And you wonder why Mr. Crankypants is cranky? Because he’s 48, that’s why. A University of Warwick professor has done research showing that simply being middle-aged is depressing:
Using data on 2 million people, from 80 nations, researchers from the University of Warwick and Dartmouth College in the US have found an extraordinarily consistent international pattern in depression and happiness levels that leaves us most miserable in middle age…. The researchers found happiness levels followed a U shaped curve, with happiness higher towards the start and end of our lives and leaving us most miserable in middle age….
For the average person in the modern world, the dip in mental health and happiness comes on slowly, not suddenly in a single year. Only in their 50s do most people emerge from the low period. But encouragingly, by the time you are 70, if you are still physically fit then on average you are as happy and mentally healthy as a 20 year old. Link to press release.
This news bit comes via Will Shetterly, whose commenters point out that for some of us middle-aged folk, age 20 sucked too. For his part, Mr. C. wonders if the average 20 year old just doesn’t have enough experience to realize how depressing the world is — never questioning why it is we are all in this handbasket, nor asking where it is we are all going.
Bonjour, M. Crankypants!
Don’t be cranky. I tell you, mon ami, ze world she is a beautiful place. Go for a walk. Smell the roses. Oui. I know it is the winter. Pretend to smell the roses. Drink some lovely tea. Dip a madeleine into the tea. Then wait for the lovely memories to rise up, fully assembled. And, mon cher ami, stop reading the research. That is what is depressing you. Read poetry! Look at Art! Perhaps, also, mon ami…you need to sit in a cafe, watch the pretty French girls and boys, drink some nice wine and be very very happy that you are no longer 20. See how miserable they really are. 20? It is the age of foolishness. 48 and on? This is the age of wisdom. Oui.
M. M-M
Middle age is kicking my household’s collective rear ends as well.
Although my 20’s were exciting, they were somewhat unpredictable, and foggy and/or manic and almost always fraught. And I was wrong a LOT.
My 30’s were full of the mistaken hope that I might someday catch up on the interest on my college/seminary loans and start hitting the principle, and there was the fabulous falling in love with The One. And I was wrong sometimes.
But now, late 40’s, at the end of the work day we’re fried and just want to sleep. We often find the 20 somethings on reality tv a fine stand in for actually leaving the house, plus, then we get to go to sleep while the reality tv 20-somethings are still fighting.
And I’m still wrong sometimes, depending on if I’m disagreeing with The One, or someone else.
(And something like 40% of women have this terrible peri-menopausal thing called “dry mouth syndrome” which makes everything suck, and Nobody Warned Me. I’m just saying, count your testosterone stars for that one)
So although I haven’t gotten drunk in two decades, and don’t think my body could take it, I’m kinda wishing at least I had the oomph to stay out all night, or ride a mechanical bull, or eat at a 24 hour Denny’s while under the influence of some form of youthful indulgence.
But no. I come home, read the news, eat supper, blog a little maybe, bother the nephew about his homework, and go to bed.
T’is pitiful.
This twenty-seven year old sees the world for what it is, flawed.
It can be an awful place if you want to see only the awful things and rest assured, you’ll get a Greek chorus to back you up as well.
The human condition? Yeah. That’s a tough one.
Q: Where are we going?
Towards a point in time where we will have to sacrifice our individual thoughts towards a common mindset that benefits us all rather than ourselves as separate beings. Like it or not.
Q: What did we do to get this way?
Grow, expand, diversify, spread, demand, divide, conquer.
Repeat.
M. Merde-Merde — Alors, watching pretty French women would be magnifique, mais the job and the finances require no trips abroad, non, not even to Montreal. Merde indeed.
cranky cindy — Testosterone has its advantages at times.
Comrade Kevin — You optimist you.
You said:
For the average person in the modern world, the dip in mental health and happiness comes on slowly, not suddenly in a single year. Only in their 50s do most people emerge from the low period. But encouragingly, by the time you are 70, if you are still physically fit then on average you are as happy and mentally healthy as a 20 year old.
I say:
From the point of view of an 83 year old.
Been there – done all of that.
It starts to unravel when you reach 80 and realize that you no longer have the capabilities you had just a few years ago, and must reduce your activity. The really discouraging thing is the realization that I probably will not live long enough to witness our recovery from the horrible mess that the present leaders have created.
Dad — So let me get this straight — life is pretty good at 20, then it sucks, then you reach 70 and (if you’re lucky) it’s pretty good for about ten years, and then it sucks again. In short, if you live to be 90, you get maybe 11 good years.
You also write: “The really discouraging thing is the realization that I probably will not live long enough to witness our recovery from the horrible mess that the present leaders have created.” Well, as a 48-year-old, I don’t expect to live long enough to see this mess straightened out. And the level of debate in the current presidential primaries gives me little additional hope.