GOOD NEWS For the average adult the three decades from age 45 to 75 are years of increasing happiness. British researchers have found that age 74 is the happiest time of life in a survey of 21,000 folks living in Great Britain. *
The findings in Britain parallel research on marital satisfaction in the United States. Marital satisfaction declines steadily until midlife, and then increases and can surpass levels in early marriage as couples grow older together.
Perhaps in the second half of life we are not as burdened with problems and responsibilities. The intense demands of family and career in middle life tend to give way to more personal freedom. Increasingly we are able to attend more directly to things we personally enjoy. As we grow older we can take time to look at the positive aspects of our lives. Increased financial resources can be counted on the positive side. More attention to emotional relationships, children becoming independent adults, grand children, all these can also contribute to a wholesome awareness of the positive in life.
Not that everything is honey and roses as we get older, but it is reassuring to realize that our sense of happiness and well-being can increase from middle age. And as we follow the advice of the old song and “accentuate the positive” perhaps our smiles will become broader and more frequent, and our enjoyment of life more intense, even as our hair lines recede, and chins sag a bit.