2023-07-25 00:31:00
>LA NACION>Health>Mind July 24, 202321:31
“Old age isn’t so bad when you consider the alternative. Stiffening of the joints, weakening of the muscles, loss of vision and clouding of memory, together with the modern world’s contempt for the elderly, seem like a fearsome prospect. However, humanity is wrong to fear aging”, said years ago Maurice Chevalierfamous French interpreter of musical films of the 1920s and 1930s and an emblematic figure of French culture of the 20th century, regarding the stigmatization that exists towards the passage of time.
Each person experiences in a different way what life is. But it is believed that the happiness follow a particular path. In general terms, and according to several investigations, satisfaction with life tends to start quite high and, as the years go by, it decreases until, in mid-adulthood, it reaches one of its lowest peaks; it is then, at the entrance to the third age that the pleasant sensations such as joy and happiness, rebound once more.
This is the conclusion reached in a research from the University of Warwick, UK entitled “Cross-cultural comparison of correlates of quality of life and health status: the Whitehall II Study (UK) and the Western New York Health Study (USA)”. To reach this hypothesis, the scholars analyzed the lifestyle of more than 10,000 American and English citizens and studied variables such as: the perception of general health, pain, the state of well-being or mental health and it was concluded that, despite suffering -In most cases- and physical decline, people feel happier as they age.
The study shows that the levels of stress, worry and anger decrease significantly as the participants pass the barrier of 50 years. In parallel, his levels of happiness and enjoyment of life increase. However, in the letter the specialists highlight that the only feeling they detected that does not follow a linear pattern and is unpredictable, is sadness.
An interesting fact to note regarding the research is that It had the participation of people from two countries that, precisely, are governed by different health and care systems for the elderly. Despite this, there were no differences in responses or observed participant behaviors.
Dr Saverio Stranges, who led the study at Warwick Medical School, together with Dr Kandala Ngianga-Bakwin, said in an interview with the British university: “It’s obvious that people’s physical quality of life deteriorates as they age, but the interesting thing is that the same does not happen with his mental well-being; instead of deteriorating, it increases”.
“We infer that this it might be because older adults have better coping skills or negative circumstances of life compared to younger people,” said the expert.
The study from the University of Warwick shows that the levels of stress, worry and anger decrease significantly as the participants pass the barrier of 50 yearsShutterstock
Other studies reached the same deductions. This is the case of the survey carried out in 2010 by the US National Academy of Sciences of 341,000 people; When analyzing the responses of the participants, the academics agreed that the enjoyment of life declines from the age of 30, reaches its worst state at 45 and, only following this age, it rises once more, reaching its highest point at 85 years.
“First of all you have to start with which is not happiness: it is not joy, it is not euphoria, it is not exaltation, nor is it an emotion. Happiness is a background state”warned Dr. Daniel López Rossetti in an interview conducted by LA NACION.
precisely, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) of the United Kingdom launched a investigation similar to those already mentioned in which he concluded that the state of well-being throughout a person’s life can be represented in a “U-shape”: there are peaks of happiness and satisfaction during childhood, youth and following age 50; conversely, it is in middle adulthood that the “worst years” occur and one is least happy.
“This study shows that as one grows, one is disappointed. Distressing situations appear, such as: being fired from work, separating, going through a bad economic moment and other factors that are associated with the prolongation of the discomfort, ”revealed Dr. López Rosetti.
In this way, according to the analysis of various institutions, it is only following the age of 50 that the “U” reaches its second peak of happiness. For what is this? As Dr. López Rosetti pointed out, people at that age begin to enjoy the results of everything they did in the last 30 years of their life and at the same time, they still take advantage – at least at a general level – of good physical and mental health to do so.
“Happiness not only makes people happy, it also makes them healthier,” he said in an interview. John WeinmanProfessor of Psychiatry at King’s College London and practitioner in charge of study how stress levels impacted the wound healing process of a group of volunteers. Dr. Weinman found that The wounds of the participants who were less stressed healed faster than those of those who were anxious or worried. In addition, Sheldon Cohen, a psychologist and director of the US Laboratory for the Study of Stress, Immunity, and Disease, infected volunteers with cold and flu viruses. To his surprise, Cohen found that those who were more satisfied with their lives were less likely to get sick, and if they did, they showed fewer symptoms of physical discomfort. Thus, it can be inferred that, although older people tend to be less healthy than young people, a positive state of mind can help them counteract their decline.
Regarding the period of intermediate adulthood in which the lowest mood states would appear, Gail Sheehyauthor of bestseller Transitions: The Crises Of Adulthood, highlights that around the age of 40, both men and women tend to fall into a crisis of aging and run out of time to achieve their goals and question life options. To this, psychologist Gonzalo Udaquiola responds: “This stage of discomfort is to be expected in most people and you have to know that It is not a condition that leads to a mental disorder such as depression or anxiety”. AND He adds that if one realizes that an acquaintance is going through this process, it can be useful to accompany them and help them find spaces that provide them with tools for personal development. “These are periods of expected change that for some can be taken as an opportunity,” she adds.
Finally, Dr. López Rosetti stressed that today, most adults they get stressed for reasons that are far removed from their imminent reality: situations that are not true, facts that have to do with fantasy/imagination or problems that are smaller than what is believed. “You have to sit down, analyze and separate fantasy from reality when judging a situation that is considered stressful”, he concluded.
An investigation shows that during childhood there is a peak of happiness and as one grows, one is disappointed until following the age of 50, where that stage is recovered ShutterstockGet to know The Trust Project
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