Thursday 12/March/2026 – 05:58 AM
showed study New findings show that about half of adults aged 65 and over see an improvement in their cognitive or physical health with age, revealing another side of aging beyond the stereotype of continuous deterioration, according to what was published in FoxNews.
The health of the elderly improves with age
According to researchers at Yale University, who based on data from more than 12 years of the Health and Retirement Study, 45% of participants improved either mentally or physically, and the results showed that about 32% of them improved cognitively, while 28% of them saw an improvement in their physical functions, such as walking speed, which is considered an important vital sign associated with disability, hospitalization and mortality.
Although overall averages typically indicate decline with age, analysis of individual trajectories shows a very different story: A large proportion of older adults actually improve over time, said Becca Levy, a professor of social and behavioral sciences at Yale University and lead author of the study.
The study confirmed that positive beliefs about age play a major role in this improvement, as participants who had a positive view of aging were more likely to improve their mental and physical performance, even after taking into account factors such as age, gender, education, chronic diseases, and depression.
Levy noted that individuals with positive beliefs tend to have lower stress responses and stress biomarkers, which may partly explain why their health improves.
She added that modifying these beliefs could be a promising area for improving the health of older people later in life.
Despite the encouraging results, the researchers acknowledged some limitations, including not studying muscle or brain changes in detail, and called for more studies that focus on patterns of improvement for different types of cognition, such as spatial memory, as well as examining more ethnically diverse groups.
These results confirmed that continued cognitive and physical decline is not inevitable, and that adopting a positive mindset toward age can be key to maintaining health and physical and cognitive ability in the stages of aging.
