Happy people do not just enjoy life, but also live longer
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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A new study showed that people in good spirits are 35% less likely to die in the next five years compared to sad individuals who find themselves in the same life situation.
The traditional way to measure happiness is simply to ask a person about it. True, over the past decades, explains psychologist and epidemiologist Andrew Steptou from University College London, scientists have realized that this is not too reliable. It is not clear that people appreciate their feelings or the memory of them. In addition, much depends on how and with what respondents compare their life experience.
"The English longitudinal study of aging" tried to get more specific figures. In the framework of the project, since 2002, more than 11,000 people aged 50 years and over are being monitored. In 2004, about 4,700 of them delivered saliva samples four times in one day and simultaneously assessed their degree of happiness, emotion, satisfaction, anxiety, anxiety and fear. Saliva is still waiting for an analysis of stress hormones, but the results of a survey of Mr. Stepto's colleague Jane Wardle have already been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Out of 924 respondents who had less positive feelings than others, 67 (7.3%) died within five years after the questionnaire. In the group with the most positive emotions, the death rate was twice lower: 50 out of 1 399 people (3.6%) died. Of course, it is quite possible that people who departed earlier were sad because of a deadly illness or other factors. Therefore, the researchers adjusted the results adjusted for age, sex, demographic factors (wealth, education), signs of depression, health (including the presence of serious diseases), as well as lifestyle (smoking, physical activity). But even after that, it turned out that the happy risk of dying for five years by 35% less.
Of course, this is not proof that happiness makes people live longer, Mr. Steptoe emphasizes. In addition, he notes: "We do not in any way want to make people feel guilty if they do not have enough positive emotions." On the other hand, the study once again emphasizes how vital life circumstances are. It is necessary to make sure that the elderly have enough money and social support, as well as everything is in order with access to medicine.
Laura Carstensen of Stanford University (USA) welcomes the findings of colleagues. This year, she published a similar study of a smaller scale in the journal Psychology and Aging. She and her colleagues recorded the emotions of 111 elderly residents of San Francisco five times a day for a week, and then watched them for many years. Indeed, it turned out that the happy live longer.