Age Wise

Why Older People Are So Much Happier

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

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.