Older adults appear to be more affected by stress than younger people, a new study suggests.
The research, to be published in the journal Psychological Science, used laboratory studies of adult behavior to measure the effect stress can have on decision making. It involved 45 adults between the ages of 18 and 33, and 40 adults between the ages of 65 and 89.
The tests began by exposing some of the study subjects to the laboratory equivalent of a stressful event, which involved holding a hand in ice-cold water for three minutes. That test has been shown to raise levels of cortisol, a stress hormone. A control group was not subjected to the ice water.
After being subjected to the icy water, participants played a driving game in which they had to decide whether to drive through a yellow light. They won points for driving when the light was yellow but lost points if they drove through a red light.
Among those in the control group, who had not been subjected to the ice stress, the older adults were actually better drivers than the younger adults and scored higher on the game. But when subjected to the icy water stress, the older adults did far worse. They were more cautious but also became more nervous, braking and restarting almost three times as often as their calmer peers.
“People haven’t looked at how stress affects decision making, even though so many of our decisions are made under stress,” said Mara Mather of the University of Southern California, Davis School of Gerontology, lead author of the study, in a press release. “There’s very little information about this whole topic, and when you get to age differences, there’s even less.”
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24 Comments
Is it stress or the bladder? Would results differ if the water were room temperature?
— BruceI believe the results of this research show conclusively that senior citizens should be banned from putting their hands in buckets of ice water while driving an automobile. If they insist on doing so, their drivers’ licenses should have special stickers placed on them indicating their behavior. It should read ‘Masochistic Weirdo’. (grin)
— Rob L, N Myrtle Beach SCPerhaps the circulatory changes that occur with aging make this test more physically stressful for the older people.
This is not the same as emotional stress.
— rini10Rob, your comment cracked me up :)
— VanessaMy Mom, 64, is moving this weekend to a nicer and bigger apartment in a nicer neighbourhood (not far from where she lives now, though). She never really liked the apartment where she lives now and when the opportunity came to live in a better place, she enthusiatically took it. So, I expected her to be really happy and excited, however, I talked to her on the phone this morning only to find her depressed and crying and very nervous about the upcoming change of residence. I guess the stress involved in the moving process is taking its toll on her. If I was moving to a better place, I’d be very happy, but I’m only 44. So, I suppose this report about stress having a bigger effect on seniors is probably accurate.
— SamThis is misuse of cold water - and of older people!
Why was the experiment not done with emotional/social stressors?
And instead of making cold water our enemy, we should use it for improving immune function.
Alexa Fleckenstein M.D. physician, author.
— Alexa Fleckenstein M.D.I can see why Rob and others see the humor in the experiment, but I felt sad when I read the headline.
I’ve seen this stress in older people I care about, like the nervous tears Sam observed in his mother. When I set up my grandmother in assisted living, even though I surrounded her with her most important possessions, I saw how completely destroyed she was, emotionally. At 94, it took her at least 2 years to get used to the new situation. As new residents, sometimes 30 years younger than she, came into her facility, I saw how they seemed to go through the same period of total dysfunction. Younger people, in their late 60’s and early 70’s adjusted more rapidly, but they suffered.
My closest childhood friend is going through this with her mother. It’s like watching a toddler adjust to something new and unfamiliar.
Elderly people, even the toughest ones (which I hope I’ll be) need people to protect them and to cushion stress for them. I’m often reminded of the elderly people I met in extended family homes, in countries like China and India, and how much more content or comfortable they often seemed, because their cultures support their needs more naturally than ours.
The outcome of this study seems like a no-brainer to me, but it’s nice to see the needs of the elderly reflected in the column.
— WesleyStress exist only as social construct. It is a fixture of American culture that stress in people with type A personality causes heart attacks. Not true! Every time somebody “proves” that stress is the cause for, you name it what behavior, they are most likely wrong The results of this experiment can be more than adequately explained by the power of self suggestion.
— Bob Perera“Youth is waisted on the young.” — G. B. Shaw
The older one gets the more we realize how precious our younger years were, but, we cannot reclaim or relive them. Gone in reality forever. We can remember them in an usually exaggerted manner. Thank God for the distortion of this now hyperbolic perception.
We can muse our younger years — with fulfillment and sometimes with regret.
Yes, stress is likely to have greater negative impact on older people.
But, as we get older we are now wiser and realize that it is all…
part of life. So, we can accept them with greater understanding and maturity.
Asi es la vida!
— David Chowes, New York CityBob Perera:
Wow! Stress as a social construct, with no consequences or connection to psychological or emotional welfare, or to physical wellbeing.
What a concept. Maybe if I can believe it, it WILL be true.
That just makes no sense whatsoever. I can buy debating about specific consequences and connections, but dismissing stress as fundamental to the human experience is absurd to me.
— WesleySam, I think that moving from one home to another is stressful (and sometimes depressing) for people of any age, even if they wanted to move - though I imagine the stress is greater the older you are. I’ve experienced it since I was in my twenties. I’ve even experienced some of this stress by merely taking the pictures off the walls to have the apartment painted, also in my twenties - I wasn’t even moving - and couldn’t feel “at home” until I’d put them all back up. There’s something very reassuring about the familiarity of your own four walls.
What helps me adjust to a move (at least if the move was desired) is remembering that this emotional discomfort will wear off once the new four walls take on the familiarity of time, as it always has before. Try to reassure your mother that her reaction is normal and probably temporary. I’m almost 60, so I don’t think of 64 as old. It might also help if she can position her furniture in the new home as it was in the old. Sounds trite, but my grandparents moved when I was nine and, because they did this in their bedroom and kitchen, it made their move less difficult for me - and I never really lived with them.
I’m all for the types of assisted living centers that allow you to bring your own furniture, sheets, blankets, etc. The day will probably come when I will need to be in such a place. While the opportunities to socialize would probably be good for me, I would find it distressing to give up, forever, everything that ever made my apartment feel like “home” to live in a nun’s cell.
— BarbaraI believe the results of this research show conclusively that senior citizens should be banned from putting their hands in buckets of ice water while driving an automobile
Rob, you card! I laffed.
Heck yes, older people get more stressed, I am old and taking care of even older people, young people and clients stresses the pulp out of me, not to mention stupid elections, bratty offspring, and don’t forget, no money! My 91-yr-old mother is currently stressed because she doesn’t like her new handbag. When she brings it up, my sister and I say, “Gotta go!” Good stress buster! And finally–if this is her worst worry–something positive about senile dementia.
— StarHey Star!
Something tells me you always get it done, despite any stresses, aka social construct.
May we all have the stress of the new handbag, if that’s as bad as it gets.
— WesleyBarbara, thanks a lot for your kind words. I spoke again to my mom last night and she was feeling much better :)
— SamIt’s too bad that you have to arrive there to understand that seniors have at least one physical ailment, don’t feel great, have digestive systems unlike those of their youths, don’t sleep as well, wake up stiff and achy, many are broke, lonely and depressed. Many have lost their spouses and have watched friends die of illnesses. We eventually have to leave homes we have been in for many years and we’ll miss the trees, the squirrels, the familiar scenery just at a time when we’re trying to hang on to our lives. When you add anything else to that it feels like something else we have to deal with and our energy levels are much lower.
— Ben ThereIt seems that everyone is in too much of a rush to try to understand that gray hair often does mean we need a little extra patience and understanding. Old and age shouldn’t be words to be feared. It’s a reality and everyone eventually ends up there. Empathy and compassion for those who are aging will go a long, long way to help people find some satisfaction in a life that is truly slipping away.
My brother and I moved our mother into a continuing care community at age 90, She was fiercely independent, living at home for three years after my father died. She decided that she would like to move into independent living in her local extended care community.
My brother and I both lived out of town, and recognized that we would have to move her because of her increasing dementia. She was not aware of the dementia; her close friends and neighbors were, and updated us frequently. It was a stroke of grace that our mother decided to move when we knew she must.
She was happy for the first month in her new studio apartment, with her own furniture, seeing her friends. But within two months, her depression and dementia became evident to the nurse directing the independent living section.
The staff moved her into the nursing home section, as she was very weak. They planned to move her into assisted living as she became stronger. But, as the nursing home staff became more aware of the depth of her confusion, they decided to keep her there, and not attempt to move her to assisted living.
My brother and I agreed, and gave up her studio apartment. It was very difficult to face this decision, but we thought it was the right decision to make.
Our mother lived in the nursing home section for four years, mainly happily. We visited her, and were able to have her depression treated. Just before she died of a stroke, we visited her for Easter, and took her our for a lunch of her favorite crab cakes at a local seafood restaurant.
For an aging person, a move to an extended care community from home is wrenching and difficult. It brings home that life is coming to an end, and that independent living is now a memory, not a way of being any longer.
My brother and I feel that we made the best decision for our mother, who lived four years in pleasant surroundings with constant care, when she was no longer able to live independently. She was happy to have those crab cakes for lunch two weeks before she died.
— Corinne JohnsonAt 65 I’m defintely more anxious. Yesterday I had to comparison shop a front end alignment for my car and needed a cocktail when done. Each garage gave me a different scenario compounding my anxiety but if I hadn’t pressed on I would’ve overpaid by $20.
— HollyOh, I don’t know. I remember some pretty stressful moments when I first started driving that are much worse than the scenario created for these seniors. I was doing a drive cry since I was driving, for the first time, in very windy, rainy weather on I-95, up to Yale for an interview. My crummy Chevette was living it up by overstepping the lines on the road.
Nearly 30 years later I know better: I wouldn’t bother going for an interview in that sort of weather since I would be too worried about my survival. I would avoid the stress I had previously inflicted on myself.
Real stress is knowing that if you become ill and can’t work your insurance, which is linked to your employment, will disappear or cost too much. It’s realizing that you live in a country where your ability to pay is more important than your health. I could go on and on but I’ll stop before I get stressed out.
— hen3ry“Everybody” my age (60) “knows” that 20-somethings on average think themselves invincible, perhaps immortal. Therefor they register stress less than over-40’s or over-65’s. Interesting to see that as a confirmed observation, if only in a limited context.
— Carol GoldsteinI was interested to read all the comments about caring for your elderly parents/ their difficulty in adapting to new situations.
— Christine Murrayre: elderly parents: very often you can’t win!
In 2002 I brought my mother (complete with her furniture) to live with me (as she was living in a dangerous area). Since then.. two major operations later…(not to mention various illnesses).. she still regrets leaving her home.
I haven’t (yet!) made the obvious comment to her that she is alive, comfortable and being taken care of.
I wish someone would care for me as well when I’m over 80.
Ah well, at least we do our best, all of us!
Yesterday, my 91-year-old mother sat on the exam table at her new doctor’s and he gave her a cognitive quiz, very gently asking her what holiday today was, what state she was in, who the president was, what year it was, what month–she could not answer any of them, but didn’t looked stressed. As usual, she blamed it on my sister and me–if we weren’t there, she told the doctor, she would know all those things. Eyeroll. See who gets the stress? But I am half-kidding. Sure moving older people is stressful–they want new curtains and everything you get is wrong. Oh, poor me, huh?
— StarWhether you are a senior, junior, or anywhere in between the best way to relieve stress is through exercise. I have found some great tips for this on http://www.holosfitness.com
— JonI’m always interested in which subjects inspire the most comments.
This one didn’t stimulate much conversation. Maybe there are some good reasons.
But it kind of concerns me, because I perceive the issues of aging as being quite compelling.
Every time I see someone struggling to get on and off a bus in NYC, because of compromised mobility, I think about the stressfulness of that. When I watch my mother hobble across the room, ravaged as she is with Parkinson’s, I know for sure (because I know her so well) that it’s very stressful for her. I can’t take care of her full time, for a number of reasons, and I know she works very hard to stay in control of her circumstances. That’s stressful.
Yes, it’s normal to age. But is it normal to age in a world where the elderly are often so unsupported?
I smile when I read Star’s entries. I imagine that her mother can behave a little impishly, without regard to the consequences and without too much stress, because Star and her sister are there to roll their eyes….just after they do whatever she needs to be comfortable and feel safe.
If I could rule the world.. ;-) … the elderly would have a much better chance to feel happy and safe, with a lot less potential for stress.
Come to think of it, I shouldn’t rule anything, but I still hope it comes true.
— WesleySo far, as I have moved from youth through middle age, it seems like stress affects me less and less. I don’t get as upset about setbacks at work since I have other strengths and memories of successes to think about, when I was young everything was more of a life-or-death drama. Economic uncertainty affects me less since my kids are through college. It just takes more to scare me, anymore. I have a been-there-done-that attitude, when something bad comes along I think, heck I’ve seen worse things and survived so this will be OK too. But perhaps that will change as I enter old age, I’ll have to see.
— Catherine