And now for some very good news. Growing older isn't the tragedy we've been warned about.

New research - not pop psychology but a rigorous meta-analysis out of the University of Western Australia - suggests many of us reach our psychological peak at the age of 60.

Not at 25, when we're sleek, invincible and believe we'll live forever. Not at 40, when we're peaking at earning, parenting and panicking about the future. Emotional prime time, it turns out, occurs around 60, just as our bodies surrender to gravity and the mirror becomes more of a foe than a friend.

According to the study - which is backed by other new research - personality traits like conscientiousness, emotional stability and moral reasoning don't crest in your 20s and 30s. They rise into your 50s, peaking between the ages

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