There is something extra special about the late summer sun.

It is like an unexpected present, or waking revived after a good night's sleep.

Earlier this week I followed the advice of a friend and took the coastal path to my office. The red rocks and expanse of pale blue sea beyond were mesmerising, despite the heavy in-box weighing down the smart phone in my pocket.

But, I am not about to lapse into poetry: "What is this life if, full of care/ We have not time to stand and stare." When William Henry Davies wrote this verse his life had its complications, but they did not include three small children, a part-time job and a mortgage. Were my husband to start quoting it to me when I urge him in from the garden to assist with bath time, I would probably punch him in the face.

I have, however, found time to mull over the findings of the latest Scottish Health Survey which along with alarming statistics about how fat people are, revealed that we are most content in our mid sixties and seventies.

Asked to rate their satisfaction with life out of 10, those over the age of 65 scored an average of eight and above. No-one else was this happy, and the 45-54 age group were the most dejected.

Experts told me other surveys have found a similar pattern and suggested juggling jobs and young children left people less enamoured with their existence.

I spend a lot of time writing and thinking about the difficulties of old age - loss of mobility and independence, bodily functions failing, isolation. It seemed counter-intuitive that the 75+ would be happier than the 45+ as this poll suggested.

Certainly the older folk who took part in the Scottish Health Survey, which interviewed more than 4,700 adults, had more health problems than the younger respondents - we know because they were asked about them.

One might speculate that the really frail did not participate because it was too difficult for them and the survey therefore had a bias towards the fitter septuagenarians and octogenarians who were pretty happy because they had, so far, escaped ailments afflicting their less fortunate friends and relatives.

But this is also the albeit slightly cliched lesson for those of us rushing around in middle age and scoring our lives 7.5. Are we really discontent with a quarter of our world - or are some of us just making mountains out of minor bumps in the road?

Commenting on the survey findings Age Scotland cautioned against complacency "when thousands of older people are suffering chronic loneliness" and I agree. It is infuriating to ask about the infrastructure Scotland has to deal with a growing elderly population, only to be given warm phrases about seeing the elderly as an asset not a burden as if all that is required is a change in perception.

But, sometimes a change of perception is all that is required and in my experience older people can really help those of us following in their footsteps to keep a sense of perspective.

There is a lot to be said about that late summer sunshine - if only we could bottle it.