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Breaking the Age Code: How Your Beliefs About Aging Determine How Long and Well You Live Hardcover – April 12, 2022
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Yale professor and leading expert on the psychology of successful aging, Dr. Becca Levy, draws on her ground-breaking research to show how age beliefs can be improved so they benefit all aspects of the aging process, including the way genes operate and the extension of life expectancy by 7.5 years.
The often-surprising results of Levy’s science offer stunning revelations about the mind-body connection. She demonstrates that many health problems formerly considered to be entirely due to the aging process, such as memory loss, hearing decline, and cardiovascular events, are instead influenced by the negative age beliefs that dominate in the US and other ageist countries. It’s time for all of us to rethink aging and Breaking the Age Code shows us how to do just that.
Based on her innovative research, stories that range from pop culture to the corporate boardroom, and her own life, Levy shows how age beliefs shape all aspects of our lives. She also presents a variety of fascinating people who have benefited from positive age beliefs as well as an entire town that has flourished with these beliefs.
Breaking the Age Code is a landmark work, presenting not only easy-to-follow techniques for improving age beliefs so they can contribute to successful aging, but also a blueprint to reduce structural ageism for lasting change and an age-just society.
- Print length304 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherWilliam Morrow
- Publication dateApril 12, 2022
- Dimensions6 x 1.01 x 9 inches
- ISBN-100063053195
- ISBN-13978-0063053199
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“This book will shatter some of your basic assumptions about aging—and how we can lead longer, healthier, and happier lives. Becca Levy is the world’s foremost expert on the psychology of aging, and she shares rigorous, remarkable evidence that one of the best ways to stay mentally and physically fit is to rethink your stereotypes about what it means to be an older person.”
— Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"Old age doesn’t have to suck...Breaking the Age Code shows how 'aging can become a homecoming, a rediscovery, a feast of life.'" — Wall Street Journal
“According to this upcoming book from Yale epidemiology and psychology professor, your mere beliefs about aging can add or steal up to eight years of your life. Everybody wants to know how to live longer and more joyfully, and this guide uses insights to help you enhance your odds of doing just that. [Read] this book if you want research-backed strategies to make the most of your time on this Pale Blue Dot.” — Men's Journal
“Breaking the Age Code is a revolutionary paradigm shift in how we think about aging. Dr. Becca Levy has pioneered a new field of research that reveals how our mindset and beliefs shape our behaviors, our ability to heal, and our lifespan, in invisible but powerful ways. Through cutting edge science, and memorable stories, she shares a new view of aging that will change how we age. Fascinating, inspiring, and moving, this book holds one of the precious keys to a healthy ageing society.”
— Elissa Epel, PhD, University of California Professor and New York Times bestselling author
“Before reading this book, I knew that Becca was a pioneering scientist at Yale, I now know that she is a world-class writer, story-teller, and humanist. Her book is exciting, relevant, and holds the potential to exert powerful global influence on how we age. This is an extremely profound and timely message that needs to be heard.”
— Sharon Inouye, MD, MPH, Harvard Medical School Professor
“A Yale professor and leading expert on the psychology of successful aging draws on her groundbreaking research to show how age beliefs can be improved so they benefit all aspects of the aging process.” — The Next Big Idea Club
“In this ground-breaking book, filled with stunning scientific insights, captivating stories and easy-to-use tools, Dr. Levy offers a new way to approach aging and longevity that can benefit readers of any age.”
— James C. Appleby, CEO, The Gerontological Society of America
“Becca Levy is already recognized as one of the world’s most respected experts on aging and longevity. Her thought leadership and pioneering research will change many more hearts and minds. Levy’s book is a must read--an urgent and uplifting call to action and roadmap for a future of longer, healthier, and better lives.”
— Paul Irving, Chair of the Center for the Future of Aging
“Levy has produced a manifesto to inspire us to fight against the scourge of ageism and its negative effects on older adults, and our society. The book is a call to action and provides practical and proven methods to help older adults develop more positive views of their lives, and to inspire all of us to stand up against ageism in our personal life, workplace, and social media. This book will be remembered as a turning point in the fight against ageism.”
— William E. Haley, PhD, Chair, Committee on Aging, American Psychological Association
“This exciting new book gives all of us who are aging an opportunity to find ways to positively influence our destiny. Readers can use insights from this book to increase opportunities to shape a better and longer life. The eternal legacy of Maggie Kuhn, the founder of Gray Panthers and one of the most important and effective activists of the 20th century is richly demonstrated in this book.”
— Jack Kupferman, President, Gray Panthers
“Becca Levy has done a masterful job of describing the importance of aging beliefs on health and wellbeing at both the individual and societal level. Perhaps most importantly, this book provides practical suggestions on how to maximize the power of positive age beliefs, which can translate into tangible health benefits. An essential read for anyone interested in how we age and how each of us can benefit from adopting positive age beliefs in everyday life.”
— Cary Reid, MD, Irving Sherwood Wright Professor of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical Center
“At last, Professor Becca Levy shows how we can harness the power of the mind to live a longer and more fulfilling life. She brings a unique perspective about a question we are all concerned with: What happens as we age and get older? She brilliantly shows how we can successfully age. The book offers great insights and it is a must read!”
— Dr. Itiel Dror, Senior Neurocognitive Researcher, University College London
“Ageism robs us of optimism for the longer lives we have created, and it disables the future of the young and the old. Becca Levy shows us how this happens, and how we solve it. We need to collectively follow her prescriptions. When we do so, we will create the potential of longer lives that young people can look forward to and older people can live their fullest in.”
— Linda P. Fried, M.D., M.P.H. Dean, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
“Dr. Levy is a pioneering psychologist and gerontologist Her wonderful book will inspire us with its solid scientific discoveries and practical advice for longevity. I believe Breaking the Age Code will greatly benefit the public!”
— Xin Zhang, PhD, Associate Professor, Peking University
About the Author
Dr. Becca Levy, the leading authority on how beliefs about aging influence aging health, is Professor of Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health and Professor of Psychology at Yale University. Her pathfinding studies have changed the way we think about aging and have received awards from the American Psychological Association, the Gerontological Society of America, and the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics. Dr. Levy has given invited testimony before the US Senate on the adverse effects of ageism and has contributed to US Supreme Court briefs to fight age-discrimination. She serves as a scientific advisor to the World Health Organization’s Campaign to Combat Ageism.
Product details
- Publisher : William Morrow; 1st edition (April 12, 2022)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 304 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0063053195
- ISBN-13 : 978-0063053199
- Item Weight : 1 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.01 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #17,057 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #46 in Biology (Books)
- #48 in Longevity
- #529 in Success Self-Help
- Customer Reviews:
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Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2022
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I have experienced age discrimination in job interviews. Fortunately the industry that I have been in which is building out the infrastructure for cell phones to work, recognizes the contributions of older people and how we revolutionized the communications industry worldwide. I work with a lot of younger people who do not have the experience that I do and so far I really enjoy teaching them and being their mentor. The younger people do not have the experience in this industry that the older people do. But we do need to pass on our knowledge to them so they can plan for their future.
It is hard to write a book on science aimed at the popular market. Science is all about detail and logical exposition, and good science is generally messy. We saw that as we watched science play out in real time and headlines during the first year of COVID. Explaining science accurately in the language of average readers is difficult, and few are good at it (Stephen Hawking springs to mind). A common approach is to break the complex story into nuggets of information and to use personal stories to humanize difficult-to-digest data This reaches bottom in Internet sales pitches of health products that keep the reader stringing along until the price tag finally comes clear (“but today you get two for one”). But it’s a tried and true technique that has made self-help books popular. Which makes it an editor’s go-to option. I can’t help but imagine the meeting between the author and her agent or publisher:
Pub: Doctor, what an exciting project you have brought us. Every oldster will want a copy.
Doc: Yes, we are excited to present our research—and, uhh, "oldster" is an example of the endemic ageism in—
Pub: (nods impatiently) We’ll need somewhat more, uhh, punchy text. You see, people want to read stories, not just facts and logic. People … we need real people. And famous people or unusual stories.
Doc: But single instances don’t make the case. The 100-year-old Japanese woman is an outlier, as is the iron nun.
Pub: Yeah, but people will love them. They can relate to them.
Doc: But the data …
Pub: You mean footnotes, bibliography, that kind of stuff? Definitely convincing. But too complex. Basically, you need to cut a lot of the rationale, get to the point quicker. But I like the graphs, particularly the ones with straight lines. Worry not. This is a killer concept. I’ll have Marketing work through the text … I think they’ve got Morgan Freeman on the hook for an interview.
That's not to belittle the research that went into this, and the old guy in me is tempted to believe the conclusion (oops. Ageism.) Had it been presented in 100 pages or so with all the bibliography attached, it would have been strong. But the selective presentation, for example, of the glories of centenarian worship in Japan without much mention of the fish and vegetables based diet and low level of obesity in the periods studied raised questions. Yes, there was passing mention of epigenetics, but more or less as a way of excusing the need to address that fish and vegetable diet. Larding the text with examples of remarkable old people (yes, there are old healthy old people, and the ones mentioned are statistical outliers) makes good reading but poor science. Levy notes (p. 95) the average age of Nobel Laureates is 65 (so, there!). Surely she knows Nobels usually arrive as the result of work being evaluated over decades. She goes on to as support for old age being “not the result of a single gene” (to which the appropriate scientific answer is “Duh”) and is presumably aware that one of the breakthroughs in the study that supports her point is that of telomeres, but possibly unaware that the original research was done in 1975 and resulted in a Nobel thirty-four years later in 2009. Many of the hard sciences are this way.
All in all, a lot of interesting research that the author has made available through notes and bibliography, but which is diluted by selective presentation. One can only assume that an editor without much scientific background made cuts and tucks to make the idea more “punchy.” But that just may be the suspicious nature of an older reader at work.
With “Breaking the Age Code,” Yale Medical School’s Dr. Becca Levy has given us just such a bold and helpful prescription. The best part? She backs it up.
The book is a tour de force, showing how shifts in beliefs in aging from negative to positive influence a host of physical, mental and emotional outcomes. Study after study, some by Dr. Levy and some by other researchers in the field drive home the point that positive age beliefs are an extraordinary powerful driver of the aging experience.
Lest you worry that they might be too many mentions of how C-reactive proteins levels are influenced by age beliefs, let me assure you that the book is a joyful and uplifting read. Dr. Levy, a keen observer of the human condition, has poured herself into this book and reading it is like having a conversation with a kind, thoughtful and empowering friend who wants your good.
The book imparts paradigm-shifting wisdom in an understated and enjoyable fashion, with easy-to-understand tools and delightful stories. Both will stick with you long after you have finished the book. From the nun who completed 350 triathlons despite not having gone on her first run until age 50, to Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner watching Jeopardy nightly together while continuing to work into their 90s, the people you will meet are inspiring. They inspire not just with how they enjoy their own lives but in how they help others do the same. The 800 grandmothers and the Friendship Bench is a case in point. When Zanzibar faced a lack of providers of mental health services they recruited lay therapists to talk to people from park benches – and it turned out these empathetic grandmothers outperformed the doctors in relieving depression!
This book is certain to have an outsize impact on the world – at least we can all hope that it does. Certainly it is likely to cause a rise in housing prices in Greensboro, VT, which Dr. Levy holds up as a community that lives positive aging. The book is intended to help all of us find our Arcadia, our place of connection, fulfillment and community at all stages of life. Perhaps more than any other book ever written it can give you both the hope and the roadmap to find yours.
Top reviews from other countries

I find it so strange that those who are older are seen as “other” in our society. As “other” there is a decision that usefulness and productivity have ended. The research in this book is critically important in providing the evidence needed to move people beyond ageism and instead see aging for what it really is, that is, an opportunity to gain wisdom and knowledge, that may guide and contribute to the future.

