On average, people in the United States are happiest and most satisfied with their lives when they're young, experience a decline in both metrics in their 40s (often called a midlife crisis), and then rebound in their 60s.
In one large study from the Brookings Institute, for example, scientists found happiness was high for 18- to 21-year-olds and then dropped steadily until about age 40. But past middle age, the pattern began to reverse—gradually climbing back up to its highest point at age 98!
The most unhappy time of your life is your forties, according to a phenomenon known as the “u-shaped” curve which states that happiness bottoms out around your forties then trends back up as you grow older.
Starting at age 18, your happiness level begins to decrease, reaching peak unhappiness at 47.2 in developed countries and 48.2 in developing countries. The good news is that happiness levels then gradually increase.
National Well-Being.
Across Europe and the United States, unhappiness reached its peak in the late forties, specifically at the age of 49 years. In general, unhappiness followed a hill-shaped curve across the lifespan. Thus, young children start out with rather low unhappiness which increases until the age of 49 years.
Brain-body changes can cause depression that occurs for the first time later in life. If blood flow is restricted, blood vessels may stiffen and reduce normal flow to the brain over time.
There are many reasons to feel joy in our older years. But with all the changes happening as we age, it's okay — and normal — to feel sad sometimes too. “As we grow older, many of us struggle with isolation and loneliness,” explains Frank Sileo, PhD.
According to a study published in the Social Indicators Research journal, we're the happiest between the ages of 30-34, and midlife (our 40s and 50s) is not perceived as the least happy period in life.
Looking first at self-reports of ongoing stress, we found that people experience a sharp increase in stress levels in their late twenties and early thirties. Stress levels increase more moderately during the thirties and forties, remain steady for about 20 years, and then drop sharply as retirement comes around.
A Dartmouth economist has pegged what he claims is the most miserable age: 47.2 years old. A new study by David Blanchflower, collecting data about well-being and age from 132 countries, suggests that for people in developed nations, the “happiness curve” reaches its perigee at precisely 47.2 years.
The middle of life may be a time of unhappiness and stress.
At least, that's the implication of a new survey of 2,000 people from U.K. theater chain Cineworld, which found that life is “least fun” at age 45. Additionally, more than half of people say that finding fun in everyday life gets harder the older you get.
Research shows that many people report being happier in their 50s and 60s. Here's why. At this point, many studies have examined how your overall sense of happiness (or what psychologists sometimes call “well-being,” because that sounds more scientific) changes over the course of your life.
When it comes to feeling your best, a new study finds that 27-year-olds are in the prime of their lives. But if you're past that youthful age, fret not!-- the study also found that you worry less about your appearance as you grow older.
On a scale of 1 to 3, where 1 represents “not too happy” and 3 means “very happy,” Americans on average give themselves a 2.18 — just a hair above “pretty happy.” That's a significant decline from the nation's peak happiness, as measured by the survey, of the early 1990s.
A slow depression then appears to set in. By the age of 35-39 average self-reported happiness falls to 5.09 points. Once people hit 40 their depression gradually lifts. At the age of 70 an individual's self-reported happiness rises to 5.58 points, on average.
Older parents are generally less at risk for depression than younger ones. Parents still in their early 20s appear to have the hardest time because they are struggling with their own move from adolescence to adulthood while at the same time learning to be parents.
These little ones are developing their language, memory and imagination, and it's a time of discovery, as parents begin to see their kid's personality shine. It's also a time when both kids and parents struggle with unpredictability, expectations and boundary setting, particularly in uncertain situations.
The Most Difficult Age For Any Man is Probably Between 24 and 29, The Pressure To Be Something, To Be someone is So Immense. When everyone seems to be doing something for themselves, people seem to be living a life you only dream of.
The level of happiness and optimism of respondents in their 70s “was far higher than we expected,” Wertheimer told me. Happiness now spikes in your 70s, generally speaking, according to the survey: 90% of respondents in their 70s said they were happy, compared with 81% in their 60s and 80% in their 40s.
Some older adults simply give up their interests over time because they stop finding pleasure in things. This could be due to a psychological condition that is referred to as anhedonia. In some cases, anhedonia may manifest itself as a lack of motivation to do things, or general apathy.
Aside from changes in the brain that impact inhibitory control and social cognition, it could simply be that as we get older, we care less about what others think. Compared to younger adults, older adults are less self-conscious, reporting fewer experiences of emotions such as shame, guilt, and embarrassment.