The Ages we Peak in Life
The ideal age for finding a life partner is apparently 26, while your maths skills will be at their best at 50. Language learning, however, is best mastered when you’re just seven years old.
The The Sun, looked at studies and found that we ‘peak’ at different ages for different things.
Learning a language: Aged 7 or 8
This is the best time to learn a second language, which is a shame because most kids this age are too busy pushing crayons into their ears.
Best brain power: Aged 18
That’s right – your brain power apparently peaks at the age of 18, and after this point you gradually get stupider and stupider. According to a study in 2016, 18-year-olds performed the best in memory tests.
Attractiveness (as a heterosexual woman, anyway): Aged 23
According to a study from 2010 (as well as good old gender stereotypes), men find women most attractive at the age of 23 – and this doesn’t really change as the men get older.
Life satisfaction: Aged 23
Yep, people are most satisfied with their lives at the tender age of 23, and then it’s all downhill from there.
Strength: Aged 25
This is the age when your muscles reach their peak, before staying on track for the next decade or so.
Finding a life partner: Aged 26
Apparently, even in this day and age, this relatively young age is when we’re mostly likely to meet a person we then spend the rest of our lives with.
Top salary: 39 and 48
Women’s salaries reportedly peak at the age of 39, because systematic sexism still exists. According to The Sun, women’s salaries slow in their 30s ‘as they have families’. Men’s wages, however, keep rising and only peak at the age of 48, because life still isn’t fair.
Understanding other people’s emotions: Aged 41 to 59
In a recent study of around 10,000 people, those in their 40s and 50s were most able to accurately read how others were feeling.
Maths skills: Aged 50
Despite looking at your kids’ maths textbooks and thinking ‘Oh my God my brain has dissolved’, you’re actually most able to do mental arithmetic at the age of 50.
Life satisfaction (again): Aged 69
According to the same German study that found life satisfaction peaks at 23, after a slump in middle age, life satisfaction picks up again around the age of 69.
Best vocabulary: Aged 71
It makes sense, we guess – by the age of 71 you’ll have used quite a lot of words.
Body satisfaction: Aged 74
After decades of being told you need to shape up, lose weight, gain weight, or work out relentlessly to even think about wearing a bikini, 74 is apparently the magical age when we all collectively say: ‘Fuck it.’
