Aging better

A recent story in the Washington Post tells of a 50-year-long health study known as the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. The study has spanned decades for some participants, giving the researchers glimpses into long-term effects of aging.

Since 1958, a total of more than 1,400 volunteers have agreed to regularly undergo in-depth physicals and momory and other screenings conducted by the study's physicians. The resulting data span more than half a century and are a gold mine for researches interested in the aging process.

In addition to studying aspects of physical health,

[the] researchers were able to disprove the long-held belief that people get crankier as they age. Using data collected from the study's participants, they found that personaity traits don't generally change much after age 30: People who were cranky at 27 were likely to be cranky at 87.

(I love that data!)

The director of the study hopes the data and insights continue well into the future: "The definition of being old is changing; it breaking apart. [People] want to live well, no matter what their age."