Aging Blissfully: Things to Expect
As the years pass by, you naturally expect your age to increase in number. Of course, you also hope that your wisdom increases as you age. And yet, different people age differently and uniquely. Nevertheless, there are things that you can expect to happen to you and several other people who are aging like you. For starters, you will expect your skin to slowly and naturally sag and have wrinkles. Aging skin and physique is one of the many concerns that people have when they grow old. However, when you learn to accept this reality, you will be aging more beautifully. There are perks to consistently aging blissfully if you just know how to look beyond wrinkling and sagging skin. When you grow older, for instance, you get to enjoy having better sex and needing less sleep. Below are some other things you can expect as you grow older and blow more birthday candles.
One of the best things about growing older is experiencing more awake time. When you have more waking time, this only goes to say that you will also have more time to enjoy your life. Compared to younger individuals, one study suggests that seniors need less than an hour and a half of sleep on average. Another study on the sleep pattern of healthy adults shows that participants from the oldest group snoozed their alarms twenty minutes less than the middle-age group and twenty-three minutes less than the youngest group of participants. The explanation for this is quite straightforward. Older adults require less sleep.
Another research suggests that older adults just can’t get the required number of hours of sleep. It takes them a long time to nod off. Also, it takes them less time to get into a deep sleep. In short, the older you get, the more trouble you have staying asleep.
In terms of aging and happiness, being happy may depend on the kind of attitude that you have as of the moment. Fortunately, when you grow older, your brain is naturally wired to remember all the good times that you had. In 2010, a brain-scanning study of the cortex in older adults revealed why they have rose-colored glasses. Their natural happiness may be associated with how their brain processes their emotions. Brain scans of older adults have been shown to have strong connections between regions of the brain that process emotions as well as those vital to the formation of memories, specifically the ones that process positive information. These strong connections were not present among the younger adult participants.
Aging adults don’t just vividly recall blissful times of their past more easily. As you grow old, you also become more optimistic. Older people tend to look at happy faces and not the fearful and angry ones. According to research, as your life expectancy decreases, you may focus more on what makes you feel good rather than the ones that make you feel bad.
Finally, consistently aging blissfully gives you the chance of becoming happy grandparents. When you age, you can enjoy the company of your grandchildren as if they were your own without the added frustrations of diapers, temper tantrums, and the like. You will never do wrong in the eyes of your grandchildren.