“It could be that there are environmental changes,” Arthur A. Stone- lead author of the survey. Or, it could be psychological changes, the way we see the world or brain chemistry.
The results published online, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shed light on
the aging process.
At 18, people have high hopes, feel good. Life shows whose boss, throws hard-balls. Those good feelings decline until age 50.
Happiness increases at age 50. At age 85, people have more happiness than they had at age 18.
Researchers measured well being. They found that stress levels goes down from age 22, and arrives at its lowest point at age 85. Worry is constant until age 50, and it drops.
Anger lessens from 18, peaks at 50 and goes down at 73. There’s a small increase to 85.
Enjoyment and happiness lowers as people reach 50, climbs for 25 years, declines little.
“It’s a very encouraging fact that we can expect
to be happier in our early 80s than we were in our
20s,” Andrew J. Oswald- professor of psychology at Warwick Business School in England.
The findings posed more questions that require more study, says Dr. Stone, Professor of psychology at the State
University of New York Stony Brook.