Boomers Who Still Feel Mentally Young Share These 7 Habits That Have Nothing To Do With Diet Or Exercise Or Supplements

You know the type. They’re in their late 60s or 70s, and something about them just doesn’t match the number. It’s not that they look young—though some do. It’s that they feel young. There’s a flexibility to their thinking, a curiosity in their eyes, an engagement with the world that plenty of 40-year-olds have already lost.

This isn’t about supplements or workout routines or any of the usual longevity advice. Research on cognitive aging increasingly points to something less tangible: habits of mind that keep the brain plastic, curious, and connected long after retirement age.

The Boomers who stay mentally young aren’t doing anything dramatic. They’ve just maintained certain patterns that most people abandon somewhere along the way.

Related: 10 Things Middle-Class Boomers Take For Granted That Middle-Class Millennials Will Never Have

1. Stay genuinely curious about things they don’t understand

They didn’t stop learning when they stopped working. There’s always something they’re trying to figure out—a new technology, a historical period they knew nothing about, a skill they never had time for before. The subject almost doesn’t matter. What matters is the posture: leaning toward the unfamiliar rather than away from it.

Neuroplasticity research shows that learning new things—especially things that are genuinely challenging—creates new neural pathways at any age. The Boomers who feel young have never stopped being students. They’ve just changed what they’re studying.

The opposite habit is more common: deciding at some point that you know enough, that new things are for younger people, that your job now is to maintain rather than grow. That decision ages you faster than any number of birthdays.

2. Maintain friendships across generations

Their social circle isn’t exclusively other retirees. They have real relationships—not just polite acquaintances—with people in their 30s, 40s, 50s. They’re interested in what younger people are thinking and doing, not threatened by it or dismissive of it.

Social connection research shows that intergenerational friendships keep both parties mentally sharper. Younger friends bring exposure to new ideas, new language, new ways of seeing the world. The exchange goes both ways, but the mental flexibility required to maintain these friendships is itself a form of exercise.

Boomers who only talk to other Boomers end up in an echo chamber that reinforces a single, increasingly outdated worldview. Those who stay connected across ages keep encountering perspectives that challenge and stretch them.

3. Change their minds when evidence warrants it

They hold opinions, but loosely. When new information arrives, they actually update their thinking rather than defending what they already believed. They’ve said “I used to think X, but now I think Y” in the past year—maybe the past month.

Cognitive flexibility is one of the strongest predictors of mental aging. The brain that can revise its models stays young. The brain that calcifies around fixed beliefs ages regardless of what those beliefs are.

This doesn’t mean being wishy-washy or having no convictions. It means treating your current understanding as the best available rather than the final word. Mentally young Boomers are still refining their worldview. They haven’t declared it finished.

4. Pursue projects without deadlines

They’re working on something—a book, a garden, a restoration project, a family history—that has no external deadline and no extrinsic reward. They’re doing it because they want to, because it interests them, because the process itself is satisfying.

Research on intrinsic motivation shows that self-directed projects engage the brain differently than obligatory tasks. The planning, problem-solving, and sustained attention required keep cognitive pathways active in ways that passive consumption can’t.

The Boomers who feel old often describe having nothing to do. The ones who feel young have more projects than time. They’ve maintained the habit of building toward something.

5. Remain comfortable with uncertainty

They don’t need every question answered or every outcome predicted. They can sit with “I don’t know how this will turn out” without spiraling into anxiety or forcing premature closure. They’re comfortable with ambiguity.

Psychological research on uncertainty tolerance links this capacity to both mental health and cognitive flexibility. The ability to hold open questions without distress keeps the mind supple. The compulsion to resolve everything into certainty makes thinking rigid.

Mentally young Boomers haven’t figured everything out. They’re okay with that. They’re still living inside questions rather than defending answers.

6. Consume new culture, not just nostalgic culture

They watch new movies, read new books, listen to new music—not exclusively, but genuinely. They’re not stuck in the cultural moment of their 20s and 30s, convinced everything worth making has already been made.

This isn’t about abandoning what you love. It’s about staying open to what’s being created now. Research on creativity and aging shows that continued exposure to novel art and ideas keeps the mind engaged in ways that pure nostalgia doesn’t.

The Boomers who only rewatch old shows and relisten to old albums are essentially telling their brains that nothing new is worth processing. That signal matters. The brain responds by narrowing.

7. Talk about the future more than the past

Their conversations trend forward. They’re planning trips, anticipating events, wondering what’s next. The past appears in their stories, but it doesn’t dominate. They haven’t relocated their primary residence to memory.

Hope research shows that future orientation—having things to look forward to—is strongly correlated with both mental and physical health in older adults. The Boomers who feel young still have next chapters they’re curious about. They haven’t concluded that the interesting part of their life is behind them.

This is a choice, not a circumstance. You can be 75 and oriented toward what’s coming. You can be 55 and already eulogizing your best years.

Related: 7 Reasons Boomers Say They Hate Working With Gen Z (And Why They’re Kind Of Right)

None of these habits require money, mobility, or exceptional health. They don’t require abandoning who you are or pretending to be someone younger. They just require maintaining certain patterns of engagement that many people let atrophy.

The Boomers who feel mentally young haven’t found a secret. They’ve just refused to accept the invitation to stop growing. They’re still curious, still revising, still looking forward, still connecting with people who challenge them.

Age is a number. Feeling old is a set of habits. And habits, unlike numbers, can be changed.