Old age may not sound exciting. But recent findings offer good news for older people and for people who worried about getting older.
Researchers found that people become happier and experience less worry after they reach the age of 50. In fact, they said, by the age of 85, people are happier with their life than they were when they were 18 years old.
The findings came from a survey of more than 340,000 adults in the US. The Gallup Organization questioned them by telephone in 2008. At that time, the people were between the ages of 18 and 85.
The researchers asked questions about emotions(情绪)like happiness, sadness and worry. They also asked about mental(精神)or emotional stress.
Arthur Stone in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University in New York led the study. His team found that levels of stress were highest among adults between the ages of 22 and 25.
The findings showed that stress levels dropped sharply after people reached their fifties. Happiness was highest among the adults who are in their seventies and eighties.
The study also showed that men and women have similar emotional things as they grow older. However, women at all ages reported more sadness, stress and worry than men.
The findings appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Researchers said they didn't know why happiness increases as people get older. One theory is that, as people grow older, they grow more thankful for what they have and have better control of their emotions. They also spend less time thinking about bad experiences.
