Get Old, Get Happy

Happiness really does come with age, researchers have discovered in one of the widest-ranging studies ever of happiness in America. Measures of happiness steadily climbed among study participants into their mid-60s. Levels dipped only slightly after that, and people in their 80s still tended to be happier than people under 40, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Older people may have more health problems but they tend to be more emotionally balanced due to stability later in life, researchers theorized. "People learn from life—what's good for them, how to live their life, '' said a researcher. "They establish connections, enduring relations.'' He conceded that positive findings among the oldest may have been skewed a bit by the fact that happy people tend to live longer. (More elderly stories.)