CAREGIVER CORNER
For the last several years, I have been watching, listening and talking to people between the ages of 50 and 103 about growing older.
Nearly everyone I run into—clients, friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances, strangers in the grocery store and doctor’s office, you name it—I’m listening and interested in how they view aging.
Here’s what I hear, most often from people in their 50s and 60s:
- I’m too old for ______
- I used to do _____, but not anymore
- Getting old isn’t easy
Contrast those phrases with what I typically hear from people in their mid-70s and older:
- Why not?
- I’m willing to try ______
- I just started doing _____
- I can help
- I would enjoy _____
Surveys and studies have documented the connection between age and what psychologists call emotional well-being. This is when a person consistently reports having more positive than negative feelings. Using this measure, researchers discovered that older adults are, overall, happier than younger people.
Happy Aging
A Fordham University study categorized more than 32,000 Americans in age groups and found that 38 percent of people 68 to 77 said they’re “very happy.” Younger adults were significantly less likely to report similar positive feelings.
In another recent study involving more than 10,000 people 45 and older, University of Southern Denmark researchers found that, although older adults were considerably less healthy than younger adults, they reported being happy with their lives.
Most middle-aged people have negative views about aging and associate growing older with loss: the loss of strength, abilities, good health, and appearance… The list goes on. As a result, they don’t connect aging with happiness. The surprising news is that researchers say older adults don’t see it that way at all. They’re happy—or at least happier—than they were when they were younger.
Surveys measuring life satisfaction find that happiness increases after middle age; this pattern shows up in studies throughout the world.
Referred to as the U-Shaped Happiness Curve, studies show that, on average, life satisfaction drops during midlife and begins rebounding around age 55, and continues to peak as we age.
Midlife generally is the most stressful period of our lives with work performance demands, caregiving stress, and anxious comparisons to peers and ideals. Studies show that stress peaks at midlife, followed by a mindset and emotional shift trending upward.
Researchers have found that older adults describe themselves as in good spirits despite hardships and physical decline. They’ve developed a habit of focusing on the positive, whether it’s from memories of a happy time in their lives or thinking about their present life. There has been much research to explain this positive outlook, including how the brain changes through aging. So far, experts are finding that happiness is a choice that older people make every day.
Each of us has different experiences in our lives, but in general, as we age, we tend to become more aware of small things in life that bring us great pleasure. We realize that less is more: less pressure, less stress to perform and conform. As a result, the later years of our lives often bring us more satisfaction, allowing us to become more of who we are, coupled with an understanding of what matters, and what doesn’t.
What a beautiful thing about aging. Why not look, try, and choose to see more positives each day, regardless of age? Getting older may not be physically easy but as we all know nothing worthwhile is.
