You’ve probably heard that wisdom comes with age, and as you age you will find this to be true. Some experts believe that happiness also increases with age, while others believe that it decreases. The truth is that there are many factors that determine whether or not your happiness will increase as you age.
Can Age Make You Unhappy?
There are some very specific things that can actually decrease your happiness level as you age. The greatest factor is not health, as many people might expect, although health does play a role in happiness. The greatest factor seems to be loneliness. As you age, your family members and friends will begin to die. You might lose a spouse. You might even lose children, and this can play into being unhappy or just lonely.
Although health does not seem to be the biggest factor, it does matter. We more or less expect to experience health problems as we age. Our bodies simply cannot do the things that we once did – including favorite hobbies – and this can contribute to unhappiness.
Why Might Happiness Increase With Age?
While those factors that could decrease our happiness are going on, there are also factors that could actually increase our happiness. As we age, we find that we have more time to spend doing things that we enjoy. We also find that we are more patient with the world and the people in it.
Due to age, and the number of years that you’ve had to work and save, we often find that we have fewer financial difficulties as we age, which can contribute to happiness. On the flip side of this, however, is a reduction of income when we retire which could contribute to unhappiness in the even that we are not financially prepared for that reduction in income.
Will You Be Happier or Sadder When You Are Old?
There is no definitive answer to this question. Some people have the ability to remain happy, regardless of what is going on around them. These are the people who typically accept the fact that life is full of problems, and refusing to allow those problems to affect your overall happiness is the surest way to resolve those problems quickly.
With this type of attitude and an active lifestyle, the chances are greater that you will remain happy, and even increase your happiness as you age. However, if you do not have an active lifestyle, and you don’t live with the realization that problems are going to crop up fairly often, the chances are greater that your happiness will decrease as you age.
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