Breaking the Age Code: How Your Beliefs About Aging Determine How Long and Well You Live

What if there was a simple way to add years of health and happiness to your life and that of those you love? And what if that same way could shift society toward becoming a place of celebrating advancing years rather than cowering in fear of them?With “Breaking the Age Code,” Yale Medical School’s Dr. Becca Levy has given us just such a bold and helpful prescription. The best part? She backs it up.The book is a tour de force, showing how shifts in beliefs in aging from negative to positive influence a host of physical, mental and emotional outcomes. Study after study, some by Dr. Levy and some by other researchers in the field drive home the point that positive age beliefs are an extraordinary powerful driver of the aging experience.Lest you worry that they might be too many mentions of how C-reactive proteins levels are influenced by age beliefs, let me assure you that the book is a joyful and uplifting read. Dr. Levy, a keen observer of the human condition, has poured herself into this book and reading it is like having a conversation with a kind, thoughtful and empowering friend who wants your good.The book imparts paradigm-shifting wisdom in an understated and enjoyable fashion, with easy-to-understand tools and delightful stories. Both will stick with you long after you have finished the book. From the nun who completed 350 triathlons despite not having gone on her first run until age 50, to Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner watching Jeopardy nightly together while continuing to work into their 90s, the people you will meet are inspiring. They inspire not just with how they enjoy their own lives but in how they help others do the same. The 800 grandmothers and the Friendship Bench is a case in point. When Zanzibar faced a lack of providers of mental health services they recruited lay therapists to talk to people from park benches – and it turned out these empathetic grandmothers outperformed the doctors in relieving depression!This book is certain to have an outsize impact on the world – at least we can all hope that it does. Certainly it is likely to cause a rise in housing prices in Greensboro, VT, which Dr. Levy holds up as a community that lives positive aging. The book is intended to help all of us find our Arcadia, our place of connection, fulfillment and community at all stages of life. Perhaps more than any other book ever written it can give you both the hope and the roadmap to find yours.

The author has produced a supremely timely history of the legislative map politicians and advocates for a safer and more reliable Elder Care System in America have left behind. It's a go-to resource book for every single person passing age 50 to prepare for their future medical and social challenges post-retirement or disability.It is also a handy Advocate's reference book for everyone who is already retired and who are needing support help from America's convoluted ElderCare System.The 225 page book has a solid reference system that will be helpful for contacts with legislators.In her Appendix 3 she suggests a very basic goal be: Reduce the social isolation of older persons by insisting that government provide adequate age-inclusive and accessible public transportation in both urban and rural areas (p. 224).In the same Appendix she suggests that scientists: "End the use of the term "dependency ratio" that is frequently used in science and policy reports; it characterizes everyone in a population who is sixty-five or older as being dependent on younger adults and not productive members of society (p. 225).She notes (p.220) that "United Nation's employees, including those that focus on issues of aging, are forced to retire by the age of sixty-five."On the same page she advocates for a Higher-learning Age-Friendly University Initiative: which promotes intergenerational learning, and could be expanded to the 98 percent of universities in the world that have not (yet) adopted its age-inclusive principles."On p. 195 she shares that the City of Greensboro in Vermont has a population with 40% over the age of fifty, with a median age of 52 (compared to thirty elsewhere in the world). She tells how distinguished Elders deliberately move there to have a meaningful and interconnected 4th Quarter - with over 150 PUBLISHED AUTHORS, such as Wallace Stegner, Gish Jen and Margaret Mead. This type of community is, of course, a remarkable opposite to what is available for the majority of our US Elders in most of their communities.Becca Levy makes a strong case for our society to provide a framework where its Elders can be safe as well as useful in a manner that benefits the entire younger population - perhaps in a way that Grandmas and Grandpas used to Listen to their younger family members. Her research and professional life is a powerful invitation for local advocates to cite as they contact their State and Federal Legislators.

This book was engaging, easy to grasp the concepts and enjoyable. I really recommend it especially for anyone in their 50’s and up! Bought a few copies for friends! Except it took a long time to get here.

You learn that, if you really watts to get rid of “ageism prejudice”, try to see that age makes you “to grow” and not merely to transform you in an old person. A must reading book!

It's the first time I read a book about ageing and ageism, and it has opened my eyes to the impacts of age beliefs on myself and others. For example, I was diagnosed with arthritis, a disease we nearly always associate with old age, when I was 29. I automatically assumed throughout my 30's and most of my 40's that this diagnosis would get worse with age and that I would age poorly because of it. I had negative age beliefs about myself and my health. Having read this book, I now realize that I have lost a lot of time thinking that way because I am in fact, no worse in terms of my arthritis than I was at 29 (I am 49) - so why should I let ageism affect my quality of life by believing I will age poorly? The author, Becca Levy points to so many ways our society, our family structures, our housing situations, our economics, etc... all vilify older adults when really older adults are major positive contributors to our world. This book has helped me see my own ageing differently, and those who are ageing around so very differently, and much more positively. Thank you for such a life-changing book.

Becca Levy's Breaking the Age Code is a groundbreaking exploration of how our beliefs about ageing shape our experience of it. Levy, a Yale professor and a leading expert on the psychology of successful ageing, presents compelling evidence that challenges the conventional notions about growing older.Drawing on her extensive research, Levy reveals how negative age beliefs can significantly impact our health, potentially contributing to memory loss, hearing decline, and cardiovascular events. Astonishingly, she demonstrates that by fostering positive age beliefs, we can extend our life expectancy by up to 7.5 years. "Our beliefs about ageing are not passive observers; they are active participants in shaping our reality," she asserts.Levy's writing is engaging and accessible, blending scientific insights with captivating stories from pop culture, corporate boardrooms, and her own life. She introduces us to inspiring individuals who have thrived with positive age beliefs and even highlights a whole town that flourished by embracing these ideals.One of the most impactful aspects of Breaking the Age Code is Levy’s discussion on how deeply ingrained ageist stereotypes can become self-fulfilling prophecies. "When we internalize negative stereotypes about ageing, our bodies respond accordingly," she warns. Yet, her message is one of hope and empowerment: "Stereotypes developed within cultures over hundreds of years CAN be changed."Levy provides practical strategies for reshaping our beliefs about ageing, emphasising that cultivating a positive attitude can lead to profound improvements in cognitive function and overall health. Her book is not just a manifesto against ageism but a blueprint for a more age-just society.Breaking the Age Code is an enlightening and transformative read, urging us to rethink ageing and embrace the possibilities it holds. It’s a must-read for anyone looking to live not just longer, but better.

I believe this book is indicating the next major issue that must be solved for our economy. Not only do we have to change the “image” of aging we must also then create a means by which we can benefit from the knowledge and expertise of that aging demographic. We have to evaluate how to recognize and utilize the process of a productive life span.I find it so strange that those who are older are seen as “other” in our society. As “other” there is a decision that usefulness and productivity have ended. The research in this book is critically important in providing the evidence needed to move people beyond ageism and instead see aging for what it really is, that is, an opportunity to gain wisdom and knowledge, that may guide and contribute to the future.

Just another book to garner profits from boomers hoping to understand what to expect as they age - this book is tame or lame - and what it does not say is - expect the unexpected - aging is individual and "rule books" will cost you money and give you little that we don't already know from the past 50 years of age research! Keep physically active and eat healthy, have fun and be ready for anything!!!! Heart attacks and strokes are not entirely preventable - you have to die of something!!!!