Age Wise

Why Older People Are So Much Happier

Once the slump of midlife is in the rearview, life opens up

Robert Roy Britt

Aug 4·5 min read

Happiness is often depicted as a U-shaped or J-shaped curve, slumping in middle age and rising higher than ever later in life. Image by the author

Midlife can be miserable. You know it. I know it. Surveys show it. The pressures of raising a family, finding or keeping a job, paying the bills, dealing with emerging aches and pains — it all adds up.