Life has a depressingly simple trajectory. You’re born, you
grow up, you spend a few years looking and feeling great and then you hit
middle age and slowly sink into a quagmire of loneliness, despair, and terrible
sex. Finally, you wind up sharing a care home with Grandpa Simpson and
wondering why your kids don’t visit anymore.
At least, that’s the cynical view. But there’s a more
positive way of seeing things. A way which suggests that aging is less of a
slow decline and more of a doorway through which unexplored regions of
awesomeness lie.
10. You Get Fewer Colds
How many times have you caught a cold this year? As most of
our readers are in the 18–35 range, we’re going to guess around three. That’s
standard for young people. But our readers over 50 will have different answers.
On average, they will have caught between one and two.
9. You Reach Peak Happiness
As general rule, life satisfaction dips the longer you live.
From age 18 to the mid-twenties, most people rate their own happiness as taking
a sharp plunge before plateauing for a while and then plunging again when they approach
40. By middle age, most of us are at the lowest we’ve ever been in our lives. Then
something unexpected happens. Things start to pick up. By 60, we’re as happy as
we were at 18. By 70, the average person is more satisfied with his life than
he’s ever been.
8. Improved Social And
Gambling Skills
Looking to win big in Vegas? Forget counting cards. We have a
much simpler tip for you. Next time, rope your grandma into playing with you.
In 2012, German researchers discovered that old people are much better
gamblersthan their younger counterparts.
7. Declining Stress And
Worry
In some cases, this dip was extreme. For instance, our levels
of worry stay the same from age 18 until age 50. Then they fall off a cliff.
From our early fifties on, most of us can expect our levels of worry to drop at
an astonishing rate. Meanwhile, stress declines steadily from 18 onward until
it all but disappears by the time we reach 85. After rising steadily until we
hit age 50, even sadness declines, reaching a low at age 73 (although it
increases slightly as we reach our mid-eighties).
According to researchers, the best part is that this may come
from biological or psychological changes rather than our individual
circumstances, meaning that most of us should feel remarkably happy if we make
it to 80.
6. Better Sleep
According to a 2012 study, people in their eighties may be
getting much better sleep than the rest of us.
Published in the journal Sleep, the study involved
researchers conducting telephone interviews with 150,000 people on their
quality of sleep. Unexpectedly, they found that those in their eighties had fewer
complaints about sleep disturbances or daytime fatigue than any other
group.
5. Incredible Sex
Multiple studies have shown that sex in the last decades of
your life is absolutely mind-blowing.
A recent survey of people over 60 found that sex is
apparently like a fine wine, improving as we age. These aren’t just little
improvements, either. Nearly 75 percent of men and 70 percent of women reported
that their sex lives after 60 were better than they had been in their forties.
Even more impressively, a separate study found that women in
their eighties were likely to experience incredible orgasms.
4. Physical And Mental
Endurance
Although researchers have found that those engaging in
endurance sports generally perform better under age 40, they’ve also found that
those over 50 are at no disadvantage. In fact, some older athletes competing in
things like ultramarathons think their age gives them a massive advantage.
It all comes back to the advantage of experience. Competing
in an ultramarathon or Ironman event is tough. You push yourself through your
physical boundaries, experience pain like you’ve never felt before, and spend
the whole time wanting to cry. For young people, pushing themselves to that
level can be impossible. For older athletes who’ve spent about 40 years pushing
their bodies to their limits, hitting those barriers comes as less of a shock.
3. Improved Relationships
A 2010 study from Purdue University found that older adults
tend to report better marriages, less conflict with children and siblings, and
more supportive friendships. Whereas younger people might be tempted to hold a
grudge or start an argument over something, older people appear more sanguine,
leading to generally improved relationships. This agrees with other research
that claims our friendships become more intimate with age as we start to prioritize
what really matters to us.
2. An Aging Population May
Reduce Crime
It’s no secret that many Western populations are aging
rapidly. America’s old-age population is experiencing unprecedented growth.
Some analysts now refer to the EU as “grandma Europe” because of its rapidly
graying population. While this may have a negative effect on things like
economic growth, there are some areas where an older population may benefit
everyone. For example, crime rates may drop dramatically.
1. Guilt-Free Masturbation
Despite being something that roughly 99 percent of the adult
population does on at least a somewhat regular basis, masturbation is still
considered shocking by polite society. That might soon change. For years,
medical professionals have known that our sex drive tends to dip as we get
older and conditions like erectile dysfunction can become a problem. Now, some
of these professionals have come up with a simple solution. Plenty of
masturbation.
source:listverse
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