The findings of this 80-year-long research study have changed how I live my life. I will try to simplify & summarize it for easier reading. You can read more here.
A Harvard study, known as the Harvard Study of Adult Development, has been following the lives of 268 men for nearly 80 years (expanded to ~2000 people including the men’s children & wives).
The researchers wanted to answer the simple question, what makes people happy in life?
The participants, coming from different socio-economic backgrounds, mostly predicted it would be money or fame that would make them happy in life. They were wrong.
The study began in 1938 and followed the people throughout their lives, collecting data on their physical and mental health, career paths, and personal relationships.
They found out that the #1 thing that made people happy in life was “meaningful social relationships”, not money or fame or power or anything else people thought.
The study found that the people who had strong relationships with family, friends, and community were happier and healthier than those who did not.
Those with strong social support experienced less mental deterioration as they aged. People’s satisfaction with relationships was a stronger predictor of their health & longevity than cholesterol levels!
The study also found that the people who had close relationships and felt they could count on others lived longer than those who did not. People who had happy marriages in their 80s reported that their moods didn’t suffer even on the days when they had more physical pain.
The people who had strong childhoods with stable family environments & a good relationship with their mothers were more likely to have happy and healthy adult lives.
They found out loneliness kills. It had similar bad effects as smoking or alcoholism.
I hope you found these findings as insightful as I did. It really changed how I lead my life & it serves as a daily reminder of what matters most.
Stay kind,
Seeam
You can watch the famous Ted talk on this study that has over 25M views on YouTube.
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