Middle age can be a miserable time, particularly for a certain cohort of Gen Xers who are struggling through divorce, a dead-end career, insufficient savings or overwhelming debt.
But David Blanchflower, a professor at Dartmouth College and former BoE policy maker, examined data across 132 countries to measure the relationship between wellbeing and age.
And what he found surprised him, according to Bloomberg.
Continue reading “Middle Age Misery Peaks At 47 For Most Americans, Study Finds”
Middle age is miserable.
At least, that’s the implication of a new survey of 2,000 people from U.K. theater chain Cineworld, which found that life is “least fun” at age 45. Additionally, more than half of people say that finding fun in everyday life gets harder the older you get.
Previous research supports the idea that middle age is rough. Data from the U.K.’s Office of National Statistics (ONS), which looked at the well-being of more than 300,000 adults over three years, found that people ages 40-59 were the least happy and most anxious. And a working paper distributed by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that there is “much evidence” that “humans experience a midlife psychological ‘low’.”
Continue reading “This is the exact age when the joy gets sucked out of your life”
We don’t peak in middle age, say the experts. So forget about the stereotypes and embrace change
Beware midlife! You will be prone to sudden, disruptive upheaval. Around the age of 50 your productivity, creativity and adaptability begin their inexorable decline. With them, happiness ebbs. Your best years are behind you. Naturally, your job, marriage and shattered aspirations are to blame. If you or someone important in your life shows symptoms of midlife restlessness, be alarmed! The dashboard is flashing red.
Everything in the paragraph you just read is inaccurate. True, midlife is a tricky and vulnerable time. But most of what people think they know about midlife crisis – beginning with the notion that it is a crisis – is based on harmful myths and outdated stereotypes. The truth is more interesting, and much more encouraging.
Continue reading “Midlife crisis? It’s a myth. Why life gets better after 50”
Guest Post by The Zman
Recently, the government has seen fit to dump a collection of hobos into my part of the ghetto. For a long time we were bum free, then one day we had four or five camping in shrubbery, behind buildings and so forth. One was completely insane, running into the street screaming at people. The others just look like men down on their luck, as we used to say. They stay out of the way and they don’t panhandle, at least as far as I can tell.