Aging happens to all of us. However, if you are a conscientious person, you may be better equipped to handle the effects of aging.
According to a University of Maine study led by associate professor of psychology Rebecca MacAulay, published in the journal Aging & Mental Health, older adults with high levels of “mindfulness,” or a person’s innate ability to pay attention to the present moment without judging, showed measures of increased well-being and mental health. Conscientious adults also demonstrated greater mental resilience in the face of stressful situations.
In the study, 121 adults between the ages of 55 and 87 were assessed for their levels of mindfulness using the scientifically validated Mindful Attention Awareness Scale. Subjects were then given a variety of psychological tasks to measure their levels of executive function, or the set of mental skills that allow people to plan, track, and achieve goals, including working memory, the ability to toggle between tasks, and the ability to filter out irrelevant information. The researchers also measured the subjects’ psychological resilience and emotional response to stressful and unexpected situations.
Results showed that subjects with higher levels of mindfulness were generally older and more educated, and reported less stress, depression, and anxiety. The researchers also found that the mindfulness trait was linked to better inhibitory control, the subjects’ ability to focus their attention and filter out irrelevant information on tasks. Furthermore, the results showed that the deleterious effect of perceived stress on inhibitory control was significantly reduced in those who had a higher level of mindfulness.
“It is increasingly recognized that stress, which is higher on average in people of lower socioeconomic status, can have devastating effects on physical and mental health. Importantly, trait mindfulness mediated the relationship between perceived stress and inhibitory control even after adjusting for lower education and global cognition. These findings support that trait mindfulness creates a mental buffer that reduces perceived stress and negative emotional reactivity in a variety of older adults, which may have long-term benefits across multiple health outcomes,” says MacAulay.
The study, like many psychological research projects, had some limitations. For example, nearly 95% of the participants were white and non-Hispanic, and personal bias can influence the responses of the subjects. Still, the findings suggest that having a mindful personality is not only associated with better well-being and mental health as we age, it could also give us the ability to be more resilient and flexible with our thinking. The study’s subject recruitment method also focused on finding participants from diverse backgrounds, particularly older adults with no college education, financial insecurity, or both.
“These findings raise the exciting possibility that increasing mindfulness as an intervention goal may help attenuate the deleterious impact of stress-related negative effect on brain health in older adults,” says MacAulay. “My next step for this research is to tailor mindfulness practices for a socioeconomically diverse older adult population to see if increasing mindfulness through practice shows the same beneficial relationships with brain health and wellness.”
Contact: Sam Schipani, [email protected]
