14 DAY TRIAL // According to a new scientific study conducted on seniors in their mid-90s, it would appear that older people tend to be happier as the years pass, despite mounting health problems, financial issues, stress and pain caused by the death of loved ones. The psychologists in charge of the study determined that seniors tend to make the best of the time they have left, and that they also have a tendency to avoid those situations that have the potential to make them feel sad or stressed, the BBC News informs.
The study was conducted in the United Kingdom, a country that has an aging population, and in which the number of people over 100 is expected to 30,000 by 2020. According to official estimates, the number of 85-year-olds will double within the next two decades, and the proportion of the population aged over 65 will jump to 25 percent. This trend is due to high living standards and improvements in health care, which ensure that seniors no longer succumb to what in the past were incurable illnesses.
Dr. Susan Turk Charles, who is a psychologist at the University of California in Irvine (UCI), believes that these trends should make UK residents a part of a happier society. After reviewing a large number of researches on happiness and age, she concluded that, generally, the wellbeing of UK residents was higher with old age, except, of course, for those patients suffering from mental illnesses, such as dementia and Alzheimer's.
“Based on work by Carstensen and her colleagues, we know that older people are increasingly aware that the time they have left in life is growing shorter. They want to make the best of it so they avoid engaging in situations that will make them unhappy. They have also had more time to learn and understand the intentions of others which helps them to avoid these stressful situations,” Charles says. She refers to the work done by Stanford University professor Dr. Laura Carstensen, which shows seniors less likely than young people to experience persistent negative moods.
“For many people, older age and later life is often looked upon with dread and worry. Far too many younger people assume that getting older is a process that will inevitably mean sickness, frailty and lack of mobility and greater dependence. However, this is far from the truth in very many cases. Many older people lead active, healthy lives enriched by experience and learning. This positive advantage can be brought to bear across so many aspects of daily life which – in turn – hugely benefits our aging society,” states Andrew Harrop, Age Concern and Help the Aged group head of public policy.
“It's vital that there is growing acceptance that just because someone is getting older, it doesn't mean they no longer have a significant contribution to make. This study is one of many which shows that later life can be a enormously positive experience,” he concludes.