Scientists announce the end of the mid-life crisis: Life really does begin at 40, they say



Life really can begin at 40, an expert claimed yesterday.

Improvements in healthcare, education and life expectancy have made the mid-life crisis a thing of the past, according to psychologist Dr Carlo Strenger.

'Somehow this line has been drawn around the mid and late 40s as a time for a mid-life crisis in our society,' he said.



Life's a beach: Over-40s are 'free to enjoy life' according to a psychologist

'But as people start living longer and fuller lives, we have to cast aside that stereotype and start thinking in terms of "mid-life transition" rather than "mid-life crisis".

'If you make fruitful use of what you have discovered about yourself in the first half of your life, the second half can be the most fulfiling.'

Writing in the Harvard Business Review, he said that most of us will have married, bought a home and chosen a career by the age of 30 or so.

With those difficult decisions behind us, we are free to start enjoying life - and learn from our mistakes.

Dr Strenger said that while life will still present difficulties, we are much better equipped to handle them when we are older.

There is also little point in hankering after the freedom of our youth.

'The notion that possibilities slip away with age is based on a false premise,' he said.

'The young do not have endless possibilities - that is an illusion, created by our limited knowledge of ourselves and the world when we are young.

'Early on, we make decisions on the basis of scant evidence of our true abilities; after all, in our late teens and early 20s, we know little about what we are good at and what we enjoy.

'The illusion of a freedom of youth is also based on a retroactive idealisation. We forget-the pressures we faced: we had to get into a good school, get high grades, land a great first job, arrive at such-and- such a position by the age of 30, and so on.

'And in the middle of those demands, we had to shape our identities, develop our abilities and establish our self-esteem.'

Those still tempted to throw in their office job to try to become a popstar should note that radical re-inventions are doomed to fail.

Dr Strenger, of Israel's Tel Aviv University, said: 'We all have fantasies about what we could have been in a different life: actors, singers, writers, tycoons, political leaders.



'When people buy into the message that a fantasy is a potential reality, they get into trouble.' His message, however, clashes with a recent British study which found middle age is the most miserable time of our lives.

The analysis of a million Britons concluded that the biggest dip in happiness comes at 44 - and most people do not start to feel perkier until their 50s.

But Dr Strenger said anyone not convinced by his argument need only look at the life of Elliott Jaques, the psychoanalyst who coined the term mid-life crisis in 1965 - aged 48.

Between then and his death aged 86 in 2003, he got married, wrote 12 books, acted as a consultant to the Church of England and the U.S. Army and produced some of his most original ideas.

Dr Strenger said: 'A life such as Elliott Jaques lived should not be considered unusual. People's conceptions of age are hopelessly out of touch with reality.

'Many people can anticipate a second life, if not a second career.'