London, Jan 29: Believe it or not, middle age makes you miserable. So, don't blame your job, your kids, your spouse, your income or lack of it.
A team of researchers from Britain and the United States has carried out a study and found that people are more likely to feel depressed in their mid-life, with the peak age for depression being about 44.
In fact, according to the researchers, happiness and depression follows a U-shape over a person's lifetime with the happiest times being at the start and end of life.
"You would expect people to get unhappier as they get closer to death but the opposite appears to be the case. People's levels of happiness and mental health are lowest in their mid-lives. It is a mystery why this happens but the evidence is incredibly strong.
"The average, normal person experiences a kind of mid-life crisis in terms of happiness and mental health," lead researcher Prof Andrew Oswald of the University of Warwick was quoted by The Daily Telegraph as saying.
Prof Oswald and his fellow researchers from Dartmouth College in America came to the conclusion after analysing data from over two million people from 80 countries.
The team found that happiness was U-shaped over life, bottoming out in middle age. The pattern was repeated in the developing world.
Bureau Report
