Solid and quality social relationships are the factor that most influences personal happiness during life according to theHarvard Study of Adult Developmentlo longer study ever conducted on mental and physical well -being. Started in 1938the study followed over 2,000 people during their life and is currently directed by Robert Waldingerprofessor of psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School. In addition to making life more satisfying, this research has highlighted how human ties have a significant impact on health, helping to preserve the well -being of the mind and body over time.
The results of the longest study in the world on human happiness
From 1938 to today, researchers involved in the Harvard Study of Adult Development have followed more than 2000 people during the course of their lives, periodically monitoring their health and mental and physical well -being. This is the longest study on happiness ever conducted. Studying happiness requires time, precisely because it is not a simple passenger emotionbut a state of Wellness and fulfillment which is built and consolidated within a full life. It being understood that no one is happy all the time and that every life, in its own way, crosses periods of difficulty, challenges and uncertainties.
During the years of research, the participants of the study have grown and embarked on different life paths: some found success, others have lived failures, some built families, others have chosen to be alone. It is precisely by analyzing trajectories of life so varied that the researchers managed to find the key element that Had the happiest, healthy and long -lived people.
Regardless of social extraction, the study showed that happiest and healthy people were those who had built strong interpersonal bonds and satisfactory social relationships. Contrary to what one might think, the more value goals did not concern the financial success and the careerbut they all had to do with the human relationships built throughout life. In other words, the participants did not proudly remember their promotions and career leftovers, but they were happy to have been a Good parent, partner, friend or teacher.
The study also deepened the relationship between Wellness and economic successoften considered for cultural reasons an essential element for the achievement of happiness. Well, the analysis has shown that, exceeding an economic threshold that guarantees financial security, Money and career have a minimum impact on happiness. Indeed, many of the people who had dedicated their lives to work, as managers of prestigious companies, proved to be among the most unhappy and full of regrets during old age, due to the renunciations made in the name of the career.
How can social relationships favor our well -being?
One of the most surprising aspects that emerged from the study is that people with satisfactory social relationships were not only the happiest, but also the longest and best health, showing a lower probability of developing heart disease, diabetes and arthritis, as well as a slower cognitive decline.
According to Waldinger, social relationships carry out a protective role on our health by helping us to manage stress. When we face a stressful event, the heartbeat accelerates, the blood pressure increases, and the mind enters a state of continuous brood. This evolutionary response, which once served to prepare us to face the challenges and the dangers of the world, today can become maladactivemaking us trapped in one constant alert mode. This involves an increase in the circulating levels of stress hormones and of chronic inflammationtwo factors that over time make the body and increase the risk of diseases.
Having a trusted person to confide with and confront himself has an incredible instead calming power over the body and mindhelping to extinguish the chronic activation of stress. Those who tend to isolation, on the contrary, maintain higher stress levels for a prolonged timeremaining constantly in a mode of struggle or escape which may be deleterious for health.
In addition, social relationships are a sort of “gym” for our brain, making it active and stimulating the mind, thus slowing down the cognitive decline linked to aging.
The risks of social isolation according to Waldinger
As observed in the study, in the course of life, taken by the daily frenzy, between increasingly tight work rhythms, or by simple laziness, it is easy to let family and friendship bonds dry, sliding in a growing social isolation. A trend that, according to Waldinger, is as harmful to health as the smoking or abuse of alcohol. Hence his invitation to pay more attention to our most intimate social relationshipsthrough simple gestures that represent a real investment for health.
In short, after 87 years of researchone of the elements for our psychophysical well -being is theattention that we dedicate to others. On the other hand, as Waldinger himself points out: “Attention is the most elementary form of love, the most precious gift that we can offer each other”.
