Happiness peaks in old age, according to Lewis Wolpert, emeritus—i.e., old—professor of biology at University College London, whose new book is about getting old. Wolpert's book gets a writeup in The Daily Telegraph, which cites a psychologist at UCL to write:
[E]lderly people today benefit from better health and opportunities now than 30 years ago, adding that good health and a secure income were "very important" in old age. Research also indicates that, while ageing can cause the weakening of some abilities such as mathematics, others such as language and decision making improve as the brain matures. In addition, psychologists believe that in old age we become more selective with how we use our time, focusing more on doing things we enjoy and cutting out parts of life that make us unhappy.
Now, far be it from us to disparage the conclusions of the Telegraph, whose readership skews rather old, especially since the paper has covered similar research before. And indeed, there are many rad things about being old, such as wearing sneakers all the time. But! If people who are older are, in fact, happier than the rest of us, it may be because they are that much closer to shuffling, as they say, off this mortal coil.
Or, sure, it's because they're bad at math now. Either way, I better be really happy in 60 years.
[Telegraph; image via Shutterstock]