We see so many unhappy, lonely, and downright miserable in our medical practice in their old age. In a recent book, Arthur C Brooks talks about creating habits earlier in your life to bring and maintain happiness in late life. Happiness usually increases as we enter the 5th decade and remains high throughout the sixth and seventh decades. However, some people tend to fall off of that curve. Brooks looked at the famous 1938 Harvard study of adult development, where they followed the sophomores for over 80 years. Using data from the Harvard study, two researchers showed in 2001 that we could control seven big investment decisions pretty directly that lead to successful aging. The answers are pretty simple.
- Don’t smoke or do drugs
- Watch your drinking
- Maintain a healthy body weight
- Do exercise daily and be on the move; even 7,000 steps/day will do
- Practice your coping mechanism. Seek therapy, mentoring, or spiritual assistance
- Engage in lifelong, purposive learning
- Do the work to cultivate stable, long-term relationships now: this includes spouse, friends, community
Take an inventory of your habits and behaviors today, and see where you need to invest a little more time, energy, or money to start moving in the right direction. Everyone loves a happy ending, especially in their own life story. Start writing that ending today.