Dougal Sutherland: 47 is statistically the most depressing point of your life, here's how to turn it around

47 is statistically proven to be the most depressing point of your life...but here's how to turn it around. 

Numerous scientific studies have shown that happiness is U-shaped – it declines and bottoms out in your 40s as you struggle with the pressures of working life, lack of new experiences, financial worries, and the weight of responsibility. 

No longer thirty and thriving? A recent study1 suggests that 47 years old is the most ‘depressing’ point of your life. But with every problem comes a solution, and Tourism Fiji has collated a series of holiday experiences designed to turn that middle-aged frown upside down. 

According to the research, happiness declines and bottoms out in your 40s before slowly hiking upwards again in the mid-50s. Combine tweenaged children with mortgages, high-interest rates and depleting collagen, and you’ll potentially find yourself a miserable 40-something-year-old. 

Psychologist Dr Dougal Sutherland claims that there is a method to the miserable-ness: “Your 40s are a time in life when you feel the weight of responsibility most strongly. Many people will have dependent kids, alongside duties that come with ageing parents, plus potentially increasing levels of responsibility at work. All of these things can eat into your general sense of life satisfaction.” 

“In your 40s, you look back with fondness at the care-free days of youth and look ahead to semi-retirement and enjoying the ‘good life’. You’re caught in the middle and stuck in a dangerous cycle of comparison.” 

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