Why Americans are so afraid of aging

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The uniquely American aversion to growing old By Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large I’ve never been terribly keen to share my age, but if you must know the general range, suffice to say I was born during the administration of President Eisenhower—his first term. That puts me squarely in the heart of the Baby Boomer cohort and—not to put too fine a point on things—it also puts me closer to, well, the end of the line than one might prefer. Like a lot of Boomers, I resist aging and the mortal end that it implies with a host of strategies: vigorous workouts, periodic hair colorings, and a healthy dose of simple denial. All of that led me to write today’s story on why Americans as a whole and Boomers in particular are so resistant to aging—especially when we live in a world filled with other cultures that not only don’t denigrate, but venerate the aged. As Thomas Pyszczynski, a 68-year-old psychology professor at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, told me, “We have this evolved imperative to stay alive. So the awareness of death creates this potential for terror. As a result, we use the same intellectual abilities that make us aware of death to manage our fear of it.” READ MORE

What else to read Flu Shots Have Been Working Well This Season, Data Suggest By Jamie Ducharme They've prevented severe disease and hospitalizations across age groups. Read More » Mental Illness Made My First Year as a Mom Excruciating. I’m Just Lucky It Wasn’t Worse By Eugenia Leigh I'm just lucky it wasn't worse, writes Eugenia Leigh. Read More » The Best Exercises to Sneak Into Your Workday By Pam Moore Here are three easy ways to move more during work. Read More » How Grief Upsets Your Gut Health By Connie Chang and Juli Fraga Grief can throw the body off course, upsetting the gastrointestinal tract. Read More » What to Know About Bariatric Surgery for Type 2 Diabetes By Markham Heid Research indicates that surgery can put diabetes into remission, and it's safe and cost-effective. Read More »

ONE LAST READ How old are you in your head? The Atlantic’s Jennifer Senior started asking people that question and found that almost everybody had an answer that differed from their “real” age. Some people, she learned, think of themselves as older than they are, but most skew younger—with many people staying mentally frozen at an age when their lives felt both secure and full of potential. Read More »

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