654: Why your 40s & 50s are your most powerful years yet | psychologist Margie Lachman, Ph.D.

"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: [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices