Maybe you’ve noticed it, too. Seniors who live to be very old seem to be the type of people who think the glass is half full, not half empty. In my job, I can’t remember spending time with a patient who is 95 but humorless, rude, and full of regrets. More often, the very elderly banter, are self-deprecating in order to amuse, and ask questions about others’ lives rather than obsess over their own problems.
Really old men might still be flirtatious because it’s fun for them. Ninety-six-year-old women may be dressed like they’re 45, because it makes them feel youthful. They belong to a book club or a square dancing group, maintaining social ties that are important to them. They aren’t the type to dwell on the fact that they’ve outlived all their friends and siblings, a common complaint of the aged. While they miss their old friends, they’re curious humans who are open to making new ones. Usually, this cohort is not obese and still exercises, golfing or swimming several times a week. Ignoring warnings from their family, they still get on their tractor or mow their own lawns.
Quite possibly, it’s really difficult for the human body to stay alive for 93 years if it’s being bombarded for decades with negative thought patterns and stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. In early 2020, right when COVID was ramping up, a study came out in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia. It found that repetitive negative thinking (RNT) is associated with the abnormal plaque formation found in Alzheimer’s patients. The plaques interrupt signal transmissions in the brain.
It’s not RNT when you just have negative thoughts sometimes. Worrying that your ride to the dentist will be late because they always make you late to your appointments is one thing. But mulling for years over why a divorce happened, engaging in longterm hypochondria, or chastising yourself for decades over money lost in a bad deal would all qualify as RNT.
A pervasive example of RNT in the world today is obsessively searching out and despising the words and actions of Donald Trump and MAGA. The man has been the top dog in the news cycle for at least ten years now. Protect your synapses, people! Trump won’t last forever. Don’t let him get to you. Go swimming, dance, and laugh as much as possible for as long as possible.
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