Can feeling younger really help people live longer? Virtual reality might have an answer
Illustrations by Olga Aleksandrova
by Aishwarya Jagani
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What happens in virtual reality doesn’t necessarily stay in virtual reality.
Multiple experiments and studies have established that virtual reality (VR) experiences can reliably impact behavior and psychological reactions beyond the virtual realm. VR-based programs like these are used widely in unconscious bias training. These kinds of programs can be effective in reducing implicit racial bias, ethnic profiling, age-related discrimination, and creating and increasing empathy. Research shows us that time spent in VR can, under certain conditions, improve psychological well-being and reduce anxiety, depression, and loneliness.
But could the effects initiated by VR experiences add years to someone’s life? French technologist Dr. Alexandra Ivanovitch is out to answer that question. Specifically, she’s made it her mission to study the effects on older adults when they use virtual-reality avatars of their younger selves. The main question: can the gains induced by these experiences benefit the user so much that it increases the length of their life?
It all began in 2018, when Ivanovitch, who had already been exploring the ways in which VR could change human behavior, moved to Miami and realized the need for immersive technology solutions that could improve the psychological well-being of older adults. With funding from the Miami-Dade Age-Friendly Initiative, Ivanovitch created VR programs that let users voyage across the world, time-travel to ancient Greece, explore Mars, swim with dolphins, and engage in other interactive and stimulating activities — all in virtual reality.
But most participants just wanted one thing: to be young again.
Olga Aleksandrova
So Ivanovitch launched “Virtually Young: Can Embodying an Avatar of Your Younger Self Extend Your Healthy Lifespan?” in 2020. With this project, Ivanovitch created a VR program where seniors could choose their own avatars (youthful ones made to represent a past version of the user). While donning skins of their old skins, they would tick experiences off their bucket list while in their headsets — everything from traveling and swimming in the ocean to seeing the wonders of the world and going on a safari. In 2020, Virtually Young won the Healthy Longevity Global Competition and was awarded $50,000 by the National Academy of Medicine (NAM).
When a person’s behavior in virtual worlds is influenced by their avatar, that’s referred to as the Proteus effect. Ivanovitch’s initiative seeks to examine how the opposite scenario unfolds: when the older person embodies the avatar of not just a younger one, but a younger one that is made in their likeness, how does that affect their reality beyond the virtual world?
After 60, adults begin to lose brain mass faster. The loss of neurons — and both white and gray matter — often manifests as declining cognitive and physical function, leading to poor memory, slower language recall, and reduced motor skills. But many neuroscientists believe that building a “cognitive reserve” can help people maintain better functionality. This reserve can be built by staying mentally, physically, and socially active.
While VR programs that simulate travel or a sport can certainly improve physical and mental health for some, they can also help many older adults simply feel younger. And there is evidence to suggest that feeling younger can change brain functioning. Neuroscience researcher Angela Gutchess points out that various studies have examined the difference feeling younger can make and adds that “people who feel like they’re younger can have different types of memory patterns than people who feel their age or older.”
“I think the perspective you have on yourself and your age is going to affect all your behaviors,” Gutchess says. If you feel younger than your average peer seems to, you might naturally engage in a more active and social lifestyle, which can help to pack on real-world years (while boosting well-being).
Not only can immersive virtual experiences induce perceptual and behavioral change in everyday life, but they can help people put themselves in someone else’s shoes — or just their own shoes, from decades ago.
Virtual reality can seem very “real”
Aaron Sloan, a certified cardiac nurse and boxing coach, created Engine Room VR: the tech company behind Ready to Fight, a virtual reality boxing game for people with Parkinson’s. On the topic of virtual reality, Sloan says, “It doesn't take very long for your mind to start accepting that this is a real world. I was once watching Netflix at home with my VR headset and I dropped my remote and controllers trying to set them down on the virtual couch.”
Adults with Parkinson’s who have participated in Ready to Fight have shown improvements in physical and cognitive functioning. Sloan says that virtual reality programs could make a big difference because they’re motivating for a lot of people. “It opens you up to a whole new, broader world that you can travel through so easily — without money or finances or ever leaving your home — and get an experience that is very social.”
In addition to visiting places and participating in experiences that may be inaccessible, virtual reality can also enable older people to explore familiar memories — such as visiting a childhood home or going to a place that no longer exists. Sloan points out that sessions like these can generate a strong emotional response. “Imagine someone who was in the Vietnam war, or they met the love of their life overseas somewhere and moved elsewhere, and are able to go back to that place through a virtual reality recreation of it. I would suspect that would be a very powerful emotional response.”
Other similar programs, such as researcher Kenta Toshima’s virtual reality travel and VR reminiscence therapy offered by companies such as Rendever or MyndVR, have helped older adults virtually visit places they wouldn’t otherwise be able to, and their results have demonstrated reductions in anxiety and loneliness and improvements in quality of life.
Barry Pendergast, a retired architect who works with AGE-WELL on improving quality of life for seniors shares a project he worked on in a long-term care facility in Calgary. The seniors were given VR headsets and shown 360-degree videos of local heritage sites in Calgary.
“In almost every case, it started a conversation and got people reminiscing. We found it actually started to bring back memories,” says Pendergast.
Olga Aleksandrova
Healthspan versus lifespan
While the health and psychosocial benefits of VR programs designed for older adults are unmistakable, drawing a clear link between these experiences and an increase in lifespan isn’t yet straightforward. Experiments like Ivanovitch’s need to be evaluated carefully to examine the tangible cognitive and physical changes the programs encourage.
One of the things to evaluate, according to Gutchess, is whether people perform better on memory or other cognitive tasks after having experiences with these VR programs. “Do you see cognitive improvements or reduced loss in cognitive ability over time?” she asks. “But seeing more immediate socio-emotional benefits, like decreased depression and anxiety scores, would be just as valuable as seeing cognitive benefits.” Looking at it in a different way that prioritizes healthspan (the length of time a person is healthy and not just alive) over lifespan might be more helpful, suggests Gutchess.
“One term that I found really helpful was this idea of healthspan — that we can keep people alive longer, but you want them to have rewarding, fulfilling lives by being able to do that.”
She continues, “We know feeling good is an important part of having a good life. So, I think the emotional changes and well-being in general would be an important, useful outcome of this type of work, but we could expect either direct or secondary effects on cognition, as well. Because depression and anxiety can affect cognition.”
Lifespan-extending or not, virtual reality certainly has immense potential for improving physical and mental health. Experiments and studies like Ivanovitch’s “Virtually Young” are critical to furthering our understanding of VR and the beneficial impacts it might hold for us as we age.