How do people have a midlife crisis?
“I am 50 and have bought myself a red sports car. My girlfriend thinks, I am having a midlife crisis, but what does she know, she is only 18.”
Jokes about the midlife crisis, or rather, men having a midlife crisis are abundant. But as I am in my late 40-s I wonder how those men do it. My biggest problem is that I can’t seem to get enough sleep and I don’t even have a toddler at home that keeps me from sleeping through the night.
But if you ask this bunch of economists, that is exactly what a midlife crisis looks like. For many years, people have tried to find evidence of a midlife crisis and have been struggling. They surveyed people about life happiness and the like and couldn’t really find clear answers. But once you start looking at things like sleep deprivation, and its tragic relative depression, signs of a midlife crisis are easier to find.
Tracking more than 500,000 people in the United States, the UK and Australia the study finds that people in their late 40s and early 50s are most likely to admit themselves to hospital for sleep problems, experience symptoms of depression and commit suicide.
If you want to know how wrong classical economics in its assumption of homo economicus is you have to contrast that with the fact that these are the years when lifetime earnings peak, job security is highest and financial worries are lowest. Theoretically, it should be the best of times, yet it is the worst of times.
Why is this? Nobody knows the answer but it certainly doesn’t seem to be because we have financially dependent children that cause us anxiety or because we compare our lives to other people who are more successful. There is the possibility that we realise the decline in our biological fitness. But there is also another possible explanation. We could simply become wiser and more realistic. And since the clinically depressed make more realistic inferences about the world, is it possible that causation goes the other way round as well: By becoming more realistic, we also become more depressed. Who knows.
The one thing I know is that I have to put a lot of emphasis on my sleep hygiene and getting more sleep. Not only does that improve my general quality of life, but it also saves me the money of having to buy a sports car and deal with an 18-year-old girlfriend. How exhausting…
Midlife crises start in the late 40s with vague symptioms, patients sometimes talk about "sleep hygiene" and other such twaddle. But recognising such early signs can help families prevent their loved ones going into the downward spiral of wellness candles, mindfulness and me-time which blights so many lives.
When I turned 50, or maybe it was 51, I bought a Fender Telecaster guitar. A few years later, after my guitarist son had turned pro and I gave him my old Martin D-28 acoustic guitar, I bought another acoustic guitar. That was my midlife crisis. Two expensive guitars are still cheaper than a car and an 18-year-old girlfriend. Especially the girlfriend. I got off cheap.
Also, I still have the guitars, so the money's not gone. It just moved from liquid to wooden assets. They could be liquefied at a higher price than I paid. Try doing that with a girlfriend.