You Won’t Recognize Yourself in Ten Years (Maybe that’s good!)

Most of us believe that we are now the same person that we will be in ten years, according to Dr. Daniel Gilbert of Harvard University. “All of us seem to have this sense that development is a process that has delivered us to this point and now we’re done.” However, Dr. Gilbert’s longitudinal research reveals that personalities, interests and preferences actually do change markedly from one decade to another for much of the population. While some may consider this unsettling, the possibility of change may be more of an asset than a liability.

For example, in the same week that Dr. Gilbert’s study was published in the journal Science, the Journal of the American Medical Association released findings that baby boomers “have more chronic illness and disability than their parents.”  This study is the first to compare generations and shows that those born between 1946 and 1964 become sicker earlier in life than their parents and are more likely to eventually need a cane or walker. Boomers do live longer than previous generations because of improved medical care; but the quality of these extended years is often significantly diminished.

Dr. Dana L King, lead author of the JAMA study, asserts “We have to fight to live well, not just live long. We like to say that 60 is the new 40, but you can’t be that 40-something if you are just sitting on the couch.”

While fewer boomers were smoking or had emphysema than their parents’ generation, more had hypertension, higher cholesterol and were taking maintenance medications.