5 ms·

People 'get happier as they age'

8 points by mgcreed 17y ago

yannis 17y ago
What happened to grumpy old men?
- inovica 17y ago
  Well, I suspect they're happy in their grumpiness. I know a few old (and grumpy people) like my father in law. He loves being grumpy :)
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
- Alex3917 17y ago
  People tend to vastly underestimate the effect that emotions have on physical health. Chronic depression, anger, and stress are basically the equivalent of an all bacon diet. Probably far worse for your health than being morbidly obese. The reason there are no angry or stressed old people is that they're all dead. There is a bunch of scientific research about this in Emotional Intelligence, if you're looking for cites. (And Malcolm Gladwell opens his newest book talking about this as well.)
  - nostrademons 17y ago
    "The reason there are no angry or stressed old people is that they're all dead." I'm not so sure of this. My grandmother lived to the ripe old age of 92, yet for the last 25ish years of her life was depressed, lethargic, and generally a drain on everyone around her. Similarly, my dad is now 70 and has been sure that the world is about to end for the last 15 years. Makes me a little depressed to think that genetically speaking, I'll probably live a long and unhappy life. :-) I think it's more that depressed old people tend not to get off the couch, i.e. you won't see them at senior centers, they don't participate in studies, and you will generally have little cause to interact with them.
- timcederman 17y ago
  That bit is caused by the increasing loss of self-control for politeness. Wish I could find the reference to the New Scientist article which discusses it...
gojomo 17y ago
It does not appear the Carstensen survey controlled for the many ways unhappy people deselect themselves from the old-age pool, by dying early. (It's unclear whether the Charles review considered this, either.) There is plenty of evidence from other research that "happy people live longer". Because of this quite-literal "survivor bias", these reports provide essentially no evidence that "less-happy people become happier as they age".
- michael_dorfman 17y ago
  I was thinking that it wasn't so much that "people get happier as they age", as much as "old people can't be arsed to write down in a journal every pissy thought that occurs to them".
dimitar 17y ago
Now, do IT people, especially programmers get happier as they age?
- dan_the_welder 17y ago
  I hear they start to drop more packets.
asdlfj2sd33 17y ago
When you're a teen you're either extremely idealistic and deeply troubled or extremely idealistic and happy, either way exciting times. Your 20s are a weird transitional period between that and adulthood. Your 30s, your adulthood, for the wast majority of us, you're finally coming to terms with the fact that you will NOT be just like James Bond, or Michal Jordan, or Michal Jackson, that you will in fact be perfectly ordinary. This sucks hard, but you're an adult now and quite possibly may even already be responsible for your own family. So most of us adjust. And when you're old, you wake up realize you're not dead yet, and that right there puts you in a good mood.
- electromagnetic 17y ago
  I think happiness is generally linked to independence too. When you're a teen, you're generally forced to do what your parents wish and as you get older your independence (again generally) increases. When you're in your 20's you're stepping into complete independence, the adapting can be stressful and for most people you budget isn't exactly large. When you're in your 30's you have full independence, at least until you have children. When you're finally in your 50's, your kids have probably moved out or fully take care of themselves, your budget is quite spacious now there's likely only 2 people in your household. You now get to do pretty much what you want when you want and the money you used to spend on kids can now either be spent on vacations or luxuries and hobbies you rarely got to indulge in when you was 20/30.
- ryanwaggoner 17y ago
  Your 30s, your adulthood, for the wast majority of us, you're finally coming to terms with the fact that you will NOT be just like James Bond, or Michal Jordan, or Michal Jackson, that you will in fact be perfectly ordinary. Fuck that. Your life is what you make it. If you want an ordinary life, make ordinary life choices. But if you want something more, it's not like it's impossible. I mean, come on, living an extraordinary life is why many of us on HN are starting companies, right?
  - asdlfj2sd33 17y ago
    I think most people start companies to gain freedom and independence. Money does not automatically make you extraordinary, millionaires are fairly ordinary.

8 points by mgcreed 17y ago

yannis 17y ago

What happened to grumpy old men?

inovica 17y ago
Well, I suspect they're happy in their grumpiness. I know a few old (and grumpy people) like my father in law. He loves being grumpy :)
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
Alex3917 17y ago
People tend to vastly underestimate the effect that emotions have on physical health. Chronic depression, anger, and stress are basically the equivalent of an all bacon diet. Probably far worse for your health than being morbidly obese. The reason there are no angry or stressed old people is that they're all dead. There is a bunch of scientific research about this in Emotional Intelligence, if you're looking for cites. (And Malcolm Gladwell opens his newest book talking about this as well.)
- nostrademons 17y ago
  "The reason there are no angry or stressed old people is that they're all dead." I'm not so sure of this. My grandmother lived to the ripe old age of 92, yet for the last 25ish years of her life was depressed, lethargic, and generally a drain on everyone around her. Similarly, my dad is now 70 and has been sure that the world is about to end for the last 15 years. Makes me a little depressed to think that genetically speaking, I'll probably live a long and unhappy life. :-) I think it's more that depressed old people tend not to get off the couch, i.e. you won't see them at senior centers, they don't participate in studies, and you will generally have little cause to interact with them.
timcederman 17y ago
That bit is caused by the increasing loss of self-control for politeness. Wish I could find the reference to the New Scientist article which discusses it...

gojomo 17y ago

It does not appear the Carstensen survey controlled for the many ways unhappy people deselect themselves from the old-age pool, by dying early. (It's unclear whether the Charles review considered this, either.) There is plenty of evidence from other research that "happy people live longer". Because of this quite-literal "survivor bias", these reports provide essentially no evidence that "less-happy people become happier as they age".

michael_dorfman 17y ago
I was thinking that it wasn't so much that "people get happier as they age", as much as "old people can't be arsed to write down in a journal every pissy thought that occurs to them".

dimitar 17y ago

Now, do IT people, especially programmers get happier as they age?

dan_the_welder 17y ago
I hear they start to drop more packets.

asdlfj2sd33 17y ago

When you're a teen you're either extremely idealistic and deeply troubled or extremely idealistic and happy, either way exciting times. Your 20s are a weird transitional period between that and adulthood. Your 30s, your adulthood, for the wast majority of us, you're finally coming to terms with the fact that you will NOT be just like James Bond, or Michal Jordan, or Michal Jackson, that you will in fact be perfectly ordinary. This sucks hard, but you're an adult now and quite possibly may even already be responsible for your own family. So most of us adjust. And when you're old, you wake up realize you're not dead yet, and that right there puts you in a good mood.

electromagnetic 17y ago
I think happiness is generally linked to independence too. When you're a teen, you're generally forced to do what your parents wish and as you get older your independence (again generally) increases. When you're in your 20's you're stepping into complete independence, the adapting can be stressful and for most people you budget isn't exactly large. When you're in your 30's you have full independence, at least until you have children. When you're finally in your 50's, your kids have probably moved out or fully take care of themselves, your budget is quite spacious now there's likely only 2 people in your household. You now get to do pretty much what you want when you want and the money you used to spend on kids can now either be spent on vacations or luxuries and hobbies you rarely got to indulge in when you was 20/30.
ryanwaggoner 17y ago
Your 30s, your adulthood, for the wast majority of us, you're finally coming to terms with the fact that you will NOT be just like James Bond, or Michal Jordan, or Michal Jackson, that you will in fact be perfectly ordinary. Fuck that. Your life is what you make it. If you want an ordinary life, make ordinary life choices. But if you want something more, it's not like it's impossible. I mean, come on, living an extraordinary life is why many of us on HN are starting companies, right?
- asdlfj2sd33 17y ago
  I think most people start companies to gain freedom and independence. Money does not automatically make you extraordinary, millionaires are fairly ordinary.