10 Reasons to Be Happy About Getting Older

Walker, Lynne, and Treva at BAM conference in Las Vegas, 2016

For those of you at the Las Vegas Bloggers At Midlife conference who wanted a copy of my Top Ten, here you go! I had such a great time there and was proud to have been invited. Thanks to Walker Thornton and Treva Scharf for your words of wisdom and fellowship. Herewith, my top ten:

YOU HAVE GREATER IMMUNITY TO COLDS, AND FEEL LESS PAIN IN THE DENTIST’S CHAIR. 


YOU HAVE A GREATER SENSE OF WELL-BEING In study after study, people become happier after age fifty. 


SOCIAL REASONING IMPROVES IN OLD AGE Older people are capable of higher-order reasoning and are able to take into account multiple perspectives. This makes them better at compromise, legal decisions, counseling, and intergroup negotiations. 


YOU HAVE HIGHER COGNITIVE ABILITY IN LATER YEARS According to a 40-year study, cognition peaks from age forty to seventy. 


MYELIN LEVELS DON’T PEAK UNTIL APPROXIMATELY AGE SIXTY Myelin leads to better neural transmission. 


PATTERN RECOGNITION The brain instantly sifts through millions of life experiences, finding answers that seem unknowable to youth. 


YOU HAVE GREATER CONTROL OF YOUR EMOTIONS. Even though we feel emotions more deeply as we age, we can deal with them better. 


YOU CAN GENERATE NEW BRAIN CELLS ALL YOUR LIFE by exercising, learning something new and challenging, and socializing. 


YOU CAN BUILD COGNITIVE RESERVE to counter dementia. 


BILATERALIZATION The older you get, the more you use both sides of your brain to make decisions and solve problems, leading to more sublime thinking.