One of my brothers forwarded a March 2023 CNBC article highlighting a “Harvard Study on Adult Development” originated in 1938, and still going strong, to determine what makes people healthy and happy. It made me think back to this forum’s Post #51 from August 2022 titled “Happiness”.
Background. The sources for Post #51 were Morgan Housel’s 2020 book, The Psychology of Money, and Angus Campbell’s 1981 book, The Sense of Wellbeing in America.
- Campbell’s main finding, summed up: “Having a strong sense of controlling one’s life is a more dependable predictor of positive feelings of wellbeing than any of the objective conditions of life we have considered.”
- Housel’s: “People want to become wealthier to make them happier. Happiness is a complicated subject because everyone’s different. But if there’s a common denominator in happiness- a universal fuel of joy- it’s that people want to control their lives….The ability to do what you want, when you want, with who you want, for as long as you want, is priceless. It is the highest dividend money pays.”
Ergo, having (some degree of) wealth should give one (some degree of) happiness.
Well, that’s a pretty useless conclusion, isn’t it?
So I’ll stay away from further use of false logic and stick with highlighting other individuals’ measured research and conclusions. Housel’s book is a very interesting read (I haven’t read Campbell’s book), but the purpose of this post is to expand the dialogue on “happiness”.
Back to this March 2023 CNBC article. Actually not. The CNBC article led me to do a few more mouse clicks on the subject, and soon I was at an April 2017 Harvard Gazette article which covered the study in a more thorough manner, and thus I’ll provide a link to that article instead:
Over nearly 80 years, Harvard study has been showing how to live a healthy and happy life
Researchers started with tracking the health of 268 Harvard sophomores (already a research sample problem as they were all men- there were no women in Harvard in 1938). As of 2017, 19 were still alive, all in their mid 90s.
Later the study expanded to include the study group’s offspring, and in the 1970s a related study was incorporated to expand the research group to include 456 Boston inner city participants. Sometime between 2000-2010 the study added wives of the original group and the Boston inner city group.
“The surprising finding is that our relationships and how happy we are in our relationships has a powerful influence on our health,” said Robert Waldinger, director of the study, a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. “Taking care of your body is important, but tending to your relationships is a form of self-care too. That, I think, is the revelation.”
Further, research indicates, “Close relationships, more than money or fame, are what keep people happy throughout their lives, the study revealed. Those ties protect people from life’s discontents, help to delay mental and physical decline, and are better predictors of long and happy lives than social class, IQ, or even genes. That finding proved true across the board among both the Harvard men and the inner-city participants.”
Researchers found “…a strong correlation between men’s flourishing lives and their relationships with family, friends, and community. Several studies found that people’s level of satisfaction with their relationships at age 50 was a better predictor of physical health than their cholesterol levels were.”
“Good relationships don’t just protect our bodies; they protect our brains,” said Waldinger in his (2015) TED talk. “And those good relationships, they don’t have to be smooth all the time. Some of our octogenarian couples could bicker with each other day in and day out, but as long as they felt that they could really count on the other when the going got tough, those arguments didn’t take a toll on their memories.”
“Aging is a continuous process,” Waldinger said. “You can see how people can start to differ in their health trajectory in their 30s, so that by taking good care of yourself early in life you can set yourself on a better course for aging. The best advice I can give is ‘Take care of your body as though you were going to need it for 100 years,’ because you might.” (See Post #64 on medical breakthroughs and Aging)
Further, “The study showed that the role of genetics and long-lived ancestors proved less important to longevity than the level of satisfaction with relationships in midlife, now recognized as a good predictor of healthy aging. The research also debunked the idea that people’s personalities (are) “set like plaster” by age 30 and cannot be changed.”
“It’s easy to get isolated, to get caught up in work and not remembering, ‘Oh, I haven’t seen these friends in a long time,’ ” Waldinger said. “So I try to pay more attention to my relationships than I used to.”
So, if you get an email or a call from me asking if I can stop by next week for a short visit, know that I am working on my life longevity. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go tell my wife how much I love her….
And I dare you to show this to your wife.
I am finding happiness is what most in the world pursue. And after being part of many mens groups over the years a common fear we heard was men joined these groups because they did not want to be friendless in their 40’s, 50’s and beyond. Many find happiness, identity and relationships from their careers.
What many fail to pursue or even recognize is pure joy. What is the difference between happiness and joy? Great question and one I can’t define but I can tell you when you experience the difference you know.
There is no better feeling in one’s heart than pure joy and peace. Healthy relationships absolutely can deliver pure joy. Where does joy come from? I go to my number one source on joy……….the bible where joy or rejoice are mentioned 300 times while happiness is mentioned about 30. God has a lot to say about joy and I find it worth the pursuit.
Amen, Brother (and I mean Brother in many senses)! The more I read and talk about this subject, the more I want to add to the conversation. And my retirement “vision” expands.