"Those who do not challenge themselves age faster."

The idea that aging is associated with mental decline and physical decay must be overcome, demands the scientist Sven Voelpel. This applies to individuals as well as to companies. In your bestseller Decide for Yourself How Old You Are, you claim to know "what determines whether we become bitter and sick or happy and fit." You are 43 years young and a professor of business administration at Jacobs University in Bremen. What makes you an expert on happy aging? In addition to business administration, I have studied psychology and sociology. However, my expertise is based on the fact that since 2004, I have been teaching and researching at the Center on Lifelong Learning at Jacobs University in Bremen and have been working with leading aging researchers since I was a young man. My original interest in knowledge management evolved into an interest in wisdom research, a field in which my former dean, Ursula Staudinger, was a leader. My job in her interdisciplinary team was to bring research into practice, meaning into organizations. I still do that today. You have founded the "WDN - WISE Demography Network" with major companies to solve demographic-related personnel issues. Additionally, you advise corporations such as Daimler Benz, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Bahn, and others. What advice do you give to your clients? My clients are also research partners. We conduct research with them and implement findings. But to answer your question: The deficit hypothesis, the myth that aging is associated with mental decline and physical decay, must be overcome. There is a traffic sign showing hunched people using a cane to cross the street. This simply does not correspond to reality, except when people enter the fragile phase of aging. And even in the past, the image often did not match: If Goethe had retired at 65 – or Picasso – the world would be poorer without valuable cultural assets such as Faust II or Poetry and Truth, as well as The Women of Algiers or The Young Painter. We read about increasing dementia numbers, hear about elderly poverty, and depression. What can we do to shift our focus away from the deficits of aging? What deficits? Look at the studies I quote in my book. Even among those over 90 years old, two-thirds are mentally healthy and fit! By staying curious and challenging our brains, we can prevent cognitive decline. Older people are happier than twenty-year-olds, they retain their crystalline intelligence, and compensate for losses in fluid intelligence. 85-year-olds learn fencing, 90-year-olds run marathons. Everything is possible. A shift in mindset is necessary. Researchers in Silicon Valley are working on immortality. But regardless of their success: Knowledge of possibilities and one's own positive experiences are the two keys to happy aging. Could you also confirm this in your studies? From our research, we have learned that positive priming, controlling thinking through an external stimulus, can increase people's abilities and performance by 400 percent in just a few minutes. We gave a group of older workers positive messages such as "Older people can better recognize connections and are wiser." A second group was negatively primed with statements like: "Older people are more forgetful, frail, less flexible." When both teams were asked to brainstorm sustainable solutions for environmental problems, the number of ideas doubled in the positively primed group; in those who had heard negative messages, the idea output decreased by half. Who is the message of your book intended for? It is aimed at people of all ages. Just like the interactive exhibition "Ey Alter" (www.eyalter.com/de), which was first in Bremen and is now in Stuttgart at Daimler. Those who absorb all the new information become very curious about their later years. People have a great need for positive messages. However, many of them must overcome a major hurdle that lies within themselves and their beliefs. What are the implications in the corporate world? For example, Daimler wanted to introduce production lines for older workers, so-called "Silver Lines," and I said, "So you want your people to decline?" I said the same to Deutsche Post when they wanted to buy e-bikes for their mail carriers. At Daimler, the production lines are now better tailored to the potential of the people working on them. A 40-year-old may be slower than a 60-year-old. Age has little to do with it. It has much more to do with attitude. A study from Finland shows that the attitude of leaders alone determines whether older employees are productive or not. If you believe in them, they will be. Companies must harness this positive attitude. The aspiration to remain youthful in thinking and physically fit in old age can overwhelm some people. How can we prevent the beautiful images of aging from becoming constraints? There are no guarantees for healthy and active aging. However, we can statistically improve the conditions by eating moderately, not smoking, and drinking little. Information on "healthy living" is abundant. A Danish study shows that genes only determine 30 percent of how we age. The rest is up to us. But there are conditions and accidents that we cannot influence. That is why there is a wide variety of life designs in old age – anything else would be boring. What are the specific challenges for women? Women tend to be the ones who care for relatives. This is partly due to their socially constructed role and partly due to marriage age and life expectancy. Because they are often younger than their husbands and frequently outlive them, women may first care for their own parents, then possibly mothers-in-law and fathers-in-law, and finally their own husbands. And in case of illness, daughters or daughters-in-law take care of them. If a woman is rightfully overwhelmed by this situation, solution orientation helps – just as in companies. This means sitting down with all parties involved and clarifying what needs to be done. The solution cannot be that all the work falls on one person, so redistribution is necessary to find a working solution for everyone. Communication is a first step here. Changing attitudes is another. Do you mean the attitude that caregiving is women's responsibility? Not only that. Seeing life's challenges as tasks and opportunities for personal growth saves energy and leads to greater satisfaction. Henning Scherf, the former Mayor of Bremen, recently said in a joint interview that he had evolved as members of his senior shared housing became ill and passed away. He was grateful for the experience and for having accompanied his housemates during that phase. He now lives more intensely and consciously. Let's summarize your main thesis: "Aging is a state of mind." What does that mean specifically? We cannot turn back time. But we can challenge ourselves, maximize our potential, and avoid negative suggestions. Clemens Tesch-Römer from the German Center for Gerontology (DZA) considers self-perception as important for aging as nutrition and exercise. This is confirmed by neurobiologist Hans Martin Korte, who has observed higher performance levels in aging optimists. Could the connection be reversed – those who are relatively fit and capable in old age may see the world more positively? Our priming experiments suggest otherwise. And think about the research conducted by Laura L. Carstensen from Stanford on her socio-emotional selectivity theory: Older people focus more on their emotional well-being and positive contacts due to their shorter time horizon. They pay more attention to positive events and tend to remember good experiences. With an awareness of the limitations of our lifespan, the ability to focus on what brings joy grows. That sounds very wise. Yes, and it correlates with a shift in power from the right to the left hemisphere of the brain. Since the left hemisphere plays a greater role in processing positive emotions, there is a chance that we become happier simply because we are aging. Being content is good. However, in your opinion, it is not enough to simply enjoy retirement on a beach in Mallorca. Why shouldn't people be able to just enjoy their retirement? Let me answer with an example: The employees of a research partner unanimously said before retirement that they did not want to continue working after retirement. However, shortly after retiring, they felt bored, sensed cognitive and physical decline. Now, they all wanted to return to work. Eventually, half of them took on part-time work. And that is a good thing. Those who do not challenge themselves age faster. Based on the studies you have compiled in your book, you have formulated ten commandments for a happy old age. Which commandment is the most important? All have their validity. The first commandment, "Where there's a will, there's a way," encourages us, for example, to try new things even in old age. At 75, you are not too old to take piano lessons or learn a new language. The fourth commandment is also important: Stay curious! The brain forms new synapses well into old age when needed. Complex tasks such as visiting an unfamiliar city, volunteering for people from a different cultural background not only challenge the brain but also help in forming new connections. A strong social network also keeps you young – that is the sixth commandment. Furthermore, we need a new work culture: We should not view being active at 70 as a social monstrosity, but as an opportunity. Everyone should be active in a way that suits them individually, rather than getting bored after weeks full of Sundays. The ninth commandment suggests that we should think about how we want to live and where we want to live at 80, maybe as early as 40 or