- The behavioral economist Andrew Oswald found that from about the time we are teenagers, our sense of happiness starts to decline, hitting rock bottom in our mid-40s (middle-age crisis, anyone?). Then our sense of happiness miraculously starts to go up again rapidly as we grow older.
- All in all, Oswald tested a half million people in 72 countries, in both developing and developed nations.
- And it’s not only we humans who slump in the middle and feel sunnier toward the end. Just recently, Oswald and colleagues demonstrated that even chimpanzees and orangutans appear to experience a similar pattern of midlife malaise.
- Women hit happiness-bottom at 38.6 years on average, whereas men do more than a decade later, at nearly 53.
Source: Brainpickings.org – Life Cycle Of Happiness