Don't Joke About Old Age (It's Bad for Your Health)

A new study suggests that negative attitudes about aging could increase risks of disease

- EMILY LABERWARREN

NOT LONG AGO, JULIE OBER ALLEN NOTICED that her teenage son was constantly teasing her about being old. His attitude annoyed her, until she realized where he got it from: herself. "I make jokes about aging all the time," she says.

Allen's own behavior surprised her. As a health disparities expert at the University of Oklahoma, she spends a lot of time studying discrimination and here she was, letting all these negative beliefs about aging seep out in a constant stream of quips and self-deprecating humor.

Allen got another surprise when she completed a study on the health effects of such "everyday ageism." Not only are seemingly innocuous everyday slights highly prevalent, but the people most exposed to them were also more likely to have health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, chronic pain and depression.

"There's this cumulative effect," Allen says. Because these slights and innuendos are so common and happen so frequently, "it adds up."

The study, published in late June in JAMA Network Open, looked at about 2,035 Americans between the ages of 50 and 80, of which 93 percent encountered demeaning messages about aging on a regular basis.

These messages come in many forms: in supposedly harmless birthday cards that skewer old age ("You know you're getting older when it takes twice as long to look half as good"), in advertisements for wrinkle creams and face-lifts and from strangers who speak unnecessarily loudly. They come from the stories old people tell themselves, such as that loneliness and frailty are an inevitable part of aging, or when they refer to their own forgetfulness as a "senior moment." They are contained in backhanded compliments like, "You look great for your age," or "You haven't aged a bit."