Happiness and age, who knew?

Academics get research grants for many great ideas and we advance the knowledge base of mankind through these research grants. However, there are times when I wonder how or why funding for some grants is approved. Having said that, I find it interesting that experts from Princeton University and the London School of Economics and Political Sciences found that happiness peaks at the ages of 23 and 69.

That may be older than many of you, but it is an age that I have passed and I still am happy, I guess I was also happy at 69 because as we all know happiness does not drop off a cliff and end suddenly!

How did the researchers arrive at their conclusions? Well, they questioned 23,000 volunteers, aged 17 to 85.  The researchers believe these ages are the happiest for us a number of reasons. The three top reasons are:

At 23, you:

have left rigours of education behind.

are embarking on an exciting adult life. 

are earning income.

At 69, you

no longer have the stresses of raising a family.

have retirement to look forward and it represents a new start.

have time for yourself.

I don’t write for 23-year-old adults, I write for the 55+ age group, some of whom are approaching or are over 69. So, my question to that age group is what do you need to do now to ensure that your future is bigger (better, happier, more fulfilling) than your past? Here are some of my ideas

First, create a written retirement plan. It will reduce stress and make you feel better, and more confident about your future.

No matter how tough your circumstances, work and find one little glimmer of hope and happiness. Focus on that. Foster it. And, you’ll probably find that the little spot of goodness will get bigger.

Nurturing your relationships with friends and family and creating new friends has been proven in study after study to be the secret of not only a happy life — but also a longer life.  Loneliness is as big a predictor of an earlier death as smoking!

Have a Purpose: Giving back and feeling part of a community are well recognized as being keys to happiness — especially in old age.

Harvard University’s landmark study of ageing well, found that “generativity” (giving back and participating in your community) tripled the chances that someone would feel joy throughout their seventies.

Do you talk or think about your death? 

My friends and I were talking at the pub about the end of life, as within the last few days, we had five friends who had died. One of my friends said, “we need to think and talk about death more. I think it is important and life-affirming.”

Do you think about death? If you do there is an app just for you? It is called “WeCroak.”  It will send you an alert at 5 random times throughout the day that says, “You are going to die.”

The WeCroak creators say, “a regular practice of contemplating mortality helps us accept what we must, let go of things that don’t matter and honour the things that do.” And, finding happiness by contemplating your mortality is a scientifically backed technique.

My friend and the folks at WeCroak may believe this but there are well over 200 experiments, where individuals have been instructed to imagine themselves dying. In these studies, it was found that if we think about our death, we become more punitive. Thinking about death also increases our nationalistic bias, makes us more prejudiced against other racial, religious and age groups, and leads to other such parochial attitudes.

Taken together, these dozens of studies show that being reminded of death strengthens our ties to the groups we belong to, to the detriment of those who are different from us.

Reminders of death also affect our political and religious beliefs in interesting ways. On the one hand, they polarise us: political liberals become more liberal while conservatives become more conservative. Similarly, religious people tend to assert their beliefs more fervently while nonreligious.

Another study out of the University of Missouri found that thoughts of death can lead to decreased militaristic attitudes, better health decisions, increased altruism and helpfulness, and reduced divorce rates.

"According to terror management theory, people deal with their awareness of mortality by upholding cultural beliefs and seeking to become part of something larger and more enduring than themselves, such as nations or religions," said Jamie Arndt, study co-author and professor of psychological sciences. "Depending on how that manifests itself, positive outcomes can be the result.

This research proves that there are two sides to every coin and a glass is always either half full or half empty.  You get to choose what to focus on and focusing on the positive is a sure-fire way to feel happier.