Not Just Biological, Cultural, and Social Consequences, Too

How does one think about being old? Amy Marcus, a health and science reporter for the WSJ, goes far beyond discussing how we think about being old. Amy simulated the aging process by donning a suit called Agnus as part of a training experiment for engineers, designers, and marketers at a German automaker, looking at what older customers might want in luxury cars.

Through the years, the MIT team had to make changes to improve Agnus’s accuracy in simulating aging. Agnuis has been worn by chief executives, designers, clinicians, the movie star Chris Hemsworth, and now a WSJ reporter.

Amy Marcus, Boston-born, has a master’s degree in bioethics from Harvard Medical School. Recently Amy donned the suit (Agnus), conceived by as part of a training exercise.

With one in six people in the U.S. now 65 and over, longevity businesses are being built on science that is a still-emerging yet increasingly popular area of research. Longer lifespans mean many people live more years with chronic conditions such as diabetes and arthritis and with other physical issues associated with aging. That has brought a new focus on finding ways to slow down, or even reverse, aging.

A Wakeup Call

When leaving a restaurant recently, a distracted Amy tripped on cobblestones. She was fortunate not to have broken anything, but the fall made Amy realize the importance of strength training to try to improve balance and to help prevent bone fractures in the future.

An orthopaedic surgeon and sports enthusiast told Amy how simple strategies can work. Staying active is key. Even though people are aware of the aging process, they don’t challenge themselves. People maintain the abilities they train.

Dr. Julia Loewenthal, a geriatrician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, agreed, but reminded (Amy) that accidents, disease or random bad luck can set even the best-prepared person off course in old age. “It’s not your fault,” she tells her patients.

By spending a day in the suit, Amy hoped to discover insight into what it is like to age and what she needed to do to prepare. One thing Amy learned? Aging isn’t easy.

A trip to the supermarket showed Amy the struggles yet ahead. Constricted arm movements, Amy struggled to reach products on high shelves. Standing on tiptoes to reach products on high shelves cued Amy to the importance of stretching muscles for balance.

Gloves were included in the suit (Agnus). Agile is not a word that comes to mind while typing with gloves. Getting on the subway was another challenge, especially in trying to avoid tripping on the gap between the platform and the train. Even though she was not riding the subway during peak hour, when commuters are jostling to get on and off, Amy found it unnerving.

Testing how she would cope when she was several decades older than she is now. Amy’s research began with her donning a suit, aka Agnus. Amy holds a Master’s degree in Bioethics from Harvard Medical School.

The AgeLab kitchen helped remind Amy of Dr. Eric Topol, author of a book about “super agers.” Dr. Topel, of Scripps Research Translational Institute, wrote of the importance of hand strength and agility. To not lose that ability and to improve, squeeze a small gripper device.

For Amy, some experiences stand out:

On my way to the supermarket, I hesitated to cross the street when I saw the walk sign flashing a countdown of how much time I had to get to the other side. Joseph Coughlin, the founder and director of the AgeLab, had been walking behind me observing how I experienced my turn as Agnes.

Who Is Agnus?

Agnus allowed Amy to experience the complications of a person in her late 70s or 80s struggling with several unmanaged conditions. The suit has earplugs to simulate hearing loss. Amy, however, chose not to wear earplugs as she was wary of the problems she knew she would face getting through a challenging day as Agnus.

As Amy, rather than Agnus, she would have darted across the busy intersection. Dressed in Agnus gear, Amy felt encumbered and slow.

When I looked to my left—turning my whole body rather than just my neck due to the neck brace that simulated spinal compression—I saw the heavy traffic. Cars were lined up waiting for the light to turn green, and I imagined drivers’ impatience. Other pedestrians were pushing past me to make it across the street. I didn’t want to take the chance.

Most of us focus on the physical load, Joseph Coughlin, founder and director of AgeLab, reminded Amy. “But there is a significant cognitive load here to making these types of decisions.”

Dr. Alvaro Pascual-Leone, a neurologist and director of the neuromodulation research center at Hebrew SeniorLife’s Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research in Boston, pointed out that the cognitive load Amy experienced would have been even worse if she were elderly. “

As Pascual-Leone explains, it’s one thing to have the old-body experience with a younger brain. It’s even more exhausting with an old brain.. “When you age, it’s not just your body changing but also your brain changing.”

Pascual-Leone and his colleagues are studying interventions such as noninvasive brain stimulation to activate or modify brain circuits connected with moving the fingers or walking. Their research has shown that courses of targeted electrical currents could improve elderly people’s movement, at least for a period …

Walking does become more of a cognitive task as people age, said Brad Manor, director of the mobility and falls research center at the Marcus Institute. The researchers found that people who practiced tai chi, a Chinese martial art, fell less and showed improved mobility.

(Most falls) occur in older adults when they are walking and become distracted by mental tasks such as reading signs, talking or daydreaming, according to Manor.

Activities that require the mind and body to work together to improve balance? Yoga, pickleball, or ping pong, to name a few. You can improve walking by walking more, advises Manor.

Becca Levy, a professor of psychology at Yale University, studies how beliefs about aging influence people’s health.

After ascending the stairs to the AgeLab, following her subway and supermarket experiences, Amy felt sweaty and tired. Nonetheless, a tired, sticky Amy felt better and smiled back when people in the AgeLab welcomed her.

I felt welcomed, ready to embrace my inner Agnes and try to become the best possible version of her that I could be. I smiled back and lifted my bungee-corded arm as high as I could, giving an enthusiastic wave.