Mature Life Features

. . . in the mirror today

and realized

I still have the body of a 20-year-old.

I’ve just stretched it out of shape a bit

here and there over the years.

= = = = =

AGING IS ALL

IN YOUR HEAD

Mature Life Features

It’s always interesting to note that colleges and corporation spend time and money, and the government sometimes spends our money, to learn things everyone already know.

A recent example are results of a couple of surveys that reveal the less intelligent people are, the smarter they think they are. In other words, stupid people don’t know they’re stupid.

But the discussion here deals with something else everyone knows – you’re only as old as you feel. That’s what is indicated by survey by a breakfast-cereal company. In a telephone survey of people over 40 years old, 80 percent of the respondents said they feel young. Also, 66 percent said the prime of life is between the ages of 30 and 50 years. And the characteristics of a person in his or her prime of life are physical energy, according to 35 percent of those surveyed; emotional maturity, 34 percent; financial security, 22 percent, and youthful appearance, 6 percent.

While 70 percent of those surveyed felt the thing they could do to feel their best is to exercise regularly, more than half – 55 percent – admitted they don’t exercise enough. Almost 80 percent of the respondents feel better about themselves than they thought they would upon reaching their particular age.

When asked what they might choose to do to improve themselves, 29 percent said they’d like to enhance their energy levels. The same percentage said expand their minds by learning something new, 23 percent said they’d like to reduce stress, and 15 percent opted for improving their physical appearance.

Among the things they liked about getting older, “getting a better perspective on life” and “more leisure and family time” outranked retirement and career accomplishments.