"Midlife is a perfect time for you to think about where you've been & where you want to go,” says Margie Lachman, PhD. 

Lachman is professor of psychology at Brandeis University and director of the Lifespan Lab. A leading expert on adult development and aging, Lachman is one of a small group of scholars who study midlife from a lifespan developmental perspective. Her honors include research awards from the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Gerontological Society of America. Lachman was a member of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Successful Midlife Development, which launched the landmark Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study. She is a coinvestigator on MIDUS and several other projects exploring cognition, health, and well-being in midlife and later adulthood. 

00:00 - Why midlife is actually prime time

04:37 - The hinge moment & the pivot point

08:08 - Looking back vs. looking ahead

11:16 - The midlife crisis myth, explained

14:24 - Stability, identity, & personality change

18:42 - Traits of people who thrive in midlife

22:55 - What to do in retirement

26:53 - No one wants to look older

29:00 - Emotional regulation gets better with age

31:20 - Resilience, optimism, and sense of control

35:52 - Giving vs receiving in midlife relationships

38:36 - The U-shaped happiness curve is overstated

41:32 - Cognitive peak in midlife

40:36 - How your mindset can be anti-inflammatory

44:30 - Exercise as a panacea for health 

Referenced in the episode: 

Buy Lachman’s book here:

For more about the MIDUS study, visit: https://midus.wisc.edu/

Patent holder study: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733322001500 

We hope you enjoy this episode, and feel free to watch the full video on YouTube! Whether it's an article or podcast, we want to know what we can do to help here at mindbodygreen. Let us know at: podcast@mindbodygreen.com.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices