paradox of mental well-being" according to which mental well-being does not decrease with age and can even improve. We will also tell about another improvement in the world of emotions, which appears in all its glory in the third age - attention to positive events and better recall of them, the so-called "positivity bias".
These changes do not happen by themselves. In old age, humans realize that they have less time left to live. This recognition strengthens their grounding in the present; A phenomenon called the shortening of the time horizon. The elders make good use of the shortened time horizon. They use their life experience, which helps them avoid wasting time on goals that are pointless to them. They learn to be less ambitious, because what they have achieved they have already achieved and they are not required to prove to themselves or others that they are valuable, by acquiring new abilities or new knowledge. Instead of trying to acquire knowledge and abilities, they choose to put more emphasis on emotions, and especially on positive emotions. This change is responsible for the fact that they reduce instrumental social relationships, which are designed to climb up the social ladder, and become selective in choosing their friends: they put more emphasis on the meaningful relationships in their lives and connect with people that meeting them is good for them.
The elderly also learn to experience life in a more balanced way, to understand that one should not get excited about successes or achievements, because they will be followed by something less pleasant and vice versa: that there is no place to sink into the abyss of womanhood after an unpleasant event, because time softens the frustration and pain. This learning helps them contain more complex emotional experiences, such as nostalgia, which has both sadness and gratitude and the pleasure of remembering what was, even if it will no longer be.
All of these seem promising, but the human and emotional development that occurs with old age occurs alongside many losses: loss of status at work, widowhood, decreased income, physical weakness, decreased beauty, death of friends and relatives, and decreased memory and other cognitive aspects. To all these must be added the dealing with the prejudices and social stereotypes related to this period of life, which the elders are required to deal with.
Modern society dictates to the elderly how they should behave and the demands from them are complex demands. The elderly are required not to be a burden on their workplace and to make room for the young workers, to transfer their resources to the young workers and after retirement also not to oppress or burden their families, their children. They must stay healthy, not let old age get the better of them, invest in sports, eat healthy and take care of their health, but also not try to act like young people. The social expectations of them are that they will not join young people's entertainment settings, that they will not live in young people's environments, that they will not dress like young people, that they will not engage in advanced technology and that they will not be enthusiastic about the music of young people, that it is better for them to live within themselves. Any behavior that is not according to these age norms will be perceived as impersonation, as an intrusion into the territory of the young and will be met with criticism.
The submission to these social dictates and the focus on the losses that occur with aging leads to the development of negative perceptions of aging, such as the perception of old age as a period of loss and as a period in which the old man is pushed out of things. On the other hand, proper management of the emotional life in old age and proper utilization of the shortened time horizon will support the development of the concepts of positive aging, according to which it is really a privilege to grow old and pass on the acquired life experience to others. Many studies carried out in the world, including studies carried out by the researchers in our program, testify that imparting knowledge about the positive aspects of aging positively changes the way aging is perceived and that improving the perceptions of aging contributes to the health of the elderly and their mental well-being and in fact it not only adds life to the years, but also adds (good) years to life.
The positive and negative perceptions of aging also include the feeling of age. In this context it is interesting to know that most adults, including the elderly, feel most of their years younger than their age. This phenomenon is not necessarily a denial of chronological age. She Is not stems from the social dictate that "the world belongs to the young", but on the contrary - from a correct identification of the state of health and physical and mental vitality of the aging individual, which does not necessarily correspond to the negative social expectations of his chronological age.
In order to respond to the changing needs of our children, Prof. Haim Cohen from the Faculty of Life Sciences, Prof. Amit Shira who specializes in the elderly and Prof. Ehud Bodner the The master's degree program in gerontology - the combined department and life sciences. A unique connection between the social sciences and the life sciences alongside a practicum in the field.
And we will end the article by reading that it is outside the windows of the academic ivory tower. The retirement age remains the same, and on the other hand, in many countries in the world, including Israel, life expectancy has increased greatly, so that by the year 2050, the number of old people in the world will double. Such developments extend the period of old age to a period of a generation and even more in a person's life. That's why we all need to see them, the many old people around us. Still, I don't know many of my colleagues, clinical or medical psychologists who chose to treat old people, I don't know many doctors who choose to specialize in the field of geriatrics or psychogeriatrics. More and more elderly people need these services and the state - it can still prepare for this, for the benefit of the elderly, for the benefit of society as a whole.
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