The BBC is conducting a TV experiment to test the extent to which the psychological and physical effects of old age are in part a state of mind.
Six vintage celebrities, all aged over 75, are spending a week holed up in a house which will transport them back 35 years to 1975.
Abba will be on the radio and The Good Life on TV, with all the decor and equipment in the house suited to a time when the participants were in the prime of middle age.
The hope is, in the words of the Radio Times, that the time-travel experiment will 'put a spring back in their step'.
The experiment will replicate a study of the ageing process by Harvard Psychologist Dr Ellen Langer which was featured in a BBC Horizon programme, and which we have written about in a previous article.
Dr Langer is also overseeing this re-run of her original experiment which will test the celebrities for physical, psychological and cognitive changes.
Results Were Remarkable
In her original experiment which re-wound the date back to 1959 the results were remarkable. The male participates improved their dexterity and joint flexibility, their blood pressure dropped, their symptoms of arthritis diminished and they looked started to look younger.
They improved their gait, stood taller and moved faster. Their cognitive abilities also improved together with their IQ. Perhaps most surprising was the improvement which occurred in their vision and hearing.
Mind Over Matter
All this seemed to demonstrate the amazing power of mind over matter when it comes to the ageing process.
'The view we have of ageing is that over time you just get worse and worse and that's all there is to it', says Dr Langer.
'People assume that everything is to do with age - from forgetting keys to aches and pains - and don't take steps to make changes. If you believe you can't do something, you don't try, you get more and more evidence that you are not able to'.
Celebrities
The celebrities involved include former national newspaper editor Derek Jameson, 80, entertainer Lionel Blair, 78, and actress Sylvia Syms, 76.
The programme called The Young Ones is being broadcast from Tuesday to Thursday on BBC1 at 9.00pm.
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