Even people in their 40s can become people who cause harm due to aging. To avoid becoming an old person, and to live together, we all need to be aware of this.

【Two dangerous trends that can harm you as you age, even in your 40s.】
https://toyokeizai.net/articles/-/668049

・Examples of behaviors and lifestyles of people with geriatric brains, – become more troublesome to do new things, – become more forgetful, – have trouble concentrating, – become more inconsiderate, – make more mistakes, – have difficulty hearing

・People who accelerate their geriatric brain and become “people who cause harm due to aging” are thought to have two aging functions: the “objective and inhibitory brain” and the “empathetic brain”. As these two functions deteriorate, the following occurs

・①Decline in the ability to read the feelings of others (decline in the empathetic brain)

A Harvard study found that this ability declines after peaking at age 48.

Early symptoms include going out in house clothes, or worse, cutting in line and becoming assertive

・②Inability to suppress one’s emotions (decline in objectivity and inhibitory brain) (decline in prefrontal cortex function)

I get frustrated easily and cannot control my emotions. I do not doubt what people say and trust them easily. Makes many everyday mistakes and errors.

For example, they may be rude to store clerks, fall for an Oreore scam, or

・Be wary of people who talk only about themselves. To fix this, talk while looking at the other person carefully. By doing so, you will be able to talk while reading the other person’s feelings.

・It is also recommended to “nod and listen” to what the other person is saying. We have experienced in the past that we nod when we understand what the other person is saying, and our brain remembers this, so with the nodding motion, our brain is switched on to understand.

・Writing by hand and having small goals activates the prefrontal cortex.

・1, write down what you want to do today every morning, even if you don’t have any plans; 2, write down 5 things you succeeded in today, no matter how small, at the end of the day; 3, write down the numbers for your goals; 4, schedule what makes your heart happy (even if it doesn’t happen).

These are the quotes from the article

What we all need to be aware of in order to live together and not become people who cause harm through aging.

I was struck by the phrase, “When you are in your 40s, you become a person who causes harm by aging,” and since I am also in my 40s, I really felt I had to be careful.

A person who causes harm by aging is described in Japanese as “rougai”.

When did the word “rougai” come into use, 10 or 20 years ago? My feeling is that it is a relatively recent word.

Is it, in other words, because there are more old people who are said to be rougai? Depending on one’s point of view, it may be that the number of people who are called “rougai” has increased because of the aging of the population.

Since the Japanese population is decreasing due to the falling birthrate and aging population, we are all worried about Japan’s power to decline, but to prevent this from happening, I think it is quite important that our aging generation does not become rougai-ized. (To reduce the negative factors for Japan as much as possible)

According to the article above,

Decreased ability to read the feelings of others (decline of the empathy brain)

Inability to suppress one’s own emotions (decline of the objective and inhibitory brain).

When these two decline, rougai-ization seems to proceed.

Empathy, objectivity, suppression and control of one’s emotions

They are all important.

To put it more crudely,

Selfishness may be typical of rougai.

I am reminded of a tweet by Shu Yamaguchi.

教育というのは本来「共に生きる方法を教えるもの」であるはずなのに、いまは「自分だけが生き残る方法を教えるもの」になっています。それでは誰も生き残れないのではないでしょうか。

— 山口周 (@shu_yamaguchi) October 3, 2022

「Education is supposed to be “teaching how to live together,” but now it has become “teaching how to survive only by oneself. If that is the case, no one will survive.」by shu yamaguchi

Today, we have been instilled with a “survival” mindset in many places, but the important thing is to live together and find a way to live together. (There are a lot of “survive” or “survival” books out there these days.)

To avoid becoming old, and to live together with others,

I would like to make sure that we do not become “selfish and only about ourselves.

See you then.

You can’t change what you want to change unless you do something consciously. (You can’t change what you want to change subconsciously or spontaneously.)