If the final third of your life is meant to be joyful and content, then why do so many older adults find themselves disappointed and unhappy?

Around retirement age, the thinking goes, people enter a period of life called the “Golden Years.” This is the time when you no longer have to worry about working and raising kids—only having fun. You can finally travel without using up vacation days at work. You can wake up at your preferred time every morning, spending the day how you want. At last, you have the time for the favorite sport or hobby that you once had to squeeze into a busy schedule.

The golden years also signal an age of wisdom. After countless mistakes and lived experiences, you’ve accumulated a treasure trove of life lessons. You’re not fumbling in the dark anymore—you know who you are and how the world works.

The best part? You’re still healthy, mobile, and sharp; you can enjoy this next chapter to the fullest.

At least, that’s the expectation. Sadly, many adults ages 65 and over are living a very different reality, one where the years don’t seem so golden. Maybe nothing about retirement feels particularly special, and you’re left wondering… “Is this it?” Or, maybe you don’t feel wiser, rather you feel sad, disconnected, and hopeless in this new phase of life. Perhaps your health isn’t great, either.

In any case, this much is clear: It’s not a “Golden Age” for everybody.

Factors That Can Tarnish Your Golden Years

Seniors may not have the same pressures or responsibilities they once had, but that doesn’t mean their lives are care-free—far from it, in fact. As many older adults know, aging presents unique challenges that can make life seem less rosy.

Retirement Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up To Be

For many seniors, retirement looks much different from what they’d been led to expect. While some retirees do enjoy traveling and find fulfillment in new activities, others feel they’ve lost a key part of their identity when they leave their professional lives behind.

For many people, their work offers them meaning and purpose in their lives. When their job is gone, it can be difficult to fill that gap with something else

—— said Iris Waichler, a Chicago-based licensed social worker who specializes in elder care.¹

When retirees struggle to find new meaning and purpose, they can become sad or depressed.

Plus, many people form social connections through their careers. Once that career has wrapped up, many social connections do, too, especially if you’re the only one in your cohort who’s retired. For some retirees, it can feel like they’ve lost touch with an entire network of friends practically overnight. And if they live alone and/or don’t have other strong friendships to lean on, older adults can quickly become lonely and socially isolated after retirement. Ultimately, many get depressed.²

Depression Hits Seniors Hardest

Sadly, mental health issues in older adults are often misunderstood, with depression still primarily considered a young person’s disorder.

But thanks to recent studies, more people are realizing that older adults are hardly exempt from depression. In fact, research published in the prestigious journal The Lancet Psychiatry suggests that older adults experience depression more severely, and their symptoms last longer than those of younger adults.

Consider this: After researchers followed over a thousand adults (of all ages) with depression for two years, they found that people over the age of 70 were the worst off in every indicator studied, including:³

In addition to dealing with symptoms such as sadness, irritability, hunger changes, and memory problems, older adults with depression are also at risk for a weakened immune system and complications from other health issues.⁵

Older adults can get depressed for many reasons, such as dissatisfaction with retired life, social isolation, losing a loved one, and managing a chronic health condition. However, the Lancet Psychiatry study found that old age was a significant risk factor for depression on its own.⁶ While researchers aren’t sure why or what this finding means, it appears that depression in older adults is more complicated than we give it credit for.

Living Alone Becomes More Common

For many older adults, there comes a point when they start living alone—a partner passes away, a divorce happens, or the family moves out.

There’s nothing with living alone—millions of people consider themselves a party of one! But for some retirees, living alone is a strange experience, especially if they’re used to a full house. It can also be tougher to get the social interaction you need to be happy and healthy when you live alone.

Being connected to others socially is widely considered a fundamental human need—crucial to both well-being and survival

—— said Julianne Holt-Lunstad, PhD, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at Brigham Young University.⁸

If you don’t get enough social connections, you can become lonely, which is not only a bad place to be but also carries health risks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns that loneliness and social isolation increase your risk of heart disease, stroke, depression, and anxiety.⁹ Plus, it increases your dementia risk by a whopping 50%.¹⁰ (Dementia is a general term for symptoms that affect memory, problem-solving, and other thinking abilities.)¹¹

Having A Chronic Health Condition Is A Pain

As anyone with a chronic illness can testify, health problems only make life more complicated. And even if you manage to steer clear of medical diagnoses for most of your life, the golden years are when many people start racking them up, often for chronic or long-lasting health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and cancer.

Typically, a chronic condition comes with symptoms that are annoying at best and painful—or even life-threatening—at worst. Sometimes, those symptoms can interrupt regular daily life or throw a wrench in vacation plans and social events. For example, having knee arthritis or lung disease can make travel uncomfortable to the point of sucking all the fun out of it. And remembering to check your blood sugar and take your medications for managing diabetes can turn an otherwise care-free outing into a headache.

Plus, the CDC notes that having a chronic health condition increases your risk for depression, putting older adults at an even greater disadvantage for mental health issues.¹³

Don’t Worry, You Can Still Make These Your Golden Years!

If you’re feeling down about how your golden years are going, rest assured that you can always make them more golden. Supporting your emotional health with AshwaMag is a great start. We’ve got tons of helpful content on the way that will show you how to be the happiest, healthiest version of yourself. So, be sure to watch your inbox in the coming weeks!

¹ Retirement Depression: Coping With the Emotional Pain. PsychCentral. May 13, 2022.
² What Causes Depression in the Elderly? Understanding Your Loved One’s Mental Health. Institute on Aging.
³ Schaakxs R, Comijs HC, Lamers F, et al. Associations Between Age and the Course of Major Depressive Disorder: A 2-Year Longitudinal Cohort Study. The Lancet Psychiatry. June 7, 2018.
⁴ Depression - Ages 65+ in United States. America’s Health Rankings analysis of CDC, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, United Health Foundation.
⁵ Zenebe Y, Akele B, Selassie M, et al. Prevalence and Determinants of Depression Among Old Age: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Annals of General Psychiatry. 2021.
⁶ Schaakxs R, Comijs HC, Lamers F, et al. Associations Between Age and the Course of Major Depressive Disorder: A 2-Year Longitudinal Cohort Study. The Lancet Psychiatry. June 7, 2018.
⁷ Share of One-Person Households More Than Tripled from 1940 to 2020. U.S. Census Bureau. June 8, 2023.
⁸ The Risks of Social Isolation. Monitor on Psychology - American Psychological Association. May 2019.
⁹ Loneliness and Social Isolation Linked to Serious Health Conditions. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. April 29, 2021.
¹⁰  Loneliness and Social Isolation Linked to Serious Health Conditions. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. April 29, 2021.
¹¹ What Is Dementia? Alzheimer’s Association.
¹² Depression is Not a Normal Part of Growing Older. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Last reviewed September 14, 2022.
¹³ Depression is Not a Normal Part of Growing Older. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Last reviewed September 14, 2022.