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What does Research say about Happiness?

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The secret to happiness may have to do with relatives and friends rather than money and fame, reports a recent scientific study.

The findings of a 75 years long study undertaken by Harvard University researchers to find out what makes people happy and healthy as they go through their lives, was presented by Dr Robert Waldinger, the fourth director of the long research project, in his crisp 12 minute TED talk “What makes a good Life. Lessons from the longest study on Happiness”, recently (http://ted.com/talks/robert_waldinger_what_makes_a_good_life_lessons_from_the_longest_study_on_happiness).

This unique study, the longest ever undertaken to study happiness, tracked the lives of hundreds of young people, rich and poor, starting from their teenage to their nineties. 

On expected lines, most youngsters, at the time of initial interview in 1930 when the study started, had mentioned money as the most important thing they thought they needed to make them happy. Some had said they wanted fame, and several others had said that they wanted both money and fame to achieve happiness in life. 

Over the 75 years, the participants were interviewed periodically and their perceptions of happiness were recorded each time to see if they changed.

By the time they were 50 years old, two types of people could be identified: those with lots of “relationships”, that is close bonds with relatives, friends and people, and another who were loners.  

When followed up further till their 80s and 90s, the researchers evaluated how happy the participants were and had been in their lives, and tried to see a pattern in their lives that could correlate with their state of mind and health.

In the TED talk, Dr. Waldinger says that the research failed to show any correlation of the wealth or fame they had achieved, with their health and happiness. 

What the researchers noted however was that the happy nonagenarians were far more likely to have had more relationships, often with many relatives and large families, or larger number of friends. 

On trying to look back at the lives of participants, the researchers note that those who had many good strong relationships at age 50 were far more likely to be happy and healthy in their nineties.  

Dr. Waldinger therefore goes on to conclude, that in order to be happy in life, investing time in relationships seem to be more important than acquiring money or fame. Building close warm bonds with relatives and friends seem to pay rich dividends later on.

Ever since I heard this talk, I am working to change my schedule to make more time for those seemingly unimportant occasions such as a cousin’s grandchild’s birthday, or a friend’s son’s marriage. Meeting people and spending time interacting with relatives and friends seem to be what we need to rediscover and get back in our increasingly busy lives.

I strongly urge you to listen to the talk and make up your minds.

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