Being Middle-Aged Is Depressing
Our middle years are when we are most depressed, says a new study.
Researchers looking at data from 2 million people in 80 countries found that people reported being happier either when they were in their 20's and 30's or when they were in their 50's 60's and 70's. The 40's, however, were universally reported as a low point. More specifically, they found that 44 was the age when people reported being the least happy.
"The most plausible theory is that at the start of life, we have very high expectations, high aspirations, and it's painful in your 30's and then in the 40's to let them go," said study author Andrew Oswald, an economist at Warwick University. Once people get beyond their 40's, they "cut themselves a little slack," says Oswald.
The study will be published in the journal Social Science & Medicine.
Comments
I wonder why the age is 44? For the most part it seems pretty common for people around my age mid 20’s to be depressed, but that could just be my personal experience.
read my novel about depression @ My Walk
Middle age seems like the worse curse there is, besides the nagging depression thats a constant companion. Whats so great about it? Least in my case, i have lost what appeal i had. My hair has all but fallen out. I’m gray and hair is growing where no hair should be. I’m fat now and repulsive. Even with working out, i find it so frustrating to shed the pounds. My teeth have broken, split, chipped and fallen out. Everything in the front has rotted away. I guess im talking thru the eyes of my companion depression, but this is fact. So, i do not foresee any good times ahead. At 50, i have stopped believing in miracles long time ago.
I am in my mid 40’s (46) and the past 5 years have been the worst of my life. I have already decided that things will be better in a few years. I have fibromyalgia and all that goes with that, insomnia, depression, unrelieved pain.I moved in with my mother because I cannot work because of the fibro. I also deal with my 12 year old daughter and college student son. My father passed away. And I had the worst possible boyfriend that thankfully, the relationship is over. I am going back to school now because I plan to start a new career at 50. I pray to make it through the next 4 years.
I can’t wait to round the corner of that U-shaped curve later in life.
At 50, I don’t know why I’m bothering to still struggle to be the vibrant creative person I always wanted to be, with the responses I now get. I’m very depressed by the results of my efforts. It is now what’s outside of me or the outside of my body, rather than the true me inside, that is hindering success. To men I am now either invisible or a fat old cow (pretty much given up on finding a good partner, and I am not dressing outdatedly nor being slothful with regard to workouts). I’ve even received unprovokedly hostile responses from those in their 20s when I show up at their events. (Music may transcend, but they don’t.) My friends in their 30s and 40s are preoccupied with first or second families of kids, and I’m childless (regretably) and houseless (simply unluckily) in a housing market I can’t afford. I truly don’t know what to do with myself anymore. I can’t afford to stay in the career I loved either. Still, I keep looking for any possible way back to the woman I remember, who was once very happy, wild & crazy and a survivor. Have not figured out where I can fit anymore.
If you don’t like the way things are going for you in midlife, I have some good news, wait until you are 55 or 60. Because at 60 you wish you had what you had in your 40s. Don’t:
1. look in the mirror unless to put on make up or comb your hair.
2. read the obits
3. remain indoors-trick yourself into going outside
4. quit making friends or seeing doctors
5. stop taking your meds regularly
6. read depression article comments about how bleak the future is. If you need to know if things will be better or worse, the answer is yes. Now go bite someone’s head off, clean their clock, and eat their lunch because that is what we do in this country.
7. forget to cut your rose bushes back 1/3 and clip out the spiny branches.
8. eat carbs and sugar for breakfast and expect to feel better before 3 pm.
9. eat protein for breakfast and expect to feel better before 3 pm.
10. Do whatever the s—- you want, you still wont feel better before 3 pm.
Try living with NO HELP! NO NOTHING! AFTER THIS Mohave Valley Daily News Vol.44No.18 1/21/08 WE ARE ON THE EDGE!. HELP!!!
I’m 2 years into my 40’s and I’m flat most of the time. HOwever, I did lose my mother and best friend last year and my tempestuous relationship did break up. I’m left wondering if life is more than just painful moments. Honestly, I have moved to the city, have a reasonably good job and enrolled in tertiary study. However, I’m single again and I hate it that all of my friends and even my kids are all in relationships. I have to question why can I not be successful in love. I too feel that I’m no longer what men are looking for….I just feel sad and sorry for myself most of the time. Tragic isn’t it.
I’m in my mid-50s. I feel that I have nothing to which I can look forward.
My family:
Both parents are dead. I have one sibling who is mentally ill and too nasty to socialize with.
My husband is a workaholic. Our sex life, such as it was, died years ago. It was a big relief when I finally gave up on him, in the romance dept. We were never a good match, but he is a good father. He earns a decent living and is a law-abiding citizen. The kids are great but very busy, and I don’t see them very often. I have no other family.
I have a long list of health problems. I have no career. We moved around a lot, due to his job, and I have no friends nearby.
I’m trying to meet people through volunteer work and other means, but it’s very difficult. I have never had a lot of friends, and it seems that I may just die of loneliness.
Yeah, I’m depressed.
Hmmm. I really can’t relate to this. Ok, so middle age isn’t all waltzes and champagne but it certainly isn’t as depressing as some make it out. I think some people have convenient memories of their youth. As for me, life really DID begin at 40. I wouldn’t go back to my 20s if you paid me. Bad marriage, shaky careers, constantly worrying about what others think? No, thanks. 40s brought me freedom from all that mess…and now it’s upward and onward.
I think listening to music causes depression.
I get depressed when I listen to music of most kinds.
I think we should study if there is a link to music and depression