How happy are you? That’s a tricky question and there’s a lot that can impact your answer. According to a 2016 article in The Economist, these include factors like your financial status, health, relationships and education. One factor that might also have a big influence on your answer is your age. As a society, we tend to fear the aging process. How many times has someone older than you said, “never get old!” while discussing a health problem or issue with mental sharpness. However, as we age and start to lose certain traits from our youth, there are also traits we gain that can ultimately make us happier people.
The podcast The Measure of Everyday Life recently released an episode interviewing Jonathan Rauch (author of the book The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50) focusing on the topic of happiness and aging. In the episode, Mr. Rauch describes how our happiness doesn’t peak when we’re in our youth and then slowly decline for the remainder of our lives, it’s more of a curved “U” shape. For instance, people in the 20’s might have unrealistic expectations for how much happiness and satisfaction their goals and achievements will bring. As those goals are met and don’t bring the expected satisfaction, people in their 40’s tend to enter a downward spiral. However, as people move past their 40’s, their values start to change and begin to focus on core activities and relationships, which are more likely to bring people happiness. That dip in happiness during mid-life (commonly referred to as a mid-life crisis) is when we’re in the process of transitioning from ambition-based goals in our early life to connection-based goals in our later years.
The article in The Economist (linked earlier) also discusses the same “U” shaped happiness curve that people experience with age. The article discusses how people experience the least amount of happiness in their 40s and early 50s, but then picks back up. The authors propose this could be due to changes in people’s behavior as they get older, becoming better at conflict resolution, less likely to get angry, improved control of their emotions, and better at accepting misfortune. Further, older people are better at living in the present, focusing less on long-term goals and more on things that matter to them.
The Economist article also acknowledges that these are not blanket observations applicable to everyone. There’s a lot that can influence a person’s level of happiness, such as what time period they grew up in or their relationships with family members. However, the “U” shaped happiness curve is still present regardless of employment status, finances, or if someone has children. The authors make an important point that because this pattern exists broadly, “the growing happiness that follows middle-aged misery must be the result not of external circumstances but of internal changes.”
Another contributing factor to achieving happiness when aging might be maintaining positive expectations. The authors of an article in Gerontology & Geriatric Medicine surveyed 148 older adults ages 60+ years to examine how their expectations regarding aging influenced their physical activity and physical function. Results of the study suggested those adults with more positive expectations regarding aging (i.e. those who expected fewer health-related problems) were more physically active and also reported higher levels of physical function.
Aging = change and change is never easy; however, the prior idea that older people simply retire and fade into the background is no longer accurate. So, the next time you celebrate a birthday and start worrying about getting older, reflect back on this post and view aging as an opportunity to find more happiness. Then of course, go eat some cake.
Alexa Ortiz
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