That\u2019s a question that Laura Carstensen, PhD, regularly fields after explaining why older people are happier than younger ones\u2014the basis of the ubiquitous Happiness U-curve. I didn\u2019t really believe the curve existed until I understood why. Carstensen, a psychologist and the founding director of the Stanford Longevity Center, explains it beautifully. <\/p>\n
In an i<\/a>nterview on NP<\/a>R<\/a>, skeptically titled \u201cWhy Should We Look Forward to Getting Older?\u201d Carstensen describes some of the underlying research. She and her colleagues conducted an intensive 10-year study of a group of 18- to 94-year-olds, measuring how emotional experiences change as people age. They learned that olders experienced fewer negative emotions and just as many positive ones as they had when younger, which made their lives generally happier. <\/p>\n Carstensen\u2019s research shows that people always set goals in a temporal context, and that those timelines change as a function of mortality. In other words, the awareness that time is short doesn\u2019t fill people with dread, as I\u2019d once assumed. It helps them to live more in the moment, to spend time doing the things that matter most with the people who do too. She tells a revealing story about a conversation with two sisters, older women who had lost many friends over the years. When she pointed out that they could easily meet new people, one of the sisters responded, \u201cYou know, we just don’t have time for those relationships.\u201d The psychologist\u2019s first thought was, \u201cYou look to me like you’ve got a lot of time on your hands.\u201d Then she realized the sister wasn’t talking about time in the day.<\/p>\n \u201cShe was talking about time left in life. And I realized that at some point in life, we’re never going to make a new old friend because there isn’t time\u2026.I went home, and I remember sitting in my living room staring out at the city of San Francisco and thinking it’s all about time.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cIf there’s a paradox of aging, it’s that recognizing that we won’t live forever changes our perspective on life in positive ways,\u201d Carstensen points out. An equally counterintuitive, companion notion is that a long future can be burdensome. \u201cWhen time horizons are long and nebulous, as they typically are in youth, people are constantly preparing [for that future],\u201d she says. \u201cA lot of our concerns are about the future. And as we move through life, we know where we are and where we’re headed. In some ways\u2014I think of this as the silver lining of growing older\u2014we’re relieved of the burden of the future the older we get.\u201d <\/p>\n Carstensen does a lot of public speaking. She says that when she describes how goals change over time, with youngers preparing for the long term while olders savor the moment, \u201calmost every time, some young person will come up to me afterwards and say \u2018How do I get old faster?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" That\u2019s a question that Laura Carstensen, PhD, regularly fields after explaining why older people are happier than younger ones\u2014the basis of the ubiquitous Happiness U-curve. I didn\u2019t really believe the curve existed until I understood why. Carstensen, a psychologist and the founding…<\/span><\/p>\n