Free reign of their undertakings makes older adults feel more youthful, more so than helplessness – previous research has linked a strong sense of control to contentment and better wellbeing.

Control beliefs are important to support the pursuit of goals – believing that you can accomplish a task helps you to actually get the job done – according to Jennifer Bellingtier of Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany.

In a recent study involving 116 older adults aged 60-90, and 107 younger adults aged 18-36, participants were asked questions related to their individual daily stresses, physical health, sense of control and perceived age. Of the eight-day survey, younger adults only “felt” young on days of low stress levels and few/no health issues, while older adults typically felt about two to four years younger on days when they felt more in control than usual.

Study co-author Bellingtier has added that control may foster independence in the lives of older adults – it is possible that older adults feel less inclined to negative stereotypes about growing old when they report feeling younger than their chronological age.

Another co-author Shevaun Neupert of North Carolina State University, US, has added that better mental, physical and cognitive health is associated with older adults who feel younger.

However, the possibility of reverse causality may mar the results as seniors might have felt more in control on days when they woke up feeling more youthful.

Dr. Guohua Li from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, US, muses that older adults who feel in control and youthful are likely to be more physically and mentally active and more socially engaged, which could help them continue to flourish and function – thus, reinforcing the relationship between feeling younger and healthy aging.