Matthew McConaughey reveals surprising reason 40s are the best years of life before 'crisis'

Matthew McConaughey has some reassuring news if you're dreading getting older, and a reframe that might just change how you think about hitting the halfway point.

The actor, who recently turned 56, opened up about ageing on the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast, revealing that his 40s were his favourite decade by a distance.

And based on the conversations he's been having, he reckons he's far from alone in that.

"40s were my favorite decade," McConaughey said. "I think I really customized. And I found that to be true for a lot of people, especially a lot of the men I talked to."

The appeal, as he describes it, comes down to a kind of liberating clarity, a point in life where you stop wasting energy on things that don't serve you and start doubling down on what actually matters.

"You get rid of all that stuff where you're wasting your time and you're honing in on the stuff that turns you on," he said.

Matthew McConaughey appeared on the Jay Shetty Podcast (Jay Shetty Podcast)

What does McConaughey think about the 'Midlife Crisis'

If the 40s sound like a golden era, the 50s, at least the early ones, were a bumpier ride for McConaughey.

He admits the first few years of the decade left him feeling off-balance, prompting the inevitable question most people ask themselves around that time.

"The first few years of the 50s were a little wobbly for me," he said. "So you go, oh, is this that midlife crisis?"

But McConaughey takes issue with the framing. For him, the word 'crisis' misses the point entirely, and sells the experience short.

"I don't like the word crisis on that," he said. "Sounds like a midlife, for lack of a better word, opportunity."

Matthew McConaughey said his 40s were his favourite decade (Cedric Ribeiro/Getty Images for GEA)

His take is that the midlife moment, when a man looks back at what he's built and forward at what's still to come, is something almost universal. The problem, he argues, isn't the experience itself. It's the way people tend to discount everything they've already achieved when they get there.

"I think my hunch is that most people go through what they call a midlife crisis," he said.

"And if it's hard for them or not healthy for them, it's because maybe they're not given enough credit to what they actually have done to get there."