The asthma researchers went a step further with their research. They took two groups of asthmatics and asked them to smell something. They told Group A that it was a chemical, and Group B that it was a plant from the rain forest. Group A’s asthmatics reported adverse reactions to the smell; Group B’s folks found it pleasant, and some even said it helped their breathing.
The news broadcast about all this reminded me of an article by Bruce Grierson which I’d read in the Oct. 26 NY Times Magazine, regarding the work of a controversial Harvard psychologist named Ellen Langer. Dr. Langer had been wondering what would happen if you put people in a “time capsule,” so in 1981 she created an entire environment where it was still 1959, from the TV and radio broadcasts to the newspapers, magazines, books, music, and even the clothes the men wore. “Perry Como crooned on vintage radio, Grierson wrote; “Ed Sullivan welcomed guests on a black-and-white TV.”
Into this time warp Dr. Langer brought seven men in their 70s, who were to live there for five days. Before they went in, some shuffling, some on canes, they were assessed on such measures as dexterity, grip strength, flexibility, hearing and vision, memory and cognition — all the things that tend to change with age. They were told to try to be the men they had been 22 years earlier, and there were no mirrors to show them their older selves. Thus they were turned loose for a return to their fabulous fifties.
When they emerged, there was no shuffling; there were no canes. These guys had been playing touch football. Retesting brought unbelievable results; even their eyesight had improved. Impressed, the BBC recreated the experiment in 2010 with six senior-citizen celebrities as the subjects. One of them arrived in a wheelchair, but emerged walking. All six were measurably younger, in terms of dexterity, flexibility, etc. The resulting TV program was nominated for the British version of an Emmy Award.
Psychiatrist Jeffrey Rediger says that Dr. Langer’s work indicates that health and illness are “rooted in our minds and in our hearts and how we experience ourselves in the world.” But how do we turn back our mental clocks, and start living counter-clockwise?
I can tell you this: if I ever get rid of all my mirrors, I will experience myself in the world as someone who frightens other people so badly they run away. This morning my hair looked like helicopter blades. But I wouldn’t mind returning to 1959, if anyone has a time capsule I could borrow. I loved doing the lindy!
Susan Harper is retired, lives in Commerce and volunteers with the Commerce Public Library and the Jackson County Literacy Program.
