Older is Better

Research has shown getting older could also mean getting happier. During 2016, research from the UK Office for National Statistics concluded the most joyful age bracket was 65-79.
The survey looked at more than 300,000 adults across the UK and found life satisfaction peaked at that age before declining over 80. However, those in their 40s were shown to be less happy and with the highest levels of anxiety.

In a blog post on Psychology Today, Dr. Romeo Vitelli says that happiness can be a tricky thing to define. It can mean the kind of joy that only occurs at key moments in our lives, or it can simply be the amount of positive emotion we happen to feel at any given time. There appears to be an upswing as we get older.

A United States research project found happiness was relatively stable for people in their mid-20s to late 30s, then it declined during the 40s and slowly rose to a peak from 60 to 69 years old.

It is all relative, and there is no set rule for how happy anyone will be at certain times in life. I believe, regardless of age, you can be as happy as you choose to be.

Life Span vs. Life Expectancy

There are two kinds of life span. One is maximum life span, the greatest age reached by any member of a species. In humans this is currently about 120 years. (The oldest confirmed recorded age for any human is 122 years). The other is average life span, the average age reached by members of a population.

Life expectancy is the number of remaining years an individual can expect to live, based on his or her current age and average life spans. Life expectancy generally quoted is the ''at birth'' number which is an average that includes all the babies that die before their first year of life as well as people that die from disease, war, etc. For example, the Life Expectancy table at the University of Texas shows ''at birth'' the life expectancy was 25, but at the age of 5 it jumped to 48. So life expectancy changes with your age.

Mozambique has the lowest life expectancy for its population at 39.2. Japan is the highest at 82.7 and the US is 38th at 78.2 years.

Look Young, Die Old

A study published December, 2009 in the British Medical Journal reports that longer survival of 1,826 twins correlated with the “perceived age” of the subjects. Perceived age was significantly associated with survival, even after adjustment for chronological age, sex, and environment. The bigger the difference in perceived age within a pair, the more likely that the older looking twin died first.

The study began in 2001 and concluded in 2008. There are a variety of factors which are instrumental, including smoking status, body mass index, and sun exposure. 

Physicians traditionally compare perceived and chronological age, and for adult patients the expression "looking old for your age" is an indicator of poor health. The study indicates that this practice, which has existed for centuries, is actually a useful clinical approach especially given that in a clinical setting perceived age is based on an array of indicators in addition to facial appearance. The next time someone says 'you look good for your age', make sure they know how old you really are.