Most people want to life a long and happy life, but only some are able to achieve it. And so, for decades, one question has often been thought of: What truly makes a happy life? Is it money, success, or fame?
Researching this, the Harvard Study of Adult Development— one of the longest and most detailed studies on human happiness which was done for 85-years — set out to find the answer. And what it revealed may change the way you look at your own life!
When participants were asked what they believed would make them happiest, most pointed to money or fame. But during the research as the years passed— and people's lives unfolded— the truth was discovered in a simpler manner. The study found that the people who lived the happiest, healthiest, and longest lives weren’t those who were the richest or the most famous. Instead, the happiest people were the ones who had good inter-personal relationships with others.
How was the study done
The Harvard Study began in 1938, during the Great Depression, following the lives of 268 Harvard sophomores. Over the years, it expanded to include 456 men from Boston’s inner-city neighborhoods, thus including people from different social and economic backgrounds only to figure out what's the secret to true happiness.
As decades passed, researchers followed participants through marriages, failures, illnesses, careers, parenting, and aging.
What emerged was a powerful, consistent truth: Relationships shape our lives more than anything else.
Today, more than 1,300 descendants of the original participants are still part of the study, helping scientists understand how love, stress, and connection shape health across generations.
Harvard’s 85-year study on the secret to true happiness
The study shows that despite most people thinking that money or fame would make them happy, the reality is that it is strong, supportive relationships— with partners, family, friends, and community— that have a profound impact on how happy we are as a person. Our relationships are the single most powerful predictor of long-term happiness and health, the study found. How? Well, when the going gets tough it is these relationships that offer us comfort, meaning during ordinary days, and protection against both emotional and physical decline over the years.
And it isn't about having too many interpersonal relationships or a busy social calendar. Instead, it is all about having deep, warm and trustworthy bonds— knowing someone would be there when life fell tough.
“The surprising finding is that our relationships, and how happy we are in those relationships, have a powerful influence on our health,” says Dr. Robert Waldinger, the study’s director and a Harvard psychiatrist, as per a report by ZME Science.
Taking care of your body still matters. But, as Waldinger puts it, taking care of your relationships is a form of self-care too. And that may be the study’s greatest revelation.
7 things that truly makes people happier, as per Harvard study
After tracking participants' lives for over than 85 years, the study found some of the things that truly made people happier in life:
1. Supportive relationships: When it comes to relationships and happiness, it is the quality that matters most over quantity. Fewer yet deeper bonds matter more than many shallow ones, the study found.
2. Emotional resilience and a positive outlook towards life: How you handle stress and bounce back to life has a huge impact on how happy you are in life
3. Healthy habits: Having an active lifestyle, balanced eating, limiting alcohol, and no smoking-- all of these contribute to a healthier and longer life that makes one happier
4. Social and community engagement: Feeling connected and involved beyond yourself
5. Purposeful work and meaningful retirement: Staying engaged and feeling useful at every stage of life
6. A nurturing early environment: Early emotional safety shapes healthier relationships later
7. Ongoing “social fitness”: This means, regularly reflecting on your relationships with others and nurturing those which are truly important.
Do you agree too with the study's outcomes? Tell us what truly makes you happy in life in the comments section below.
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