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According to the old adage, wisdom comes with age. But now, we have scientific proof that it is true.
Psychologists from Swarthmore College in the US, found that older adults are better at interpreting the correct slope of a hill than young adults. Lead researcher, Professor Frank Durgin, says that this is due to greater life experience.
In the study, researchers asked 50 college students and 50 adults from the surrounding community (aged between 18 to 72) to gauge the slope of a local hill.
They discovered that among participants with no knowledge of slope, older participants gave significantly more accurate estimates of the hill than younger adults.
While assessing the slope of a hill might not sound like conventional wisdom, it is proof that as we age we see some things more clearly than we did in our youth.
I definitely feel wiser now than I did 20 years ago. I now know that counting calories is a waste of time and that it’s not worth spending time with people who don’t value my friendship.
I asked other women my age what wisdom they wish they could pass back to their younger selves.
Rashida says: “I really should have enjoyed my teenage years to the max and chilled out instead of always studying and have full confidence. I would have been a success anyway.
“I often wish I could go back in time and spend more quality time with a few special people who’d been in my life then. I also shouldn’t have worried so much about what people thought of me.”
Jo says: “It’s going to be ok.”
Joanne says: “Now that I am a parent I would tell my younger self to be nicer to my mum.”
Helen says: “I’d tell a younger me ‘listen to yourself’.”
Andrea says: “I wish I’d known that the bullies would get their karma. That it doesn’t really matter what grades you get in school, it’s what you do with your education that matters.
“I’d tell my younger self to wear sunscreen more often and to embrace whatever age or stage you’re at as you’ll never be exactly there again.
“Also… perms are never a good idea.”
