A new study shows that we become happier with age
The researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine concluded that the older we get, the happier we become. So, if you are stressed out right now, don’t worry, better things are yet to come.
This aging paradox, considering extra years are connected to illness and frailty, revealed that our appreciation of life increases as we age. However, the phenomenon happens steadily during our lives from adulthood on. The conclusion unmasks the belief that seniors are by default irritable and depressive.
The team examined the physical and mental health of 1,546 adults aged between 21 to 100 years old who were randomly chosen from San Diego County.
The older individuals appeared to win out over the young when it came to mental health measures such as low levels of stress, depression, and anxiety and satisfaction with life. Participants described feeling better about themselves and their lives decade after decade.
In contrast, the youngest, aged in their 20s and 30s appeared to have the roughest, while other younger participants reported symptoms of depression, higher levels of stress, and anxiety.
It has been broadly considered that the mental health of older people reflects their worsening physical and cognitive function. Moreover, aging has been described as a continuous process of physical and cognitive deterioration with little debate about mental health besides the context of decline.
Some researchers have described a U-shaped curve of well-being across the lifespan, with drops from early adulthood to middle age. However, they are then accompanied by an improvement in later adulthood.
The inferior limit of mental health begins during middle age, roughly 45 to 55. This mid-life dip wasn’t found in well-being.
As one might expect, the older participants did display worsened physical and cognitive functioning than the younger individuals in the study. However, this could only raise the question: why do senior citizens seem happier than the young?
Researchers believe that with age, we change our focus in life. This method should help us find higher satisfaction from simple, achievable things.
When you center your attention on emotionally meaningful goals, life becomes better. The negative emotions appear to be less common, and you manage to feel better. However, the study doesn’t deny the fact that well-being could also arise from the wisdom that occurs with age or the management of the complex social decisions.
Image source: Wikipedia
Deborah Campbell
