Wrinkles and the prospect of death would be enough to make even the the cheeriest of OAPs cantankerous, but perhaps its all those accumulated years of wisdom and life experience - 85 is the age at which we are happiest.
In fact, a wide-reaching telephone poll of 340,000 people showed that after 50, people start progressively getting happier, reported Live Science.
People who were 85 revealed the US Gallup poll, showed the same sprightliness and enthusiasm for life as 18-year-olds.
One theory for this could be a focus on the smaller things in life, an appreciation for living in the present - a state of being that draws close parallels with mindfulness, which has been shown to enhance the quality of a person's life.
Similarly, it could also indicate that older people are better at handling negative emotions more effectively. "Older people are better able to recognise what will bother them, and better able to negotiate their environment," said Susan Turk Charles, a psychologist at the University of California, Irvine.
Older model and HuffPost blogger Alex B commented: "I think that by and large people are happier once they reach the half century milestone as they have learned to accept themselves. They can still improve upon the things that can be improved upon without setting unrealistic goals for themselves.
"There will always be those who are unhappy and wish to turn the clock back but let's face it, it is not going to happen! Life is a cycle and its good to accept it as such."
Dr. Arthur A Stone, a professor of psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, was the lead author of a study based on the survey.
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He said: "It could be that there are environmental changes, or it could be psychological changes about the way we view the world, or it could even be biological - for example brain chemistry or endocrine changes."
Last month, research from the Office of National Statistics revealed that people in their late 60s have similar levels of happiness as people in their 30s and are satisfied with their own health.