Happiness begins at....

[Gob]

50!

Reaching the age of 50 is something of a milestone and, for most us, it's not a terribly appealing one.

Our youth is a long way behind us and ahead lies the uncertain prospect of retirement and old age.

But there's a group of scientists who say we should be looking forward to 50.

Rather than marking the beginning of the end, our half-century heralds the start of our best years.

Free of the stresses of forging a career, finding a spouse and bringing up young children, our worries fade and feelings of happiness start to surge.

We also enjoy life more and begin to become more content.

If that weren't enough, things continue to get better with each decade, dispelling the myth of grumpy old men and women. Men, incidentally, are more cheerful than women throughout life.

The researchers asked 340,000 American men and women aged between 18 and 85 how contented they were with their life.

They were also asked how often they experienced specific emotions such as happiness, enjoyment, stress and worry.

Levels of stress and anger dip from our early 20s and continue to decline throughout life. Worry, however, continues to be a problem until our 50s, when it begins tail off.

Happiness and enjoyment begin to rise at a similar age and are still on the up at 85 - the oldest age studied.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0oEn8zkwV

I cannot say I disagree. I'm as happy now as I've ever been.

Still got lots of plans for the future, looking forward to some great years with the loves of my life.

[@meric@nwom@n]

I have to be honest and report that I have noticed a lot of decline in the last year. Working long hours whips my butt in ways it never used to. I have lost strength. I am shorter than I was by about an inch and a half. Weather changes make me ache deep in places I didn't know I had.

I am pretty happy at 50 but I would be even happier if I felt 25.

[Big RR]

Yep, as you progress through your 50s and 60s, your body begins to pay you back for all the abuse you heaped on it when you were in your 20s and 30s.

I would also think that the freedom worry is directly linked to the sort of retirement you can look forward to; not knowing where medicare/social securoty are headed in the US, I'm pretty worried my pensions won't be enough and my savings won't hold out long enough. I imagine that's not as much of a concern in the UK as in the US.

[tyro]

I imagine that's not as much of a concern in the UK as in the US.

Nor in Canada.



Having completed my term of the 50s, today marked 61 (thanks again Crackpot) I would like to disagree that the aches and pains are from previous abuse.

When I get up in the morning, I can barely walk. But of course being male, I need to urinate at least twice during the night and so I get to limber up.

Still. It is a slow trot and I do hold onto the walls for needed balance.

We got this in our e-mail

George Carlin's Views on Aging and How to get there.

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.

"How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five!

That's the key.

You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.
"How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life . . . you become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony . . . YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!

But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! . He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?

You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40.

Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone.

But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!

So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.

You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!

You get into your 80s and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime.

And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; "I Was JUST 92."

Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!"

May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

So far I don’t think about making it to Wednesday.

[Big RR]

I would like to disagree that the aches and pains are from previous abuse.

Maybe not for you, but I can attest I gave my body enough trouble in my 20s and 30s that I cn't blame it for fighting back. I'm still a bit short of 60, but a much smaller bit than I'd like.

[loCAtek]

Oh sh!t, I'm to get shorter!?

[Gob]

I've just started on my fifties, and yes there are pains and aches from past abuse. All the marathons I ran, and all the mountains I climbed have left my ankles and knees fucked. (I find glucosamine and chicondrine a great help. Oh, and fish oil!)

Having said that hitting the gym 3-4 times a week helps keep body and soul in reasonable shape, walking the dogs for an hour a day also helps mind and body.

Me and Hen are actively planning our retirement now. We hope to start semi-retirement in about 4 years time, circumstances allowing. Full retirement in ten years, again with caveats. Hen has been a pube (public servant) for so many years her final retirement pension is fantastic, I have my house in the UK to sell, a small UK pension to draw on, and I've been paying into my superannuation scheme here at double the required rate, to build it up.

We hope to be financially secure, but keep buying the lottery tickets.

But, most importantly now, I feel content, and contentment has taken over from excitement as my goal.

[Gob]

Anyone who has had an early morning jog ruined by the ego-bruising sight of a septuagenarian powering past at Olympic pace knows the extent of the problem. The older people of today are simply out of control.

They have time, they often have money and they seem to have boundless vigour. Society needs to find places for them to go and things for them to do to expend that energy so they are not making a nuisance of themselves by showing up the rest of us. A small step in the right direction will be taken in Hyde Park today with the official opening of the Senior Playground.



In an idyllic corner of the gardens that contain the tennis courts, the bowling green and a children’s play area, the new outdoor facility features equipment designed for pensioners.

“People can come and have fun and socialise at the same time,” said Madeline Elsdon, a member of Knightsbridge Association and the person behind the project. “We wanted to do something that led the way. Every park has a children’s playground. But there are few facilities for adults and very few for older adults. We hope in the future that every park will have a playground for older people.”

She said that when the project was announced it was covered in more than 500 newspapers and she has been inundated with inquiries from around the world about how to create something similar.

The six pieces of Danish equipment are designed to be simple to use and provide gentle exercise, including twisting, swinging, walking and cycling movements. The only piece that slightly alarmed a group of senior citizens testing the playground yesterday was the sit-up apparatus.

Ms Elsdon said that the playground would appeal to those who wanted to do something other than just walk in the park and found gyms intimidating and expensive.

The project was funded by a £40,000 grant from Westminster City Council under a scheme to allow people in local council wards to choose neighbourhood improvement projects. The Royal Parks completed the installation work.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 130182.ece

[The Hen]

Oh sh!t, I'm to get shorter!?

I know I've shrunk already. Through terrible body abuse I have lost 1 1/2 inches of height already.



Never mind. Things could be worse. At least when we start our 'Grey Nomad' chapter, I will take up less space in the mobile home, so it will appear larger for me.

Luxury.

[Sue U]

Since entering my 50s I have actually become signifcantly less content with my situation in life. The reasons are many -- and many of those of my own making -- but in short I feel I'm working way too much (despite goofing off here!), have too many responsibilities and am just not having as much fun as I used to.

[Guinevere]

Time for a new profession, as ours doesn't get easier as we go. But are you really in your 50s? Sheesh. Maybe that gorilla isn't blonde, but grey

[@meric@nwom@n]

Whippersnapper!

[Gob]

It may sound sad, but this forum really has added to my life

[Guinevere]

Time for a new profession, as ours doesn't get easier as we go. But are you really in your 50s? Sheesh. Maybe that gorilla isn't blonde, but grey

FWIW, I was joking -- I know Sue has crossed the line into the 50s.

I have to say, I adored my 30s, and the 40s have been pretty terrific too (so far). I'm not waiting for the 50s to start living my life, thank you very much!

[The Hen]

The older I get, the more fun I am having.

I mustard mitt, I wasn't expecting that.

[Gob]

Recent American studies have shown that people who get physical exercise in midlife are much more likely to still be active at 70, with positive effects on all kinds of conditions associated with ageing, including osteoarthritis, falls and hip fracture, cardiovascular disease, respiratory diseases, cancer, diabetes and obesity.

The boom in marathons and fun-runs since the 1980s offered the first sign that sport did not have to end at the age that professionals retired. Now many in their 40s and 50s are realising that sports with moderate physical contact are not beyond them either.

Numbers are rising in team sports, above all soccer, with increasing demand for over-age competitions.

Men's over-45s registrations across the state have increased by about 50 per cent in the past five years, Football NSW says.

There has been similarly strong growth among older women players. The number of players over 35 registered with Basketball NSW increased by 20 per cent between 2003 and last year, from 4572 to 5538 (including 19 in their 70s). But does the combination of ageing limbs and sometimes rudimentary skills mean the risk of injury is also rising?

Five years ago a newspaper report said Sydney hospitals were being "inundated with injured players" because of the popularity of over-35s soccer. Yet research suggests older players in moderate contact sports are no more likely to suffer injuries needing hospital treatment than their younger counterparts.

A 2008 study for the Injury Risk Management Research Centre at the University of NSW found the rate of hospital admissions as a result of a sporting injury was highest among those in the 15-24 age group, dramatically so for men (759.3 per 100,000 participants, compared with 129.9 for women). For those aged between 45 and 54 only 133.7 per 100,000 (men) and 60.6 per 100,000 (women) had to go to hospital.

Of course this also reflects the nature of the sports such age groups typically take part in - serious lawn bowls injuries are rare.

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/wellbei ... -vfcn.html

Will the Wi-FI do for Hatch's generation what the marathon boom did for ours?

Or the aerobics boom...


Or the bodybuilding boom...

[@meric@nwom@n]

I assumed the younger generation would just take root on the couch. All of my nephew's kids are fit. They have skinny parents and all play sports.

[Scooter]

I am pretty happy at 50 but I would be even happier if I felt 25.

I remember my grandmother, at the time in her 90s, saying once, "I know I'm not 20 anymore but I wish I could feel like it." I guess we never really resign ourselves to aging.

[Andrew D]

I think that it was George Burns who said "Oh, to be 80 again."

[BoSoxGal]

This is one of my favorite Carlin bits:

“The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A Death! What's that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you're too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating...


...and you finish off as an orgasm.”

I especially like the notion of experiencing the vitality of one's 20s with the wisdom of a life mostly lived. If only . . .