The aging paradox: The older we get, the happier we are

[cronus]

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencen ... story.html

The aging paradox: The older we get, the happier we are

Believe it or not, there are upsides to getting older.

Yes, your physical health is likely to decline as you age. And unfortunately, your cognitive abilities like learning new skills and remembering things is likely to suffer too.

But despite such downsides, research suggests that your overall mental health, including your mood, your sense of well-being and your ability to handle stress, just keeps improving right up until the very end of life.

Consider it something to look forward to.

In a recent survey of more than 1,500 San Diego residents aged 21 to 99, researchers report that people in their 20s were the most stressed out and depressed, while those in their 90s were the most content.

There were no dips in well-being in midlife, and no tapering off of well-being at the end of life.

Instead scientists found a clear, linear relationship between age and mental health: The older people were, the happier they felt.

“The consistency was really striking,” said Dilip Jeste, director of the UC San Diego Center for Healthy Aging and senior author of the study. “People who were in older life were happier, more satisfied, less depressed, had less anxiety and less perceived stress than younger respondents.”

The results were published Wednesday in the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Experts on the psychology of aging say the new findings add to a growing body of research that suggests there are emotional benefits to getting older.

“In the literature it’s called the paradox of aging,” said Laura Carstensen, director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, who was not involved in the work. “How can it be that given the many well-documented losses that occur with age, we also see this improvement in emotional well-being?”

As it happens, Carstensen does not think this is a paradox at all.

In her own work, she has found evidence that people’s goals and reasoning change as they come to appreciate their mortality and recognize that their time on Earth is finite.

“When people face endings they tend to shift from goals about exploration and expanding horizons to ones about savoring relationships and focusing on meaningful activities,” she said. “When you focus on emotionally meaningful goals, life gets better, you feel better, and the negative emotions become less frequent and more fleeting when they occur.”

The authors of the new work also suggest that improved mental health in old age could be due to the wisdom people acquire as they grow older.

(continued)

[mistermack]

Psychologists are full of shit.

There is no paradox at all, if you look at it from an evolutionary perspective. But any hint of an evolutionary aspect to psychology is as taboo as questioning man made global warming.

But look at supposed paradoxes like this, and evolution explains it perfectly.
When you are young, it pays it strive and fight for a greater share of what's going, if you are an ape living in a troop. The more you want things, and assert yourself, and the less you are satisfied with your lot, the more likely you and your offspring will prosper, and survive in hard times.
But as you get older, it gets less wise to fight or compete with younger stronger troop members, because you're not so strong, and you don't recover so quick from injury. So those who become more mellow are more likely to survive longer, and be an asset to their offspring in their later years.

[Strontium Dog]

You lose brain cells as you age. Stupid people are happier = not news.

[laklak]

We old farts don't sweat the small stuff. Got a zit on your face? At least it's not melanoma. Having a bit of a problem with your knee? Chuck down the street had a stroke and is now a drooling vegetable. Some poor bastard gets shot by the cops for stealing a loaf of bread? You've obviously mistaken me for somebody who gives a fuck. It's all a question of attitude.

Just remember, the road to happiness begins with 4 little words - Not My Fucking Problem.

[DaveDodo007]

http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencen ... story.html

The aging paradox: The older we get, the happier we are

Believe it or not, there are upsides to getting older.

Yes, your physical health is likely to decline as you age. And unfortunately, your cognitive abilities like learning new skills and remembering things is likely to suffer too.

But despite such downsides, research suggests that your overall mental health, including your mood, your sense of well-being and your ability to handle stress, just keeps improving right up until the very end of life.

Consider it something to look forward to.

In a recent survey of more than 1,500 San Diego residents aged 21 to 99, researchers report that people in their 20s were the most stressed out and depressed, while those in their 90s were the most content.

There were no dips in well-being in midlife, and no tapering off of well-being at the end of life.

Instead scientists found a clear, linear relationship between age and mental health: The older people were, the happier they felt.

“The consistency was really striking,” said Dilip Jeste, director of the UC San Diego Center for Healthy Aging and senior author of the study. “People who were in older life were happier, more satisfied, less depressed, had less anxiety and less perceived stress than younger respondents.”

The results were published Wednesday in the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Experts on the psychology of aging say the new findings add to a growing body of research that suggests there are emotional benefits to getting older.

“In the literature it’s called the paradox of aging,” said Laura Carstensen, director of the Stanford Center on Longevity, who was not involved in the work. “How can it be that given the many well-documented losses that occur with age, we also see this improvement in emotional well-being?”

As it happens, Carstensen does not think this is a paradox at all.

In her own work, she has found evidence that people’s goals and reasoning change as they come to appreciate their mortality and recognize that their time on Earth is finite.

“When people face endings they tend to shift from goals about exploration and expanding horizons to ones about savoring relationships and focusing on meaningful activities,” she said. “When you focus on emotionally meaningful goals, life gets better, you feel better, and the negative emotions become less frequent and more fleeting when they occur.”

The authors of the new work also suggest that improved mental health in old age could be due to the wisdom people acquire as they grow older.

(continued)

It is probably more to do with not caring about peer pressure. The older you are they more you don't give a fuck about what you say and long may it continue.

[DaveDodo007]

You lose brain cells as you age. Stupid people are happier = not news.

This shows a great ignorance of neurology.

We have about 100 billion brain cells (neurons), and one trillion, support cells (glia) that help the neurons. Most of the loss of brain cells that you lose is glia cells that are support cells which are dying, some of it is because the neurons are shrinking though not dying, and some of it is that the neurons lose some of their insulation myelin, which makes them slower, but doesn't cause them to die. So only 5% of any loss you will have are neurons and that isn’t a great deal considering what you started with.
You lose about 9,000 neurons a day. The rest is just support glia cells (95%.) This is not a lot considering what you started out with and you never used because you had a surplus. The brain ( neurons) are metabolically expensive for the brain to maintain. Thus, in order for a neuron to stay alive and avoid apoptosis it needs to keep getting inputs from and sending signals to other neurons. It needs to keep being useful or the body gets rid of it. It’s about efficiency and optimizing what you have and is part of your healthy brain functionality.