But, other things being equal, the U-curve holds. Not everyone will experience a sunnier outlook in their 50s and beyond, Rauch acknowledges, because factors such as divorce, unemployment or illness can counter this. “It’s not because there’s something wrong with your life, or your marriage, or your mind, or your mental health.” “It’s a self-eating spiral of discontent,” he says. It is a natural transition, simply due to the passing of time. The slump isn’t caused by anything, according to Rauch. It is not the same as a midlife crisis, which according to the stereotype demands an urgent, rash response. Hold off on splashing out on that flashy sports car or embarking on an affair though. “The most strange thing is that midlife slump is often about nothing.” “The most surprising thing is that age tends to work in favour of happiness, other things being equal,” he tells the Guardian. He has written a book, The Happiness Curve: Why Life Gets Better After 50 (out in the US 1 May and UK 14 June), which includes personal stories, the latest data and illuminating interviews with economists, psychologists and neuroscientists. Rauch, a senior fellow at the US thinktank the Brookings Institution, was so relieved to have found an explanation for the gloom that hit him and, he believed, many others in middle age that he became evangelical about spreading the word. Forget the saying that life begins at 40 – it’s 50 we should be looking toward.
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