on subjective age, chronological age, health, psychological well-being

What is it about?

When someone asks how old we are, we will tell them our chronological age (CA). CA is one of the most used variable in psychological research. However, in every period of our life, especially when we get older, seems like we do not feel that we are old as we actually are. On subjective level, for example we can feel that we are younger than our peers, that we have 10 years less than we really have, or anticipate that we will celebrate our hundred birthday. How old we are subjectively is connected with our health and overall well-being. What variables can predict feeling younger (or older than we are) is the main thing of this article.

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Why is it important?

We often hear this phrase that we are only as old as we feel. In fact, there is some scientific truth in that. Namely, no matter how old we actually are, we can feel younger, older or the same as our peers. However, if we want to feel younger, or to perceive that we going to celebrate many birthdays in years that come, we can do something about that. According to our study, being optimistic will get you to feel that you are quite younger than you actually are, at least a decade. If you perceive that you have active role in your life and age successfully that will help you to feel younger than your peers. We assume that these feelings can keep you vital psychologically and physically.