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Five things which you get better at as you get older, according to science

Rex
Rex

Young people tend to fear old age – but study after study shows that old people are actually happier than the rest of us.

Older people tend to be more confident, happier in themselves – and (hiring managers take note) better at some tasks.

This year, 81-year-old retired banker Masako Wakaima made headlines when she released an iPhone app – and did a TED talk hoping to inspire other old people to engage with technology.

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In other words, young people aren’t actually better than the rest of us – they just think they are.

Here’s five areas where you get better – not worse – as you get older.

You become more optimistic

People tend to get more optimistic as they get older – and are even optimistic about facing the problems of old age, such as declining health and memory loss.

Researchers interviewed people in their 30s and in their 70s – and found that while more than half of thirty-somethings were worried about getting old, 66% of seventy-somethings were fine with it.

‘The younger generation is less optimistic,’ said Dr. Zia Agha, chief medical officer at West Health.

‘Perhaps as they age they will build resilience and they build the capacity that will help them cope better.’

You get better at your job (if it’s complicated)

Older people are often discriminated against in the workplace, but hiring managers should think about getting some silver power on the case – particularly in complex jobs.

A study in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that older people outperform young people due to ‘crystallised intelligence’ – ie experience of the job.

Tests on 3,000 people aged 20 to 74 found that older people had several key cognitive skills such as verbal ability and ‘experience’.

Researcher Stephen Dilchert says, ‘When it comes to job performance in general, job knowledge determines whether people succeed in their respective roles.

‘So older workers who score high on so-called ‘crystallized abilities’ might have a leg up in more complex jobs such as those in the engineering, legal, and medical professions, where job knowledge changes at a slower pace.”

You’re more intelligent (in different ways)

For years, scientists have relied on the idea that the ability to think quickly and recall information peaks at 20, before a slow decline.

But scientists at MIT suggest the real picture is much more complex – and some aspects of fluid intelligence actually peak at age 40.

The ability to analyse other people’s emotional states can actually peak as late as your 50s.

You are more confident

Older people tend to become more confident – simply because life has taught them to care less about what other people think.

Wendy Lustbader, author of Life Gets Better, told Psychology Today, ‘Youth is a time of searching and insecurity, trying to figure out how to live, and as time passes we gather more and more certainty about our own aims and preferences. We become less interested in comparing ourselves to others, having slowly gained an internal compass.’

You have better sex

Not only do old people have a lot of sex, according to research by the International Longevity Centre – people (in particular women) are more sexually satisfied at age 80.

Researchers from the International Longevity Centre UK interviewed 7,000 over-50s – and found that women in their 80s are more sexually satisfied than women in their 50s, 60s and 70s.

They also find it easier to become aroused, according to the University of Manchester researchers – perhaps because relationships become stronger in old age.

Dr David Lee, of the University of Manchester, said ‘Sometimes quality of life improves as you get older.’