An article in
Consumer Reports on Health found there are some things that actually get better
with age:
1. You get
wiser. This one seems
intuitively obvious to me, but as I once heard a researcher say, “If you can’t
measure something, it doesn’t exist.” Research conducted by the Universities of
Texas and Michigan found that significantly more older people ranked in the top
20% in wisdom performance and the group with an average age of 65 consistently
outperformed younger participants.
Maybe there’s some truth
to the joke about parents seeming to get smarter as their kids get older.
2. You have
fewer difficult emotions. A
Gallup survey found that people in their 70s and 80s reported less stress,
worry and anger than younger respondents. I found it curious that stress peaks
at age 25 and steadily declines, dropping rapidly from 60 to 73. I guess that
leaves me something to look forward to in a couple of years.
3. You become
happier. This was a
surprise, especially given my projection that increasing aches and pains
probably increase unhappiness. Again, the devil is in the definition of
happiness. I suggest that we often equate happiness with well-being, which can
be broken into three segments: physical, emotional, and financial.
A study by Stanford
and Tufts University professors said that aging is actually associated with
increased emotional well-being. The article didn’t mention physical and
financial well-being. Based on my experience, I expect that physical well-being
decreases with age and financial well-being is dependent upon a complex host of
variables.
4. Your marriage
gets better. The Journal of
Social and Personal Relationships found that older couples experience greater
satisfaction and positive experiences with each other. The report also says
happily married older people have better health, quality of life, and
relationships with their children and friends.
I think that is
another one of those intuitively obvious facts that researchers still feel they
must validate.
5. Your relationships
get deeper and richer.
While younger people have more friends, the quality of older people’s
relationships becomes richer. A study done by Case Western Reserve University
found that volunteering was the most consistent predictor of cognitive well-being
in people over age 72.
Plan Financially
Even with all these
positives, old age isn’t exactly something to look forward to. Yet it doesn’t
mean our golden years will necessarily be overridden with tarnish and rust.
Living a healthy
lifestyle and planning financially for retirement can certainly help make aging
more comfortable. And clearly, aging is better than the alternative of not
being around to grow old.
