One of the really interesting things you talk about in the book is this idea of sort of how our thoughts about aging affect our physical abilities.

你在書中談到的一個非常有趣的觀點是，我們對衰老的看法如何影響我們的身體能力。

What I interpreted from that is our thoughts about aging have an impact on our aging.

我的理解是，我們對衰老的想法會影響我們的衰老。

Yeah, so actually there's a really fascinating study, it's one of my favorite ones to talk about which was three groups of octogenarians.

是的，實際上有一項研究非常吸引人，這也是我最喜歡談論的一項研究，研究對象是三組八旬老人。

What's an octogenarian?

什麼是八旬老人？

People in their 80s.

80 多歲的老人

Okay.

好的

And one group was the control group, so they just lived like normal for a week.

其中一組為對照組，他們像正常人一樣生活了一週。

One group had to reminisce about being in their 60s for most of the week whenever they had an opportunity to.

有一個小組在這一週的大部分時間裡，一有機會就不得不回憶起自己 60 多歲的時候。

And one group were actually driven to retrofitted versions of their homes that look like what their house looked like 20 years ago.

其中一組人實際上被驅趕到改裝過的房子裡，看起來就像他們 20 年前的房子。

They were given newspapers dated from 20 years ago, they had photos of themselves in that house when they were in their 60s.

他們拿到了 20 年前的報紙，還有自己 60 多歲時在那所房子裡的照片。

And one of the things was they got there and they were they were sort of like, okay, you know, who's going to carry our suitcase up to the bedroom or whatever and they were like, no, you're 60 now, you carry your own suitcase.

其中一件事是，他們到了那裡，他們有點像，好吧，你知道，誰來把我們的行李箱搬到臥室或其他地方，他們就像，不，你現在60歲了，你拿你自己的行李箱。

So literally started from the minute they got there and these little old ladies and gentlemen had to carry their cases up.

是以，從他們到達那裡的那一刻起，這些老太太和老先生們就不得不把他們的箱子搬上去。

After one week, the people in that group were taller because thus their posture improved, they had better musculoscoletal coordination than they had a week before.

一週後，該組的人長高了，因為他們的姿勢得到了改善，肌肉骨骼的協調性比一週前更好了。

And before and after photos that were shown to people that didn't know them, they were rated as younger in the one week after photos than the photos from arriving at that place.

在給不認識他們的人看他們的前後照片時，他們在一週後的照片比剛到那個地方時的照片更年輕。

And the reminiscing group also had some improvements but not as much as a group that lived like they were in their 60s.

回憶組也有一些進步，但不如像 60 多歲一樣生活的那組。

So there was three groups, the ones that went back and relive their life, the ones that reminisce and the ones that did nothing at all.

是以有三類人，一類是回去重溫生活的人，一類是回憶往事的人，還有一類是什麼都不做的人。

Yeah.

是啊

Wow.

哇

You talk about this your eyes as well, about you're going to get was it like laser eye surgery or something.

你還提到了你的眼睛，說你要去做脈衝光眼科手術什麼的。

No, no, it's just like people told you you needed glasses.

不，不，這就像人們告訴你需要戴眼鏡一樣。

Well, my optician told me.

我的驗光師告訴我的。

So he's of Indian origin same age as me and he said, oh I think you know, you're probably going to need reading glasses next year and I was like, no, I do not want reading glasses, that makes you look really old and he was like, yeah, I know, I know we both look younger than we are but you know, your eyes are going to age just like anybody else's.

他說，哦，我想你知道，明年你可能就需要戴老花鏡了，我說，不，我不想戴老花鏡，那會讓你看起來很老，他說，是的，我知道，我知道我們看起來都比實際年齡小，但是你知道，你的眼睛也會像其他人一樣老化。

And I was like, no, they are not.

我想，不，他們不是。

So I left, came back a year later, he said, how's it going with the reading?

所以我離開了，一年後回來，他說，你的閱讀怎麼樣了？

So it's fine.

所以沒事。

He sort of went, okay Tara.

他說，好吧，塔拉。

So he's doing my eye test, he spins around on his little chair halfway through and says, your eyes haven't got worse, they haven't even stayed the same, they've got better.

他給我做眼科檢查，檢查進行到一半時，他在小椅子上轉了一圈，然後說，你的眼睛沒有變壞，甚至沒有變化，反而變好了。

And I said, I know and he said, what you what have you been doing?

我說，我知道，他說，你在做什麼？

And I said, well I just said no to you when you said I'm going to have to get reading glasses.

我說，你說我要戴老花鏡的時候，我剛拒絕了你。

And when I'm like looking at my phone or a book and it feels like it would be a bit easier if I moved it further away, I just don't.

當我在看手機或書的時候，感覺如果把手機或書挪遠一點會更方便，但我就是不挪。

And what's that doing in the brain?

這對大腦有什麼影響？

Why is that?

為什麼會這樣？

Why did that.

為什麼會這樣？

Why did that improve your reading?

為什麼這能提高你的閱讀能力？

Well, I hadn't experienced a problem with my reading, but he was obviously seeing the numbers slightly change.

我的讀數沒有問題，但他看到的數字顯然略有變化。

Um, I really didn't do much more than what I've just said, so it was like not accepting the the limitation and then not changing my behavior.

嗯，除了我剛才說的，我真的沒有做更多的事情，所以這就像不接受限制，然後不改變我的行為一樣。

And I think that's what you see from the third group of people which is that they had to change their behavior to live like without any help.

我想這就是你從第三類人身上看到的，他們不得不改變自己的行為，在沒有任何幫助的情況下生活。

And in a way that they had to when they were younger, so that essentially removed the limitations that we impose on ourselves, which is that if I'm X age, it must mean that I need reading glasses or I need a walking stick or whatever it is.

他們在年輕時不得不這樣做，所以這基本上消除了我們強加給自己的限制，即如果我到了 X 歲，就一定意味著我需要老花鏡或柺杖或其他什麼東西。

There's a kind of opposite experiment to that too, which was done with young medical students in Florida and they had to walk between five rooms and on the table were five pieces of paper with a word on it and you had to string a sentence out of it.

還有一個與之相反的實驗，是在佛羅里達州對年輕的醫科學生做的，他們必須在五個房間之間走動，桌子上放著五張紙，上面寫著一個詞，你必須用它串成一個句子。

But that wasn't the real experiment.

但這並不是真正的實驗。

They thought that was the experiment.

他們認為這就是實驗。

The real experiment was that in one of the rooms, the words that were on the table were Florida, beach, sunshine, walk, bungalow.

真正的實驗是，在其中一個房間裡，桌子上擺放的單詞是佛羅里達、海灘、陽光、散步、平房。

And all of them walked more slowly out of that room than any of the other rooms because those words are associated with retirement.

他們走出房間的速度比走出其他房間都要慢，因為這些詞都與退休聯繫在一起。

And that made them slow down.

這讓他們放慢了腳步。

You asked me, is language important in our to our brain?

你問我，語言對我們的大腦重要嗎？

That's how important it is.

這就是它的重要性。