What makes us happy?
Centenarians share their secrets to longevity
© Eber Braun / Adobe Stock
A new study also clears up with the last prejudices about getting older.
Old, sick, weak, lonely and bitter: just a few of the many – mostly rather negative – attributes assigned to older people. The passage of time is something we happily and skillfully ignore, only to give a little startle (“Oh, was that twenty years ago? Man, are we old!”) and quickly push it away again. At some point, a person looks at us in the mirror that we hardly recognize. Have I always looked like this?
So it is not surprising that many respondents, according to one Study by the Anti-Discrimination Agency equates aging with depression and dissatisfaction. Myths about aging abound, as summarized by the National Institute on Aging, among others: According to this, old people could not learn new things, would eventually develop dementia and should avoid physical activities in order not to injure themselves.
However, these prejudices cannot be confirmed empirically study to the result that people between the ages of 65 and 79 are even particularly satisfied – at the age of around 70 they get a “satisfaction boost” on top of that. And a new study, in which six women over 100 were accompanied and interviewed, casts a completely different picture of old age than the prevailing opinion in society and the media.
Centenarians reveal: Happiness is also a decision
Meanwhile there is almost 14,000 People in Canada who are 100 and older. For a study, a research team accompanied six women of this advanced age and asked them about topics such as satisfaction and everyday life. The results were compiled, among other things, in a 32-minute documentary and in an article for the online magazine “The Conversation”. These people were born between 1919 and 1922 – the “Great Depression”, the financial crisis that caused the world economy to collapse, was part of their childhood, the Second World War part of their young adult life.
Among those interviewed were two women who lost their husbands when their children were young, leaving them alone to support their families. But neither the pain and loss, nor the undoubtedly hard work, caused these women to become bitter. Betty, 101, says in an interview with the team: “I don’t know what to complain about. I went through my life happy.”
The six respondents find happiness in small things: Betty enjoys cheating at solitaire very much, Jean, 100, enjoys playing the piana, Clementina, 101, enjoys gambling for money and Joyce enjoys writing and attending her children’s concerts. Family is incredibly important to all six respondents – two of them see the birth of their children as the most important achievement of their lives.
The Limits of Age
But there is no such thing as a life made entirely of bliss. Not even for the six women, whose bodies show them clear boundaries – as does society and, consequently, they do too. “You have to behave according to your age,” says Clementina, for example. All six lived in a dorm at the time of the study – and all six were used to a different life: As a young person you can see the world, work and have a social environment that brings variety and excitement to everyday life.
Most of these things are no longer possible by the age of 100, so life can also be boring. But the women interviewed take as many liberties as possible: although she is in a wheelchair, Jean plays the piano in church. And Clementina snuck out of the retirement home at the age of 97 to gamble her money in a casino (officially she was visiting her son).
As the authors write, three of the six women interviewed died shortly after the interviews. But all led a life that is exemplary for many: They suffered casualties and still went their way. They find happiness in the little things and don’t give up on themselves and their needs – no matter what their body or others say about it. A person’s worth is not measured by the years they have been on earth, but by the things they do.
Sources used: theconversation.com, nia.nih.gov, antidiscrimination agency.de, ons.gov.uk