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Psychologists believe that entering middle age does not mean that a person is in a period of declining and skeptical life, but that he or she has entered another period of growth-middle age is even more dynamic than ever before.

(Christian Jarrett / tr. by Phil Newell)

Translation | Wang Zhangliang

Editor | Wen Jing

This article is published in Science focus, No. 4, 2023.

When people reach middle age, there are always a lot of things that make us feel stressed and mentally exhausted. In the past, you may feel that you are on the rise of life-at that time, as we grow older, our bodies become stronger, our mental qualities become stronger, and our studies and careers prosper with each passing day. But now, when you enter middle age, you may feel that you are gradually beginning to go downhill and, like everyone else, will eventually grow old.

The midlife crisis is a social and cultural product. In addition to some disturbing psychological changes, many middle-aged people also face more practical problems, such as the obligation to raise children, responsibilities at work, and possibly taking care of elderly parents. No wonder many middle-aged people experience a "midlife crisis".

In 1957, Canadian psychoanalyst Elliott Jaques put forward the concept of "midlife crisis" at an academic conference in London, and later he mentioned the concept in his 1965 paper death and Midlife crisis (Death and the Mid-Life Crisis).

Part of the reason why the concept of midlife crisis is so popular is due to American journalist Gail Sheehy's best-selling book, the Explorer: overcoming the crisis in Life and pursuing Happiness in Life (Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life), published in 1976. The book records the author's interviews with Americans in their 30s and 40s, in which many say their lives are in a state of unrest.

Gail Shea (Photo: Wikipedia) Today, many middle-aged people make anecdotes to ease the anxiety caused by aging. For example, a middle-aged man in his forties spent a lot of money on a sports car, or a middle-aged woman decided to divorce, pack her bags and travel around the world.

According to a 2004 survey, about 10% to 20% of middle-aged people think they are experiencing a midlife crisis. In fact, however, the midlife crisis is more likely to be a social and cultural product than a psychological concept.

From middle age to old age, life satisfaction rises again. There are specific challenges at every stage of life, and apart from those anecdotes, there is little evidence that middle age is a particular crisis in life.

In 2010, the University of Notre Dame conducted a study. In the study, psychologists conducted two long-term surveys of life satisfaction, one in Germany involving about 40,000 people and the other in the UK since 1991 with more than 20,000 participants.

The results of both surveys show that people's life satisfaction remains the same throughout their lives, almost the same from childhood to old age. Among them, a survey conducted in the UK shows that life satisfaction decreases slightly in early adulthood, but increases again from middle age to old age.

Middle-aged people have a stronger sense of responsibility and friendlier personality. there are some factors that make people feel more optimistic and positive when they enter middle age. For example, as a young man, you must work hard to find your direction and prove your worth at work, but if you are middle-aged, your job may be more stable.

Research shows that middle-aged people can find more intrinsic motivation at work to make themselves work better-they understand the meaning of work better, find happiness in their work, and their work status is no longer driven by external motivations such as promotions and raises.

(photo Source: Pexels) American psychologist Raymond Bernard Cattell divided the composition of human intelligence into two parts: "fluid intelligence" and "crystal intelligence". "fluid intelligence" is a cognitive ability based on the human body, such as perception, memory, computing speed, reasoning ability, and so on. "crystal intelligence" refers to acquired knowledge and skills, verbal and written ability, judgment, association, and so on.

Although fluid intelligence may begin to decline in their 20s, crystal intelligence will be trained all the time in life and may get higher and higher. For example, a person's understanding and arithmetic skills tend to reach the peak of his life in middle age or even later years. This is not surprising. It is not out of thin air that people's intelligence continues to improve in middle and old age. There are examples to prove it.

There is another factor that allows us to look at middle age with optimism. Research shows that our personalities change many times in our lives. Through a decades-long follow-up survey of the same group of people, psychologists have found that as they get older (at least after middle age, or even older), most people become more emotionally stable, more responsible and friendlier.

Although people are not in a state of crisis in middle age, some people may think that their physical condition will get worse after entering middle age, but we can pay more attention to and try some positive and optimistic things. You may have seen in life that many middle-aged men are keen to wear Leica tight cycling clothes and get on a bike to enjoy the ride.

Although some people think these middle-aged men are ridiculous, they don't care. Because they have fun, they have a good time, and they are fully capable of competing with young people if they want to.

In fact, among the participants in various endurance sports, the number of people over the age of 40 is significantly higher than before. These people are called "veterans of sports". For example, in this year's New York Marathon, more than half of the male runners are veteran runners.

(photo Source: Pexels) there are a number of reasons for the increase in the proportion of "sports veterans". There is no doubt that improved health care and increased awareness of exercise are some of the reasons, which allow people to engage in long-term and high-quality exercise.

In addition, at the psychological level, some studies from the University of Oregon in the United States show that people's competitive mentality also increases with age, reaching a peak around the age of 50.

Therefore, from the perspective of life as a whole, middle age is not in a state of crisis, nor is it time to go downhill; middle-aged people tend to be wiser, happier and more motivated than before.

Many things in life are like this. The key to whether a thing is good or bad is how we look at it and understand it. If you look at middle age with a more positive attitude, you may find that the saying "people reach 41 flowers" really makes sense.

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