I heard some terrific news the other day: “The happiest men over 40 are 25lbs overweight.” So said Prof Arthur Brooks of the John F Kennedy school of government at Harvard University in the United States, more commonly known as the Harvard Kennedy School.
He lectures on human happiness. Only in America!
“It’s not because of the gentlemanly paunch. It’s because they are relaxed about their lives,” he said. “If you’re 61 and you have washboard abs, you’re making a big sacrifice for that. And that sacrifice might not be a healthy sacrifice for you. That’s important to keep in mind,” he said.
What’s not to like! Mirror, mirror on the wall, mind your own business. You’re invading my privacy.
Brooks highlights the nonsense that, to be happy, you “have to optimise across more than one variable. You’ve got your abs, joy in your relationships, spiritual transcendence, the way you serve your community.”
Mad or what? Noting the ludicrousness of this, he said. “It’s as if you do this one thing and your whole life is going to fall into place. Wrong!” Idiot, leave those pounds alone (my translation).
More generally, he says, research has shown again and again over the past 30 years that a higher number of people are unhappy with their lives. Happiness, he said, “comes from faith/philosophy, family, friendship, and work” and that “all four have been getting more and more dysfunctional” in this 21st century.
People now are less likely to practise a religion or have a coherent life philosophy. They’re less likely to be married and have children, less likely to have friends, or say their work is a source of meaning.
“My belief is that the big problem with depression and anxiety, especially for people under 30 today, is they don’t know the meaning of life and they don’t even know where to look,” he said.
Plus ça change. The meaning of life has been a challenge for every generation of homo sapiens since time immemorial, yet some academics still have a capacity for presenting this as highly original and with the excitement of a Columbus arriving in the Americas, convinced he was in a different place and incorrectly naming the natives, Indians.
Was it ever otherwise, dear professor? (I was under 30 once).
Paunch, from Latin panticem, for belly.