American people happiest in their eighties--study

The findings of the study have been published in the 'American National Academy of Sciences.'

Happiness greatest in middle age and 80s
Researchers have discovered that happiness reaches a high after middle age when people begin to grow older, and become happier than they were in their earlier years. Happiness again peaks as late as in the eighties.

The researchers believe that this could be the result of lesser responsibilities, as people grow older. Elderly people have greater time to do what they most enjoy and are free from the stresses of a pressure-filled work life.

Apart from this, good health, good relationships and an independent life easily makes old age as among the happiest periods of time for people.

Lead researcher Prof Lewis Wolpert at the University College London said that people were averagely happy in their teens and twenties, which declines until early middle age when people struggle to support their family and retain their career.

"But then, from the mid-forties, people tend to become ever more cheerful and optimistic, perhaps reaching a maximum in their late seventies or eighties," he said.

Findings based on a survey of 341,000 people
The research involved a survey of 341,000 people conducted by the American National Academy of Sciences.

The findings of the survey clearly revealed that happiness dwindled for most people in early adulthood but then rose in the late forties, reaching its zenith when people hit their eighties.

Some experts believe that the results of the study are too sweeping in that it does not consider the many elderly people who are abandoned by their families and lead sad, lonely lives near the of their lives.