We tend to imagine later life feeling bleaker, but researchers tracking emotions for over two decades found the opposite pattern — negative feelings tended to fade with age while positive ones held largely steady, hinting at quiet contentment.

For a while in my late twenties and early thirties I half-believed the years ahead would mostly get heavier, with body and mood quietly sliding together and I am not alone in that forecast. In a study comparing younger and older adults, Lacey, Smith and Ubel found that both groups expected happiness to decline with [...] The post We tend to imagine later life feeling bleaker, but researchers tracking emotions for over two decades found the opposite pattern — negative feelings tended to fade with