Science tells us 47 is when we are at our unhappiest — so what can we do about it?

Professor Brendan Kelly tells Suzanne Harrington the seven strategies for finding happiness

When Douglas Adams wrote his comedy science fiction series The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, he declared 42 the answer to life, the universe and everything. Science fact, however, shows that 47.2 in human years is when we feel furthest from comedy; it is the average age, globally, when we feel glummest. The U-bend of human chronology. The midlife slump.

As psychiatrist Brendan Kelly approached his 47th birthday, he wondered if he too would dip into misery. He decided to have a psychological, scientific and cultural look at happiness — to figure out who feels it most and least and why and, more importantly, what we can actively do to cultivate it.