Positive thinking makes seniors stronger walkers

November 2, 1999
Web posted at: 4:08 p.m. EST (2108 GMT)

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BOSTON (CNN) - An elderly person's attitude about aging can make the difference between a slow, shuffling gait and a brisk stride full of confidence and grace, researchers reported Tuesday.

In a controlled study of how older people walk, gerontologists found that a single, quick, subliminal exposure to positive terms about aging -- words such as "wise"and "experienced"-- significantly improved the subjects' speed and coordination.

And the improvement matched what researchers would expect to see from 12 weeks of strength training.

"I was very surprised," Jeffrey Hausdorff, a researcher at Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said of his research study, published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

"We need to change our stereotypes about aging, that's obvious," he added.

Hausdorff said he and colleagues assigned 47 healthy men and women with an average age of 70 to one of two groups.

"We had them play a little computer game," Hausdorff said.

While they were playing, words flashed up very quickly, so the volunteers saw them on a subliminal level only. One group saw words associated with positive aspects of aging, such as "wise," "experienced" and "sage." Others saw words like "senile" and "forgetful."

Researchers then measured walking speed and agility for both groups, and the people exposed to the positive messages increased their average walking speed by 10 percent.

Hausdorff says his study reflects the effects of mental attitude on normal people. "These were people living in a community, healthy and active," he said.

He used a special method to measure gait: an extra-thin footpad in the subjects' shoes, with sensors underneath the ball of the foot and the heel.

Using this tool, "you can record gait over many steps," he said. Normal gait labs can measure just a few steps.

The researchers also found that volunteers exposed to positive words not only walked more quickly but showed an improved "swing time" -- the time a foot spends in the air for each step. The total improvement was similar to that seen after 12 weeks of strength training, the researchers said.

Social psychologist Becca Levy of Yale University Medical School said she had found in the past that stereotypes of aging can affect memory, self-confidence, handwriting and even the will to live in older people.

"Individuals tend to acquire negative stereotypes about aging as young as 3," Levy, who worked on the study, said in a statement.

How well older people walk is key to their health and independence. Falls are a huge health problem, and doctors recommend exercise programs for even the very oldest people to strengthen the muscles important for walking and balance.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.