The Longevity Project Reflections

My initial reaction to the introduction and the first chapter was curiosity–and a bit of skepticism. The authors made it clear that many of the preconceived notions we as a society hold about what keeps a person healthy are blatantly false. For example, their claim that working long hours and/or having a high pressure job does not necessarily decrease longevity seems counterintuitive. It makes sense that health depends on so much more than merely sleep, diet, and exercise, but I was genuinely surprised by several of the common beliefs that the authors touted as “dead-end myths.” (I suppose that’s what they were trying to do, though, in order to keep readers interested.)

Additionally, I got the impression that it may have been difficult for the authors to draw resounding conclusions about many supposed predictors of longevity. With so many individual differences in the personalities, family backgrounds, social lives, and career paths of the people studied, the authors implied several times that what works to extend lifespan for some individuals may even have the opposite effect for others. I’m intrigued to see what common threads they find to predict longevity, because I have a feeling I’ll be surprised by what they found.

Upon gaining preliminary knowledge of it through this reading, I feel Dr. Terman’s longevity study is the Milgram Obedience Study or Zimbardo’s Prison Experiment of health psychology. What I mean is, the importance of it, the knowledge gained from it, and the subsequent studies that have emerged from the data and measures used are pertinent to the field and to the overall well-being of humans. I agree with the general theme of the introduction and the first chapter: personalities, work/careers, and our family/social lives have as great a, if not a greater, effect on health and longevity than do diet and exercise alone.

We can only develop inferences and correlations from health studies (sometimes stronger than others). This reality has a tendency to hinder people’s trust of claims of positive personality leading to longer, healthier, happier lives. What I appreciated about the intro and chapter one (and I anticipate for the rest of the book) was that the author did not discount this distrust and the correlation; instead it was highlighted so the reader is informed not to take anything as 100 percent valid and true.

I look forward to seeing the variability and similarities between individuals from like and different backgrounds and habits. Some what of a “health buff” myself, I am curious to see what patterns or categories I may fall under, and what predictions I can possibly make of my own trajectory.

This book seems fascinating to me for multiple reasons, one of these being Dr. Terman’s study and how he followed the lives of hundreds of people from the time they were children up until their deaths. A few years ago, I watched the movie “Boyhood,” which follows the life of a boy for 12 years, as he grows up. Dr. Terman’s study reminded me of this film and of how much a person can change within a decade—or a lifetime, in the case of this unique study. I look forward to reading the explanations behind common myths throughout this book, such as the idea that worrying is bad for your health, which I have been led to believe my entire life.

In Chapter 1, I was shocked to read that it took so long for doctors to discover the importance of sterile operating fields and antiseptics. This is something that seems as though it should be common sense for me, but I am sure people will be saying the same thing about future discoveries hundreds of years from now. I appreciate Dr. Terman’s interests spanning from the moral beliefs to the physical characteristics of his subjects, because it shows that his study is not very biased. I believe the book’s focus on Terman’s study will show us a wide range of characteristics we can consider, when observing the actual health psychology of the Longevity Project.