A while ago, ChaliceChick wrote about the mid-life crises, wondering if they really existed, if they happened to women as well as men. Her thinking was prompted by an article about narcissism justified by mid-life crises.

But (drum roll, please) it’s real! It’s real! Yes, Middle Aged Misery Spans the Globe. It’s apparently a real phenomenon. Data from two million people from 80 countries demonstrated that there is a dramatic dip in happiness and life satisfaction around mid-life. The low point for women is age 40 and for men is age 50.

“Some people suffer more than others, but in our data the average effect is large,’’ said Dr. Oswald [one of the researchers]. “It happens to men and women, to single and married people, to rich and poor, and to those with and without children. Nobody knows why we see this consistency.”

Despair in midlife comes on slowly, but the good news is that it doesn’t last.

“It looks from the data like something happens deep inside humans,’’ Dr. Oswald said. “Only in their 50s do most people emerge from the low period. But encouragingly, by the time you are 70, if you are still physically fit, then on average you are as happy and mentally healthy as a 20-year-old. Perhaps realizing that such feelings are completely normal in midlife might even help individuals survive this phase better.”

So while a dip in happiness and satisfaction isn’t synonymous with a mid-life crisis, this is evidence that there definitely something seemingly unpleasant going on in middle age across cultures that isn’t necessarily related to sex, class, marital status, or child status. So that feeling? It’s not just in your head. It’s in the head of millions of other people too. What a relief. And keep exercising until you hit the other side.