

Age and Happiness: The U-bend of Life - nostrademons
http://www.economist.com/node/17722567

======
nostrademons
A hypothesis: Happiness and success are inversely correlated, because as
people become more successful, their expectations of _future_ success rise
faster than the actual reality does. And, as James Hong (HotOrNot.com)
famously pointed out, "happiness = reality - expectations". Middle-aged people
are the least happy because they are the most outwardly successful, while
children and old people are the most happy because (on a recent basis) they
are the least outwardly successful.

A question: given all the positives to happiness that the article mentions -
better health, higher productivity, etc. - how can we be happier _before_ we
get old? It'd suck to have to wait until I'm 70 and my body is falling apart
before I'm happy.

