I totally disagree. If anger and stress can reduce your life span by giving you hearth issues, muscles spasms/tightness, and making your brain not functioning correctly, It totally reduces your life spam. However, when you genuine smiles your body muscles relax, and your brain produces good chemical which is not permanent but it is good, it does extend your life spam. I am a often crampy and I can feel the effects of it on my body such as digestive irregularities, headache, inability to sleep, and more. I often have been jealous of others because I can not smile so often as other people do. It is when the fake smile come in place. It freaks me out not be able to be happy so often because I know it makes me unhealthy, and without energy. This article is trying to make crampy people happy. lol.... (HAPPYNESS DOES EXTEND YOUR LIFE AND BRINGS YOU GOOD HEALTH).
2
This study seems to have motivated poking fun and responding with clever comebacks, many of which are highly entertaining. My own belief, even to the lead before reading the content, was that since the mind influences the body’s chemistry and the body’s chemistry and nerve sensations are felt by the messages transported to the brain, that patterns of thinking, everyday choices we make, and repressed emotions that have never been acknowledged, have a massive impact on our health and happiness. This is known even as folk and farmer wisdom. Died of shock, died of a broken heart, died of too much excitement, died of hopelessness, died of shunning, died of ruin. Bernie Siegel, renown cancer surgeon, often talked his patients through distress during surgery. Blood pressure drops dangerously. “Come back Harry. We’re doing great. It’s not your time to go,” Bernie would say. Up comes the blood pressure. “Good job Harry. We almost finished. You’re going to wake up feeling fine.” Optimism heals. At the same time, it is probably a fact that grumpy people enjoy their attitude and that is why they don’t kick the bucket until they are good and ready.
6
I won't let this news cheer me up.
11
This is interesting, and Peto may well be right. It can't be any fun to experience both longevity as well as stress, anxiety and depression. If you're going to be around for a while, you might as well cheer up and make the most of it.
3
Is all about balance, I think.
Happy people are probably less concerned about the number of years they'll have on this earth than they are about the quality of those years. Being happy may not help me live longer, but it surely helps me live better.
6
I don't think that this study proves that stress and poor health are NOT related.
This reminds me of the old joke. One lady turns to another, "The food is so bad, here," she complains. "Yes," says her friend, "and the portions are so small."
Who wanted more of a bad thing?
Who wanted more of a bad thing?
3
What I like best about these articles on medical research is reading the comments of all those people who believe they know how to do medical research better than the medical researchers. If only the population at large was that smart...
4
You mean nature won't put you out of your misery? :/
Happiness is just the absence of fear - fear of the past, fear of the future. That's why people seek activities that put them in the moment, be it physical activity, reading a book, making or watching art, cooking, yoga and meditation, crossword puzzles, you name it - because when you are in the moment, you are not thinking about all the things that make you fearful, and therefore you are happy.
3
The pursuit of happiness is an illusion. Escape from unhappiness is understandable.
1
I guess that Grumpy Cat will live to be 1000.
Finally. I will share the news with my grumpy 94 year old mother.
9
Aside from mortality issues, you happy few (Henry V) irritate the hell out of us grumps.
19
Happiness for me would be feeling like hard work, and the willingness to do it, and doing it well, would result in decent pay, decent vacation time, a decent standard of living without the constant worry that I'll need medical care I can't afford even with Obamacare, and that I can plan for the future instead of realizing that I'm 57 and worthless.
13
So, is life span quantity supposed to me a more meaningful measure than quality of life?
If I looked into a crystal ball and foresaw that I was going to kick the bucket at age 90, regardless of my prior emotional patterns, I would certainly prefer to be generally happy, versus generally unhappy.
Also, I think that healthy lifestyle choices regarding diet, exercise, openness to new experiences, etc. can have very significant effects on the quality of both physical and emotional health.
If I looked into a crystal ball and foresaw that I was going to kick the bucket at age 90, regardless of my prior emotional patterns, I would certainly prefer to be generally happy, versus generally unhappy.
Also, I think that healthy lifestyle choices regarding diet, exercise, openness to new experiences, etc. can have very significant effects on the quality of both physical and emotional health.
5
I hope that stress and happiness were two separate questions. One can be unhappy but not stressed - the unhappiness may be a form of ennui or loneliness or just frustration with how life is turning out. One can also be generally happy but stressed out over simply having too much to do.
7
it's good to see something serious study on this serious issue. as a chronic illness sufferer i found my illness has almost nothing to do with my happiness, yet people continued to tell me otherwise, as if they know me better than i do to myself.
i agree that there's some definitions in this article need to be clear out: happiness, stress, quality of life, well being, physical being, mortality, etc. what i want to make it clear is that stress does do harm to physical condition, especially heart. this is because stress interferes our rest, which is essential to our physical condition (diet, rest, two of the most essential factors to our mortality. the next would be exercise). and happiness is indeed a measure of our holistic well being, and do affect our physical part of well being, but very very indirectly, or remotely.
i agree that there's some definitions in this article need to be clear out: happiness, stress, quality of life, well being, physical being, mortality, etc. what i want to make it clear is that stress does do harm to physical condition, especially heart. this is because stress interferes our rest, which is essential to our physical condition (diet, rest, two of the most essential factors to our mortality. the next would be exercise). and happiness is indeed a measure of our holistic well being, and do affect our physical part of well being, but very very indirectly, or remotely.
4
A medical conclusion based on self-reporting??? I'm not an MD or even a statistician, but as a veteran high school teacher of about 7K English IV students, I always asked my students to self-report on (among other criteria) whether they were "happy" with my English IV class. Even those who were not likely to graduate high school because they were failing my class, reported that they had enjoyed "thier" time in English IV. I did not ask for a definition of "happy", but according to the self-reporting, a good time was had by most.
3
Media, perhaps believes and implements it literally. As such we rarely find happiness related stories. For decades we have been fed umpteen number of horrible stories and still we have survived like China Wall.
We find people in abundance taking delight by finding fault with others. There is a saying in Telugu " Paapi Chirayuvu " . It literally means the meanest person lives longer than the good people.
Whatever one may say, the pleasure one derives by helping the needy lasts forever since their smiling faces make one strong enough to continue the good deeds as long as one can. So let us cherish whatever little good deeds we have done and let's be happy and cheerful. That satisfaction itself pushes our diseases to a far distant place.
We find people in abundance taking delight by finding fault with others. There is a saying in Telugu " Paapi Chirayuvu " . It literally means the meanest person lives longer than the good people.
Whatever one may say, the pleasure one derives by helping the needy lasts forever since their smiling faces make one strong enough to continue the good deeds as long as one can. So let us cherish whatever little good deeds we have done and let's be happy and cheerful. That satisfaction itself pushes our diseases to a far distant place.
1
Am I missing something?
Good health must include a solid diet, exercise, proper sleep and managed stress.
To isolate happiness as going hand in hand with health without considering physical factors is limited.
Good health must include a solid diet, exercise, proper sleep and managed stress.
To isolate happiness as going hand in hand with health without considering physical factors is limited.
4
The time and money wasted on some 'studies' never ceases to amaze me? What is the point of this study? Any long-term health benefits aside, our day-to-day lives go better when we 'feel' happy. So anything we can do to facilitate that, I'd say is a good thing. Also, most people prefer to be around happy campers vs Debbie Downers. So ignore this study and do yourself and the rest of society a favor: try and figure out what makes you happy and if you are able, make it a reality.
5
Ah! "If you are able..." There's the rub. What if you're not?
3
According to the headline of this article “Happiness Doesn't Bring Good Health, a Study Says”
No, that is not what the study says. The author of this article uses wrong logic to create a sensational headline. This study is not about the relationship between happiness and good health. This study is about the relationship between happiness and the increased risk of death. According to the article “When the answers were analyzed statistically, unhappiness and stress were not associated with an increased risk of death.”
No, that is not what the study says. The author of this article uses wrong logic to create a sensational headline. This study is not about the relationship between happiness and good health. This study is about the relationship between happiness and the increased risk of death. According to the article “When the answers were analyzed statistically, unhappiness and stress were not associated with an increased risk of death.”
4
It seems to suggest that being "happy" means you are stress-free. Happiness is to me a state of mind, an emotion. Not a physical or psychological condition. I think this study is probably one of those one can ignore and file under "Hmmm".
3
"This type of study, which depends on participants’ self-assessments, is not considered as reliable as a rigorously designed experiment in which subjects are picked at random and assigned to a treatment or control group."
True, but it is not possible to randomize people to a happy versus unhappy group!
True, but it is not possible to randomize people to a happy versus unhappy group!
1
Don't worry be happy or the corporotocracy will not think youre putting your back into it. The American collective psyche is moronic but it gets the job done.
3
There is no standard definition of "health", so I assume that the authors are actually using disease and death as measures.
The value of happiness in life is self-evident. In my view, it is a fundamental part of a "healthy" existence as long as one doesn't consider health to be disease.
The value of happiness in life is self-evident. In my view, it is a fundamental part of a "healthy" existence as long as one doesn't consider health to be disease.
2
We all die, eventually, so we might as well be happy along the journey to the grave.
1
From personal experience, I have found that many mean and cantankerous people live a very long time. No justice there...
7
It's like the saying about perfectionists, they (the resolutely unhappy) take great pains and give them to others . . .
2
I think we need to ask different questions depending on what we believe is the purpose of human life. Gandhi, Jesus, MLK, Roosevelt were not necessarily happier than the average person who avoided the difficult challenges of their generation. But surely these people felt that their confrontation of difficult even life threatening problems was worth the pain and suffering which their path created. To confront injustice is risky and dangerous, but it is deeply meaningful. Is the aim of life to be comfortable and pleasant or is our aim to work for justice and compassion throughout the world?
3
Additionally, while Gandhi, Jesus, MLK and Rosevelt lived lives of purpose and meaning DOES NOT mean that an average joe or jane doesn't not have a purposeful life. There can be meaning and purpose in the mundane that makes any life worth living.
1
Has no one else noticed that the very next article in this section ("So Lonely It Hurts") is completely contradictory to this one??
8
Yes. I did and thanks for mentioning!
1
Not at all contradictory. Neither study equates loneliness with unhappiness, and this study deals with mortality whereas the other doesn't. Those are not insignificant differences. Read.
So adding to the troubles of the unhappy is the justified anticipation of a long life of long suffering. Nice.
8
The human physiology adopts to the stress well and little stress may do some good. My wife blames me for her health problems because I am stressing her out. I kept saying that the stress has nothing to do with her health. Now I have proof if she believes in it.
2
The Take-Home Quote:
“Believing things that aren’t true isn’t a good idea,” Professor Peto said in an interview. “There are enough scare stories about health."
Popular health nonsense is rife, endemic and widely spread by TV 'doctors', celebrities and health magazines that are nothing but thinly disguised advertisements for products. All supported by the 100 billion dollar a year health food and supplement industry.
Please note -- they did not measure "happiness" and "healthiness" or the general feeling of well-being (How healthy a person feels?) or even how or how often they were sick. They measured only "Did the happy people die more or less than unhappy people?"
Me? I'd rather die happy then unhappy, even at the same rate.
“Believing things that aren’t true isn’t a good idea,” Professor Peto said in an interview. “There are enough scare stories about health."
Popular health nonsense is rife, endemic and widely spread by TV 'doctors', celebrities and health magazines that are nothing but thinly disguised advertisements for products. All supported by the 100 billion dollar a year health food and supplement industry.
Please note -- they did not measure "happiness" and "healthiness" or the general feeling of well-being (How healthy a person feels?) or even how or how often they were sick. They measured only "Did the happy people die more or less than unhappy people?"
Me? I'd rather die happy then unhappy, even at the same rate.
3
What about men and "happiness" v. unhappiness in terms of health and wll being?
Are not genetic and hormonal issues potentially involved here?
Women outlive men, whether these women are happy or not, and many men would be happier, healthier, and probably live longer if the women they lived with were "happy", or left if they were unhappy!
Are not genetic and hormonal issues potentially involved here?
Women outlive men, whether these women are happy or not, and many men would be happier, healthier, and probably live longer if the women they lived with were "happy", or left if they were unhappy!
2
This study was about women. Maybe there's one about men on the way.
I still wanna be happy although this is true.
2
maybe happiness makes people more careless and this cancels out any benefits?
1
This study seems to suggest that, for a particular population, if you adjust for poor health, then mortality is not related to being happy/unhappy. That is, if you are a woman who is healthy at age 50 in Britain, then being happy or unhappy in the next ten years or so, does not affect your chances of dying in that time period. So, all you 50 year old healthy women in Britain, go ahead and be unhappy if you want, and if nothing else changes between the previous 10 years period and the next one, you are somewhat likely to be alive at the same rate as your happy peers till 2024. Not so fast, you unhealthy 50 year old women in Britain, you better focus on getting happy if you want to stay alive till 2024. Note that one way to get happier is to ignore over-confident statistical studies on health.
2
“Good news for the grumpy,” said Sir Richard Peto...
Sorry Sir Richard but there's never good news for the grumpy.
Sorry Sir Richard but there's never good news for the grumpy.
3
First, the Lancet tells us there is a causal effect between vaccines and autism, and later retracts it. Now it absurdly says there is no link between stress and health. Anyone with life experience and even a remote understanding of human nature knows that stress has an effect on health.
Furthermore, it is bizarre to create a study based on an arbitrary definition of a vague term like happiness. The Lancet continues to hold no credibility with me.
Furthermore, it is bizarre to create a study based on an arbitrary definition of a vague term like happiness. The Lancet continues to hold no credibility with me.
5
"Believing things that aren't true isn't a good idea." That from Sir Richard Peto is the quote of the day.
4
This makes tons of sense to me because being "happy" and flying by the seat of your pants attitude does not correlate with the more conscientious, planner type who is healthier and lives longer. I am content with my life because of my age and acknowledgment of reality. But I am totally a planner which includes exercise, fitness, meals, and being very pro-active. We are the ones scheduling our colonoscopy appointments ahead of time!
The overly happy, sappy people I have known seem to also not be planners and overinvolved with religion with the attitude that God will take care of everything. and guess what -- he doesn't. It also seems that higher intelligence does not correlate with super happiness because brighter people are much more aware of life's pitfalls and preparing for them.
A touch of neurosis is good for your health.
The overly happy, sappy people I have known seem to also not be planners and overinvolved with religion with the attitude that God will take care of everything. and guess what -- he doesn't. It also seems that higher intelligence does not correlate with super happiness because brighter people are much more aware of life's pitfalls and preparing for them.
A touch of neurosis is good for your health.
3
Oh dear. This study conflated stress and unhappiness, two wholly different animals. It is entirely possible to be chronically unhappy as a matter of psychological makeup without being "stressed." Similarly, it's possible to be very happy and yet be under great stress.
More helpful would be a comparison of those who go through life as self-described happy people overall, and those who tend to be unhappy, again, regardless of what life sends their way. Add input on both their objective stressors and their health conditions, and you might build a more accurate picture.
However, as a fan of both the Grumpy Cat and Grumpy Future President, I'll grudgingly accept the findings.
More helpful would be a comparison of those who go through life as self-described happy people overall, and those who tend to be unhappy, again, regardless of what life sends their way. Add input on both their objective stressors and their health conditions, and you might build a more accurate picture.
However, as a fan of both the Grumpy Cat and Grumpy Future President, I'll grudgingly accept the findings.
2
I think the research is skewed. They looked at woman between the ages of 50-69. After 50 you find happiness because your are beyond the stresses of child rearing, boy problems, self image, etc. But, you are also smack in the middle of all the health issues that started in your 40's. You are mentally healthier and even happier but your body--lol-- is falling apart! This is why we cannot take one peice of research as the gospel, over time large bodies of information give us a more balanced view of what's really going on.
3
While I agree almost wholeheartedly with the patent form and findings of the "study" and I suppose the researchers didn't use their idle hours uncompensated but it also probably provided some scotch and cigars overtime that produced more than a bit of laughter (and isn't laughter the best medicine? Without opposition!).
So while one possibly unsubstantiated conclusion may be that "happiness does not bring good health", it nowhere follows that unhappiness does not cause illness or poor health. May very well die of a broken heart. Many have confided losing "the will to live" sitting through a public Board of Public Assistance meeting that in a thumbnail showed the apathetic motivational display of well-to-do occupying voluntary chairs, which is spiritually a better past act than the manners in which some less fortunate are branded.
No contest stress is caused by heart problems, emotional imbalances caused by an insufficient nutrition or other speculative culprits, but once you're hooked up with heart treatment might as well try a little stress reduction also, note also, which is receiving acceptance if reluctantly by young blades and some old saws.
Really worth the read. Not news, but an admission thinly veiled that as Dr. Fischhoff observes "looks to me like people have collected a lot of data without finding a clear signal." Please show us a sign, but don't continue to charge fishing expeditions up to increases in health care costs or the ACA.
So while one possibly unsubstantiated conclusion may be that "happiness does not bring good health", it nowhere follows that unhappiness does not cause illness or poor health. May very well die of a broken heart. Many have confided losing "the will to live" sitting through a public Board of Public Assistance meeting that in a thumbnail showed the apathetic motivational display of well-to-do occupying voluntary chairs, which is spiritually a better past act than the manners in which some less fortunate are branded.
No contest stress is caused by heart problems, emotional imbalances caused by an insufficient nutrition or other speculative culprits, but once you're hooked up with heart treatment might as well try a little stress reduction also, note also, which is receiving acceptance if reluctantly by young blades and some old saws.
Really worth the read. Not news, but an admission thinly veiled that as Dr. Fischhoff observes "looks to me like people have collected a lot of data without finding a clear signal." Please show us a sign, but don't continue to charge fishing expeditions up to increases in health care costs or the ACA.
1
A person can be happy but still have stress. Stress does affect health in the short term and long term. Quantifying happiness or stress is clearly an inexact measure, so results based on those numbers are very broad brush at best. Some people can tolerate stress, others not so much. Ether type of person can choose to be happy if they wish.
2
Maybe crabby people release their feelings of stress, while positive thinkers are busy repressing their emotions and denying the reality that is going to come back to bite them in the butt eventually.
Perhaps everyone is happy sometimes, and unhappy at other times. And perhaps the difference is whether or not you release uncomfortable feelings (whether by exercising or by venting verbally or whatever) and let your life flow on to the next phase.
If you don't release stress or emotional distress, maybe you're pushing down your feelings and trying to run away from them, so that you can think more positively. Maybe that pushing down feelings and thinking positively is what adds unnecessary stress to life and makes already occurring illnesses much more difficult.
Perhaps everyone is happy sometimes, and unhappy at other times. And perhaps the difference is whether or not you release uncomfortable feelings (whether by exercising or by venting verbally or whatever) and let your life flow on to the next phase.
If you don't release stress or emotional distress, maybe you're pushing down your feelings and trying to run away from them, so that you can think more positively. Maybe that pushing down feelings and thinking positively is what adds unnecessary stress to life and makes already occurring illnesses much more difficult.
4
This seems rather tortured. Maybe stress has nothing to do with it anyway.
1
This study is generalizable to one group and one group only: Older British women
1
...older British women but not old enough that very many of them would be expected to die. The study counted how many died. Wait til they are 80 when you have a bigger sample of dead ones.
I am over 80 and these are my thoughts, posted early this a.m :
I am 81 and have been happy and miserable upon various stages of my life, never smoked or drank, no heart problems, diabetes or allergies etc. Worked until 70 and has a problem with hypertension at one point in my 40's. Married once, early, separated then remarried the same man 12 years later. Been together ever since and he is my best friend. We are complete opposites. For starters he is a night person and I get up with the birds, singing. Had my first surgery this year for a broken arm, literally flew through the air at an airport running for a plane, crashed and earned a plate and 2 screws in my left arm. And both eyes operated on for cataracts. I cannot take this article seriously, it real is amusing and quite toshy. One thing I have learned, one absolutely CANNOT depend on another human being for one's happiness. Dogs do a better job of empathizing. I do not want to live until 100 unless I can maintain good health and mental stability; and it is absolutely appalling to see one's children going bald and grey and grand babies becoming doctors and soccer moms!!!!
I am 81 and have been happy and miserable upon various stages of my life, never smoked or drank, no heart problems, diabetes or allergies etc. Worked until 70 and has a problem with hypertension at one point in my 40's. Married once, early, separated then remarried the same man 12 years later. Been together ever since and he is my best friend. We are complete opposites. For starters he is a night person and I get up with the birds, singing. Had my first surgery this year for a broken arm, literally flew through the air at an airport running for a plane, crashed and earned a plate and 2 screws in my left arm. And both eyes operated on for cataracts. I cannot take this article seriously, it real is amusing and quite toshy. One thing I have learned, one absolutely CANNOT depend on another human being for one's happiness. Dogs do a better job of empathizing. I do not want to live until 100 unless I can maintain good health and mental stability; and it is absolutely appalling to see one's children going bald and grey and grand babies becoming doctors and soccer moms!!!!
Let's not get caught up in the question "What is happiness?" At long last, this study validates that unhappiness does not cause overall ill health. The writer refers to the "tendency to blame the sick for bringing ailments on themselves by being negative."
I have heard this accusation from doctors who are unable or unwilling to treat the patient holistically. When an illness is difficult to diagnose or manage, it is easy for a doctor to blame the patient's negative attitude, and then refer the patient for the now-so-popular Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Dummies. That lets the doctor off the hook.
I have heard this accusation from doctors who are unable or unwilling to treat the patient holistically. When an illness is difficult to diagnose or manage, it is easy for a doctor to blame the patient's negative attitude, and then refer the patient for the now-so-popular Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Dummies. That lets the doctor off the hook.
6
Bummer.
this would be a partner study of a few years ago that showed being positive instead of negative improved your chances of beating a disease.
1
So what about the relationship between happiness and the quality of life. It may not extend life, but life might be one hell of a lot more satisfying in the end.
1
yes, there is an important difference between the definition of physical well being and quality of life. happiness certainly affect the latter directly, but not to the former.
But it feels so good to be able to blame others' health misfortunes on their character shortcomings (isn't unhappiness simply a failure of character?).
4
exactly! the popular belief that unhappiness causes our physical problem can do severe damage on chronically ill people.
1
Isn't he/she dead yet? Question often asked about 'grumpy people'. They just SEEM to live longer. Besides, all Brits are grumpy. Being sarky and nasty is the Brit way of life. Just watch any British comedy show. Or any Brit show for that matter.
1
This study needs to come with a major disclaimer. Sometimes, studies reach the wrong conclusions for the right reasons. For one, people are not always the most accurate at measuring their own happiness. Every individual has a unique understanding of happiness. Experience tells health care professionals that the state of mind has a major impact on longevity. This a chicken and egg argument. Happiness and health impact each other. People who are positive tend to recover better than people who are negative, even those with major illnesses. People can will themselves to die and will likely make choices that bring death quicker. Older people with mental health issues who receive treatment often live longer. Loneliness does kill. I believe there have been numerous studies that show how the state of mind affects the immune system in people of all ages. Don't let one study persuade you that your death is predetermined. Your challenges in life may be. But your determination to overcome those challenges makes a difference in the end.
I agree with readers who question the usefulness of the term "happiness" in this study. Looking more specifically at stress would make more sense. Stress has been found exacerbate illnesses like asthma.
1
When I saw the photo of Prof Peto's book shelf, I was tickled. Hahaha Obviously he is one of those whose happiness is not dependent on obsessive neatness. The Buddha examined closely and explained the human condition as one of "discontentment". Neither happiness nor unhappiness is what ails humans, has always ailed humans. We live in duality, swinging from joy to sorrow to hysteria to numbness....both in ancient times and now in modern times, this range of emotions has been experienced by human beings, collectively. What Buddha's prescription is, to stay in the middle. Neither get pulled to overjoy nor to depression, stay in the middle. He proved it can be done, the side effect being, bliss, nirvana, the kind which sees reality non judgmentally, for what it is.
2
Self-reported happiness does not seem like a good measure for this at all. As I understand it, chronic stress (which triggers chronically high cortisol levels in the body, which is damaging to health) is often unrecognized by people who have it. When we develop repressive coping mechanisms early in life, we lose touch with the feelings that would give us a clear read on underlying mental and physical stress responses. Add to this the pressure many people are under to not complain and "be happy," and you get--and I know I can see this, personally--a lot of people who say they are happy, when in fact there's a great deal more complexity and often...chronic stress...at play underneath.
5
This is a good example of a methodologically weak study finding exactly what you would predict - no clear findings. Several obvious problems, including 1) the total reliance on self report (which is unreliable); 2) the somewhat global and undifferentiated use of the term happiness as a measurement variable; the reliance on stress ratings as opposed to stress biomarkers. Also, most of us believe that it isn't some global notion of stress that deteriorates health. Acute stresses that are well managed and then resolve may actually support health, but chronic stress, esp. the stress of chronic loneliness and social isolation, is much more deadly - and it appears that social isolation was not indexed. Similarly, there was no concerted measurement of depression, which we know deteriorates health in complex ways. They managed to gloss over all these critical distinctions. So a null result is neither surprising, nor evidence that health has nothing to do with mood, affect, and quality of life. There is simply so much evidence that a basic relationship there (between long term health, social connection and mood) is credible, even if some unhappy people live long and unhappy lives.
It turns out that in an infinitely varied universe with billions of factors that affect everything, that the lifespan of a tiny little human body that barely occupies a speck of dust is not significantly influenced by the isolated emotional responses experienced by it.
In other words, a drop of water in an ocean doesn't have any control over how it comes into existence and merges back into the ocean.
Surprise, surprise!
In other words, a drop of water in an ocean doesn't have any control over how it comes into existence and merges back into the ocean.
Surprise, surprise!
2
Define happiness!
It's important to read publications like this in detail - and to note the historic difficulty in determining "causality" - in studies that boil down extraordinarily complex phenomena like "happiness" and "health" to a few variables.
Pronouncements like "happiness does not cause health", seen over the history of science, are always proven partly "wrong" - by the same science that staked the claim in the first place. Why? Because "science" is so good, that it improves its methods all the time, going beyond the narrow variables in previous studies.
Example: track the "evidence-based" treatments for syphilis over time. Science once said "give the patent mercury". Do the same for HIV/AIDS. See how genomics changed everything.
Here's a prediction. This study rests on a small number of SELF-reported variables, and very broad phenomena (happy, well). Science will prove this study largely "wrong".
How is this easy to predict? At this moment there are 7 billion mobile devices in the hands of world's population. They are geolocated, and can track movement within 5 meters to 10 cm, in real-time. This means right now scientists are working on things like "the metabolism of the global population". Soon there will be billions of cardiac monitors, sweat detectors, and even blood samplers deployed to more than a billion people.
This changes science forever, making such indirect studies of subject opinion nearly obsolete. It's already happening with diabetes, heart disease.
Pronouncements like "happiness does not cause health", seen over the history of science, are always proven partly "wrong" - by the same science that staked the claim in the first place. Why? Because "science" is so good, that it improves its methods all the time, going beyond the narrow variables in previous studies.
Example: track the "evidence-based" treatments for syphilis over time. Science once said "give the patent mercury". Do the same for HIV/AIDS. See how genomics changed everything.
Here's a prediction. This study rests on a small number of SELF-reported variables, and very broad phenomena (happy, well). Science will prove this study largely "wrong".
How is this easy to predict? At this moment there are 7 billion mobile devices in the hands of world's population. They are geolocated, and can track movement within 5 meters to 10 cm, in real-time. This means right now scientists are working on things like "the metabolism of the global population". Soon there will be billions of cardiac monitors, sweat detectors, and even blood samplers deployed to more than a billion people.
This changes science forever, making such indirect studies of subject opinion nearly obsolete. It's already happening with diabetes, heart disease.
1
This study is horribly scewed. You cannot change modern findings by a million leaflets with knee-jerk responses. "Oh, I'm fine!. Unhappy and stressed, compared to what? Horribly unhappy and horribly stressed. Unhappy and stressed people live a fast tracked life, aging from 20 to 80 in half the actual years and they have stress hormones compensating that cause harm. Many people that are unhappy and stressed are programmed or running from stigmas and injuries of some kind long in their past. This is a welcome mat to degenerate normal abilities to feel the full spectrum of love, happiness, joy, etc. I could go on and on. I think this study is hog-wash!
1
Sir Richard would not be among those council house residents who can no longer count on having that house's roof over their head until their death, a political action just announced today. Or did I miss the apparent sociological disconnect between poverty and worry, assumed in this study ? That's quite another variable ?
Sorokin's Fads and Foibles asks how relevant such a study could be, to work aimed at improvement in the human condition, with such methodological assumptions ! And the conclusion: "The new study says earlier research confused cause and effect, suggesting that unhappiness made people ill when it is actually the other way around."
All other variables being allowed for.
Sorokin's Fads and Foibles asks how relevant such a study could be, to work aimed at improvement in the human condition, with such methodological assumptions ! And the conclusion: "The new study says earlier research confused cause and effect, suggesting that unhappiness made people ill when it is actually the other way around."
All other variables being allowed for.
This is such a relief to know. I have long been grumpy--perhaps even was a grumpy child. So, to know that grumpiness causes no harm gives license to forge ahead with it. I only hope that once the news gets out strangers will stop telling me to smile. So irritating.
34
Yes, yes and yes. Had the same thought about telling people to smile. Now we can point to this news.
2
Yes! Especially waiters in restaurants. Margarine makes me grumpy; where's the butter?
1
Interesting study based on the opinion of the women chosen for the project over a period of time.
Happiness doesn't make a person healthy completely but provides many good reasons for living. Happiness can't be defined in its true sense. In the same way unhappiness can't be defined correctly too since both vary from person to person. Very few persons are literally happy with what they have and with what they achieved. Many others are very much unhappy with what they have and with what they have achieved.
Happiness makes a person endure the pain, stresses and strains in day to day life. Naturally it's the biggest plus point though not this person becomes immortal. Happiness at least doesn't bring in additional diseases to a person, that itself literally means prolonging one's own life.
Unhappiness can be anything such as not having a car, own house, not getting proper recognition in the job, not getting promoted, not being happy with family members etc. Unhappiness results in sadness, which ultimately takes the shape of depression. This depression makes a person eat too much, become lazy, always too worried, becoming inefficient in day to day work either at home or in office. Depression takes too long a time to cure. It forces a person either to resign on his or her own or compel the bosses to dismiss that person. A series of cumulative problems and diseases get added up thereby making the life of this person rather useless.
Happiness doesn't make a person healthy completely but provides many good reasons for living. Happiness can't be defined in its true sense. In the same way unhappiness can't be defined correctly too since both vary from person to person. Very few persons are literally happy with what they have and with what they achieved. Many others are very much unhappy with what they have and with what they have achieved.
Happiness makes a person endure the pain, stresses and strains in day to day life. Naturally it's the biggest plus point though not this person becomes immortal. Happiness at least doesn't bring in additional diseases to a person, that itself literally means prolonging one's own life.
Unhappiness can be anything such as not having a car, own house, not getting proper recognition in the job, not getting promoted, not being happy with family members etc. Unhappiness results in sadness, which ultimately takes the shape of depression. This depression makes a person eat too much, become lazy, always too worried, becoming inefficient in day to day work either at home or in office. Depression takes too long a time to cure. It forces a person either to resign on his or her own or compel the bosses to dismiss that person. A series of cumulative problems and diseases get added up thereby making the life of this person rather useless.
What a strange study. Would one want be treated by a medical professional who measured one's good health according to when one died? Think about that.
2
Stress can cause heart attacks. But it's acute stress in a person who's already impaired. I am sure undiagnosed flu carries of tens of thousands of fifty year olds every year. Everyday unhappiness is just a way of dealing with the world. People are designed to deal with a certain amount of stress. My ex - sister in law died last month and I'm sure serious stress contributed to it But she was in heart failure and the threat was that she would be seriously impoverished if another person were to die and that person was in the hospital. In fact, that person died two days after she did. It is common to hear of elderly married couples dying in the same year. But generalized, low grade anxiety doesn't seem to kill people. People want to find reasons for other people's deaths. It reassures them that life and death are not senseless or inexplicable. But these process are not subject to rationalization. "The race goes not to the strong but time and chance happen to all..."
"My grandmother's veins ran with bile."
Ha! My grandmother was so optimistic she made Pangloss sound like Eeyore, and she lived to 101 as well. I guess the study must be right - happiness or lack thereof is not related to longevity.
Ha! My grandmother was so optimistic she made Pangloss sound like Eeyore, and she lived to 101 as well. I guess the study must be right - happiness or lack thereof is not related to longevity.
2
Happiness may not bring good health, but it may sustain you in times of ill health. The "will to live", which may be weak in an unhappy person, can see a happy, critically ill patient through a medical crisis that might otherwise end terminally.
1
When someone figures out a way to randomize people to happiness or unhappiness do let us know (the inability to do that is one reason why this study type is used instead - also the dubious ethics of randomizing people to unhappiness...)
1
Rule 1, define your terms. OK, we'll let 1 million subjects self-describe what constitutes happiness v. unhappiness, stress v. relaxed, control v. lack of control, healthy v. unhealthy. etc. Rule 2, if you are going to do a large-scale medical study, then everyone gets a medical exam in order to have objective scientific baselines rather than just subjective feelings of health. The study may be correct but I'm not sure I'm convinced by what was reported in this article.
2
I am 81 and have been happy and miserable upon various stages of my life, never smoked or drank, no heart problems, diabetes or allergies etc. Worked until 70 and has a problem with hypertension at one point in my 40's. Married once, early, separated then remarried the same man 12 years later. Been together ever since and he is my best friend. We are complete opposites. For starters he is a night person and I get up with the birds, singing. Had my first surgery this year for a broken arm, literally flew through the air at an airport running for a plane, crashed and earned a plate and 2 screws in my left arm. And both eyes operated on for cataracts. I cannot take this article seriously, it real is amusing and quite toshy. One thing I have learned, one absolutely CANNOT depend on another human being for one's happiness. Dogs do a better job of empathizing. I do not want to live until 100 unless I can maintain good health and mental stability; and it is absolutely appalling to see one's children going bald and grey and grand babies becoming doctors and soccer moms!!!!
4
It makes me happier just to hear this.
3
Based on the repeating, revolving headlines,it appears The Beatles got it right (sadly) Happiness is a warm gun
Sooner or later we all die,both the well being and the ill being.For myself,I would prefer to leave without being seek,wretched or poor.
Stress and unhappiness kill. I watched both kill my father.
The #1 cause of Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome, AKA CFS and a host of other names/acronyms, is stress, if you believe years of "studies" by the CDC and the British National Health Service. Now that stress is completely out of the way, maybe Lancet or NEJM will tell us what really causes it.
Generally, in science and medicine, more research is needed. NYT's reporter seems unhappy that the study smashed a preconceived notion, but again, science is designed to determine relative truths, whether people like the answers or not.
When you are 15 you never put happiness and longevity in the same sentence because your friends would laugh at you, and that could make you sad isn' it...but then time passes, you realise you are mortal and sometimes trick yourself reading obituary, oh well..
You are alive? you feel healthy? that is a good start, smile because everyday is a gift, a present to you
You are alive? you feel healthy? that is a good start, smile because everyday is a gift, a present to you
1
A mostly informative article until the last sentence:
"People are still going to believe that stress causes heart attacks."
The actual study did not concern stress, but unhappiness. These are two different vectors. Professor Petro is somewhat misleading if quoted correctly.
"People are still going to believe that stress causes heart attacks."
The actual study did not concern stress, but unhappiness. These are two different vectors. Professor Petro is somewhat misleading if quoted correctly.
3
It is not stress itself but coping which mediates health outcomes. If negative coping (smoking, alcohol, drugs, hot reactivity, etc.) is present, negative health outcomes follow. Happiness and unhappiness (as influenced by quality of life and personal expectations) are mental states and may, according to psycho-neuro-immunology (PNI), influence immune responding. There is some evidence for a "disease prone" personality style involving, negativity, depression, and anxiety. This study appears not to have clearly measured such variables and, therefore, the correlations will be lost in the data.
2
Our obsession with mortality and some idealized dream of flawless, endless life is age-appropriate to early elementary school children. Maybe happiness is simple, easy appreciation and delight, levity, comfortableness, and contentment with life as it is -- even if we're experiencing the direct reality of what it means to be alive and to be mortal -- just like every other living thing that has ever graced the planet.
Why should happiness have to promise us health, greater longevity, better sex, a better job, whatever. Maybe happiness is enough in itself. Maybe it is just . . . happiness.
Why should happiness have to promise us health, greater longevity, better sex, a better job, whatever. Maybe happiness is enough in itself. Maybe it is just . . . happiness.
7
They adjusted for depression. Doesn't that defeat the study's entire purpose?
3
So, it okay to be miserable and in poor health? Who knew. Time to get the government involved since they told me I would be happy, healthy and wise. Did they lie?
1
I too am skeptical of self-reporting levels of happiness. The least happy person I know also goes to great lengths to appear happy all the time - so unrealistically happy that the tactic backfires and the constant, forced huge smiles seem grotesque, but still. I think she would tell you, whoever you are, that she is VERY happy, because her ideal of success is to be happy and she's an insanely competitive person. But spend ten minutes in a room with her and you will start to edge towards the door, a little worried by her behavior...
Anyhow, I'm generally wary of the tendency to seek out happiness as a goal. It doesn't really mean anything. Also, as someone who has dealt with various health issues, I can tell you that while I'm never overly inclined to joy and optimism, I am certainly least happy when I'm feeling like crap. Cause and effect are certainly huge issues for studies showing that happier people are healthier. I'm guessing that, generally, healthier people are happier.
Anyhow, I'm generally wary of the tendency to seek out happiness as a goal. It doesn't really mean anything. Also, as someone who has dealt with various health issues, I can tell you that while I'm never overly inclined to joy and optimism, I am certainly least happy when I'm feeling like crap. Cause and effect are certainly huge issues for studies showing that happier people are healthier. I'm guessing that, generally, healthier people are happier.
6
Jeanne Calment (1875–1997), who died at 122+, was a HAPPY person, full of sense of humor. “I will die laughing,” she once said. According to the Guinness Book of Records her birthdate was authentic and declared her the oldest person who ever lived.
Love, happiness, and sense of humor equal long life. :D
Love, happiness, and sense of humor equal long life. :D
1
She likely boasted an atypical concatenation of genes/epigenes; smoked til 116,; gave it up, fearing it might ruin her health...our best bet as longitarians is world-class immune resistance to inflammation [videlicet: Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, wherein writer, never sick one hour, is eldest].
1
DEFINE TERMS How Peto define the term, Unhappiness? Then what is his answer to, The Chicken or the Egg Question? The survey, sadly, does neither. For example, if unhappiness is defined as the inability to experience enjoyment, then it is dysphoria, a major symptom of depression, which has been found to have an impact on health. And which came first, the illness or the unhappiness? Brain science reframes the question: Is a chemical balance of neurotransmitters a result of response to negative stimuli? Or vice versa, Is the chemical balance a result of a preexisting condition? That question goes to the nature versus nurture argument that some view as a spinoff of the Classical belief of the healthy mind in a healthy body. All this quibbling & hair-splitting may be beside the point; or conversely, on point. Epigenetics would suggest that there is a genetic predisposition toward a chemical imbalance among neurotransmitters that is activated by stimuli in the environment. Unhappily, I must say that I think I've not got clear answers to any of those questions. Since it might not affect my health one way or the other I guess I should worry or not, because the prospects of my worrying myself sick are, according to Peto's study, not very likely. The final twist is, what if I enjoy being miserable? If that is the case, does happiness present a threat to my health? Happily, I haven't the foggiest idea. So I guess I'll have to keep on going unenlightened through my life blindly.
1
Well-said!
Happiness should be a by product of good health, not the way around. Makes sense to me.
4
Delighted to see Richard Peto is still in harness. But there are aspects of unhappiness he didn't consider--since his study was in the GB and in women. Let's be very clear, unhappiness in the US causes ignorance and Pseudo Politician Affects, a common form of which is Trumpism. One side-effect is rot of the spine, another is rot of the brain, The later, in turn, can be expected to lead to deaths, particularly when those who suffer the condition kill their neighbors.
7
How can one be happy without good health? Good health and happiness go hand in hand ... they're synonymous. What am I missing?
6
The definition of happiness is mostly subjective. I could be content, unstressed and also not "happy". Also, stress and happiness are two different things. Stress definitely affects health, whereas I can see how happiness can be defined in a way that it does not affect health.
Good health, apparently.
1
Is happiness a boon to health? I doubt it, because even lovers and puppies do get sick. Cheery or morose, we all catch colds; we all will die someday.
Is health necessary for happiness? I know that it is not. Through a disabling illness of 16 years, there have been plenty of good times.
I think that happiness is where one makes it.
And that illness is a glitch in the body's functioning.
Is health necessary for happiness? I know that it is not. Through a disabling illness of 16 years, there have been plenty of good times.
I think that happiness is where one makes it.
And that illness is a glitch in the body's functioning.
26
This article failed to clarify the meaning of stress, unhappiness, etc --was it left to the respondants to interpret these terms ? There is good & bad stress, a kind of contentment that falls short of Happy, righteous indignation can be invigorating for some, fighting oppression/disease/waste can be arduous but purposeful. Happiness may be the wrong research question.
How about caring about your work, loving someone, having a sense of safety, good enough early attachments, minimal 'happy' juice/drugs....maybe the results would be more nuanced.
How about caring about your work, loving someone, having a sense of safety, good enough early attachments, minimal 'happy' juice/drugs....maybe the results would be more nuanced.
10
If this will put an end to the smiley face I will be happy.
29
The Reagan Rictus, aka 'smiley face', is a subversive affirmation of Benign Kosmos theory, & must be repudiated, or there's no hope for H. semper unsapiens.
Smiley-face evolved from the Reagan-rictus.
Seriously? The 2002 anti-placebo studies so heavily touted in the times to prove the kind of non-scientific case the Barbara Ehrenreichs of the world love to cite - have since been completely debunked.
Virtually every drug study continues to require placebo controls.
in other words, our deeply held beliefs and attitudes affect our health.
Now, how do you measure these deeply held beliefs and attitudes?
By asking people how they feel?
Seriously?
And people call this sort of experiment science?
Sigh. I did mind-body research 16 years ago. The quality of most mind-body research was so poor, it didn't seem worth it to continue doing research given the extraordinary barriers to good quality research that existed at the time.
This makes me think that things have gotten even worse.
Seriously??
Virtually every drug study continues to require placebo controls.
in other words, our deeply held beliefs and attitudes affect our health.
Now, how do you measure these deeply held beliefs and attitudes?
By asking people how they feel?
Seriously?
And people call this sort of experiment science?
Sigh. I did mind-body research 16 years ago. The quality of most mind-body research was so poor, it didn't seem worth it to continue doing research given the extraordinary barriers to good quality research that existed at the time.
This makes me think that things have gotten even worse.
Seriously??
2
Self-rated health is one of the gold standards in medical research, seriously.
Yes, I know, I just said I conducted research. And you think that self rated health is a reliable and valid measure?
As far as I am aware, the best measure available even now - 17 years after I did research on pain - is the 10 point scale.
This is not science, this is voodoo, or worse - polling.
If this is not clear, look up Alan Wallace's samatha project, and consider what it might mean to train people in - oops, here's that dangerous "unscientific" word - introspection.
Yes, I know, Titchenor tried it over a century ago and failed.
Well, actually he didn't. Whatever he was doing - something more along the lines of the caterpillar obsessing about moving his legs to the point that he could not longer walk - Ogden Nash, anybody? - it was not introspection.
Seriously, look up B. Alan Wallace, Samatha Project.
What we have now in the social sciences is not science but organized ignorance. Wallace is pointing in the right direction.
As far as I am aware, the best measure available even now - 17 years after I did research on pain - is the 10 point scale.
This is not science, this is voodoo, or worse - polling.
If this is not clear, look up Alan Wallace's samatha project, and consider what it might mean to train people in - oops, here's that dangerous "unscientific" word - introspection.
Yes, I know, Titchenor tried it over a century ago and failed.
Well, actually he didn't. Whatever he was doing - something more along the lines of the caterpillar obsessing about moving his legs to the point that he could not longer walk - Ogden Nash, anybody? - it was not introspection.
Seriously, look up B. Alan Wallace, Samatha Project.
What we have now in the social sciences is not science but organized ignorance. Wallace is pointing in the right direction.
Generally speaking the methodology, and conclusions, of studies, particularly large-scale observational studies, regarding mental health, psychology and the like should be regarding with a large dose of skepticism. They often fall intoone of two categories: the obvious and the irreproducible.
2
Well thank goodness! I thought I'd have to live till a hundred and five. All the ninety five year olds I know hate it and want to dies as soon as possible. Old age is not for the timid.
8
Imperious, beaky-nosed French president Charles de Gaulle once declared unequivocally, "Happiness is for idiots."
To the extent that a feeling or episodic sensation of carefree freedom from concern is dependent on manufactured mindlessness, I agree.
To the extent that a feeling or episodic sensation of carefree freedom from concern is dependent on manufactured mindlessness, I agree.
3
Is this so surprising? I can snort cocaine for the rest of my (short) life and be "happy". What you eat and do with your body has a much greater effect on health.
1
Barbara Ehrenreich's book 'Bright Sided' is a brilliant assessment of our shiny crystal rainbow unicorn mentality and how we can get even more depressed about not being so happy all of the time. Must be our own fault about not being so positive even in the midst of job loss, death, illness, heart break etc.
3
Using "less likely to die" as a measure of good health is simplistic and is a mechanistic view of what health is. Good health is not just managing to survive. This study seems to have missed the point.
4
“Believing things that aren’t true isn’t a good idea,” Professor Peto said...
not so fast, dr. placebo.
i also wonder about religion, mythology, astrology, storytelling, arts...: no so much the truth part, but the good idea part--if not for good health, then for procreation and child rearing. if they were not good ideas, should they not have died out a long time ago, or rather never even started? maybe i need to review my material on joseph campbell.
not so fast, dr. placebo.
i also wonder about religion, mythology, astrology, storytelling, arts...: no so much the truth part, but the good idea part--if not for good health, then for procreation and child rearing. if they were not good ideas, should they not have died out a long time ago, or rather never even started? maybe i need to review my material on joseph campbell.
2
Ten years may not be long enough for critical differences in mortality to emerge. If many of women were 50-60 initially, those who died in that cohort likely disproportionately had cancer, which may less affected by stress and other emotional factors, and more by genetic predisposition and environmental factors than other conditions. Ten more years of follow-up may produce a different picture, as would a study that did not rely solely on self-reports for baseline measure.
2
This has been said before. What is good for your health is to be true to yourself. If you have complaints, they need to be voiced regardless of what others will think of you. You are the captain of your ship. The old adage "to get along, you need to go along" is poisonous. Many women have found this out the hard way.
8
The same can be very well said for men... i guess we can say that the learning curve has a similar slope and does not have much to do with gender
2
Who cares if happiness brings good health? I'm 100% certain it brings better quality of life, and I don't need no stinking study to prove it.
38
Hear, hear :) You have the right idea. Ask anyone struggling with ill health who once was active and vital. It is tragic to see and unbearable to be the one struggling.
From the abstract of the study in The Lancet:
"But after adjustment for self-rated health, treatment for hypertension, diabetes, asthma, arthritis, depression, or anxiety, and several sociodemographic and lifestyle factors (including smoking, deprivation, and body-mass index), unhappiness was not associated with mortality from all causes, from ischaemic heart disease, or from cancer."
As a medical student and statistician, I am skeptical.
Essentially, they controlled for every disease process that happiness likely plays a role in and that is along the causal path of its effects. Thus, of course they did not find a benefit and it would be odd if they did. They even controlled for depression which to me seems related to the murky concept of "happiness" as pursued here. Usually controlling for variables is a good thing, but there is such thing as over-adjusting.
Overadjustment bias can be defined as control for an intermediate variable (or a descending proxy for an intermediate variable) on a causal path from exposure to outcome. This seems to be the case here.
"But after adjustment for self-rated health, treatment for hypertension, diabetes, asthma, arthritis, depression, or anxiety, and several sociodemographic and lifestyle factors (including smoking, deprivation, and body-mass index), unhappiness was not associated with mortality from all causes, from ischaemic heart disease, or from cancer."
As a medical student and statistician, I am skeptical.
Essentially, they controlled for every disease process that happiness likely plays a role in and that is along the causal path of its effects. Thus, of course they did not find a benefit and it would be odd if they did. They even controlled for depression which to me seems related to the murky concept of "happiness" as pursued here. Usually controlling for variables is a good thing, but there is such thing as over-adjusting.
Overadjustment bias can be defined as control for an intermediate variable (or a descending proxy for an intermediate variable) on a causal path from exposure to outcome. This seems to be the case here.
36
Right! And Richard Peto is such a novice that it takes a medical student to put him straight. How's that climate change coming on?
Layfolk will need a translation, but yes, ignorance of Stats-801 can be lethal.
I find the wording ambiguous. Were they controlling for depression or for the treatment of depression?
Thank goodness I can stop worrying about being depressed. It was starting to be tiresome. Now I can worry about the baggage retrieval system they've got at Heathrow...
8
Nobody survives Heathrow unscathed...
2
Happiness may not affect mortality, but it definitely has an effect. This beckons us back to the old medical question: should we aim to add "years to the life" or "life to the years".
This is indeed interesting, but should we look at a study of the impact of happiness on quality of life, we may find something different. Everything in life is complex and we should keep that in mind when thinking about health. There are no wonder pills or quick answers. Everything is multifactorial.
This is indeed interesting, but should we look at a study of the impact of happiness on quality of life, we may find something different. Everything in life is complex and we should keep that in mind when thinking about health. There are no wonder pills or quick answers. Everything is multifactorial.
6
At the risk of stating the obvious, was longevity ever the key benefit to living a happy life? Quality of life and length of life are two different (but occasionally overlapping) goals. If the study showed that being grumpy helped with the second, some of the comments made about justifying grumpiness would make sense, but that isn't what the study showed.
3
Misery can be tolerated if centenarism potentiates wisdom as a benison for youth.
I read a book once by a Dr. Sarno. If I remember correctly he correlated many illnesses with repressed emotions. Not unhappiness or stress, but rather inner repressed or trapped rage. His theory is perfectly consistent with these findings because such type people are likely to report themselves as happy and low stress. It's not stress that's the killer, it's the inner rage.
8
It's comforting knowing that finding the results of this study sad and even slightly depressing aren't hurting my physical health.
1
So what? Would you rather live the last 10 years of your life happy or sad? I vote for happy!
3
Hopefully, this will lead to more research on a subject that has been treated in a silly way for a long time. Be happy and you will be healthy! Who could doubt such a deeply held belief?
2
The large number of people involved does not give the study more power. It is a survey and surveys can provide descriptive information only. Experimental manipulation would be the only thing that could discount (or affirm) that happiness leads to longer life and less stress. Surveys are particularly prone to misinformation and social desirability bias. It is culturally admirable to appear happy despite negative circumstances whether one is "happy" or not. Surveys should be used as inspiration to create more rigorous experimental studies. Also, before one looks for information of any kind from any type of research, to have any validity, the surveys must be designed with the question in mind. Statistically any large pool of data will contain numerous statistical anomalies depending upon how many people are analyzing the data and what they are searching for. If you ask the question after you have the data, you can find a host of invalid conclusions to be statistically significant. The number of confounding variables are almost infinite when trying to interpret survey data in this way.
Though I appreciate Dr. Peto's enthusiasm to point out the study's significance - he is flat out wrong in interpreting the data in this way that this article presents it.
Though I appreciate Dr. Peto's enthusiasm to point out the study's significance - he is flat out wrong in interpreting the data in this way that this article presents it.
4
"God makes those who complain live longer."
3
“People are still going to believe that stress causes heart attacks,” he said.
i'm confused. are stress and unhappiness the same thing? how about mortality and bad health? this study seems to conflate these parameters.
i'm confused. are stress and unhappiness the same thing? how about mortality and bad health? this study seems to conflate these parameters.
6
Ah, it's all about people's IMAGINATION, ASSUMPTION and FANTASY.
Plus craving for HOPE. But does any of our INTERPRETATION have to
be true? Not at all! But it's fun to fantasize, hahahahahaaaaaa...
Plus craving for HOPE. But does any of our INTERPRETATION have to
be true? Not at all! But it's fun to fantasize, hahahahahaaaaaa...
2
According to WHO, Japan ranks No.1 in longevity. However, according to Gallup, Japan ranks 46th in the happiest people in the world. Gallup measures "how people live their lives" by asking a series of 10 questions on positive and negative experiences. The five positive experiences include feeling well-rested, laughing and smiling, enjoyment, feeling respected and learning or doing something interesting; the five negative experiences include stress, sadness, physical pain, worry and anger. The items are grouped into index scores known as the Positive Experience Index and the Negative Experience Index. Gallup's report on International Happiness Day featured the countries reporting the highest scores for the Positive Experience Index.
5
"A 'substantial minority' of these healthy women said they were stressed or unhappy, he said, but over the next decade they were no more likely to die than were the women who were generally happy."
I'm not sure how this supports the article's conclusion? Healthy women who were not stressed or unhappy were no more likely to die than the women who were generally happy?
I'm not sure how this supports the article's conclusion? Healthy women who were not stressed or unhappy were no more likely to die than the women who were generally happy?
1
Wrong. Health women who WERE, in fact, stressed or unhappy were NO more likely to die than were the women who were generally happy. In other words, death rates were similar in both groups.
4
I'd rather have a short and happy life than a long, miserable one.
3
Actually, that could be quotable quote. Glenn
I think this is a quotable quote. Glenn
Not so--if your goal is wisdom to enlighten youth.
Happiness is subjective most of the time, making it a poor explanation to draw conclusions from.
8
For those of us surviving in New York, this brings a measure of comfort in the knowledge that at least we won't die of unhappiness. On the other hand, there is a great deal of pleasure derived from proof that positive thinkers won't necessarily live longer.
15
But happiness and wellbeing definitely improve one's subjective experience of everything that goes on in your life. I'll take it as I can get it.
5
Well, just as I was singing merrily as a lark over the quote by the French philosopher Voltaire: 'I choose to be happy because it is good for my health', Denise Grady has placed a pin in my balloon.
When in search of Voltaire's thoughts on the matter on the web, is quoted beside it, in a bright vivid green color, an Ad: 'Unhappy with your Health Insurance Plan?', well, well and oh, well. Perhaps I should go to bed and give up on this matter. 'It is not how you feel, but how you look' was a spoof of an Ad that made my late husband laugh. He was always the merriest of the two of us. Life is sometimes just unfair.
When in search of Voltaire's thoughts on the matter on the web, is quoted beside it, in a bright vivid green color, an Ad: 'Unhappy with your Health Insurance Plan?', well, well and oh, well. Perhaps I should go to bed and give up on this matter. 'It is not how you feel, but how you look' was a spoof of an Ad that made my late husband laugh. He was always the merriest of the two of us. Life is sometimes just unfair.
8
It certainly seems that it is better to be happy than healthy, for health without happiness is merely prolonged suffering.
41
Another quotable one. Glenn
There are people happy to be unhappy. They enjoy suffering - and make others around them 'enjoy' the suffering too.
Well this made me sad
4
Kind of depends on what you do with your negativity, no? If you drown your sorrows in alcohol or drugs your health will be affected. But a manageable amount of stress keeps the mind active and all body systems humming. Too much happiness can devolve into complacency. You stop questioning, or challenging, the world.
And then there's the fact that if you constantly expect the worst, everything that isn't awful is lagniappe.
And then there's the fact that if you constantly expect the worst, everything that isn't awful is lagniappe.
27
Every day I open my eyes to morning is lagniappe.
IMHO, there is far too much emphasis on living as long as possible over living as well as possible. When the two ideas collide, I opt for the latter.
26
What happens if you live both long and well?
S'wonderful! S'marvelous! to know that unhappiness and stress, according ro Sir Richard Peto in The Lancet , are not associated with an increased risk of death! Calloo Callay we're chortling on this side of the pond, too! Sir Richard Peto has been studing a million middle-aged women for past 10 years in Britain and his findings have been published in The Lancet today. A "substantial majority" of these healthy but unhappy and stressed women were no more likely to die than were the generally happy middle-aged women. Considering the world of stress on the other side of the Atlantic and on our side (not to consider the happiness or unhappiness of those - pivoting to the East - living in the Pacific Rim countries), I say let's raise a glass of cheer or cuppa char to Professor Peto and send him cyber-kudos and best wishes and a hat of laurels for his nifty discovery of 10 years and 1,000,000 women over in Blighty!
2
Scrooge did look pretty spry, come to think of it.
9
I don't personally know whether stress and unhappiness cause bad health, but they definitely cause wrinkles, and that's bad enough.
5
I'm so happy to read this!
5
What about the health of the people around the unhappy?
32
This brings to mind the fast recovery of Zeena Frome 'the dour' in Wharton's classic when her young cousin is tragically turned into an invalid.
2
As happy people spread happiness around them so do the unhappy unhappy people! Both are extremely contagious!
But it does make whatever health state you are experiencing much more pleasant and tolerable!
19
Happiness may not lead to good health, but good health makes one happy; just ask anyone who has battled back from an unhealthy existence.
58
Happiness in nature is an aberration, like six toes on a foot. The idea of it is all the more pernicious because of social media, where everyone apparently has six toed feet. One day, why doesn't everyone kvetch about how miserable their life REALLY is and then we can all be happy?
3
I loathe the "think positive" gurus and motivational speakers who mint millions. I hate the happiness maestros who want me to meditate, do yoga, recite verses from some sacred text, pray to gods that don't exist and seek happiness as though that were a worthy goal. I hate surveys on the subject of happiness, studies that tell me about the happiest people on earth as opposed to the unhappiest. I can't stand those who are micromanaged by the happiness cult that has taken root in this country. Yup! I am contented to be unhappy. Go shake down another American who thinks that the pursuit of happiness is his calling.
95
Congrats! You are in for a long life. By the way the practice of meditation and yoga were not designed to make you happy. I don't know where you got that idea from.
7
you go, girl
3
Usha Srinivasan, does this mean that if Life hands you a lemon, you should 'not' make lemon juice out of it? Joining you in saying that my spirits droop when I am handed such unfruitful platitudes.
2
Take that, Bobby McFerrin.... "Don't worry, be unhappy"
4
What do you bet this is no better than the studies it debunks? You might as well watch ping pong as follow the latest studies from The Lancet.
4
The happiness that improves your well being and longevity is a sense of peace, contentment, fulfillment and the ability to live in the moment. But for others, happiness is the attainment of material things they can't afford, drilled into their heads by product peddling in a society driven by ever-increasing consumption. The grass-is-greener syndrome as the basis of unhappiness eats at you in very different and I argue harmful ways.
7
It's well-known that Materialism shortens life by as much as a vigesimal [20 years].
Like alcohol in moderation, whether or not happiness has much effect on longevity it sure adds to the experience of living!
5
Like they say, the truth may not be found at the bottom of a wine bottle, but it's worth taking a look.
20
So so you may want to die, but you won't. Good news!
37
So I guess this applies to people who are married? You may not live longer, it just seems that way ;-)
2
I' m not totally sold on this article, as a 58 year old I have come in contact with both the happy and unhappy. I choose happy as possible, and I sleep and live better . My blood pressure, and cholesterol have been lower due to less aggravation and stress. My Dr. always preaches, happy thoughts and places before taking my Blood Pressure. While I do agree that that those grumpy, nasty people make '' The Hard In Life Worth While '' So I do appreciate their existence, especially when I get a really good laugh from their rude comments.
13
The connections you have drawn between your happiness and health are anecdotal.
1
Also very happy about this article
What _does_ make a difference in outcomes is realistic confidence in one's docs, treatment plan, etc. That's the foundation of the placebo effect (and the nocebo opposite) which has solid research support.
The rest is, indeed, smiley-face hokum.
What _does_ make a difference in outcomes is realistic confidence in one's docs, treatment plan, etc. That's the foundation of the placebo effect (and the nocebo opposite) which has solid research support.
The rest is, indeed, smiley-face hokum.
there is a cultural aspect to this. people who say they are unhappy in countries like Italy or Spain, where happiness is highly valued, are probably not doing so well. In Anglo-Saxon countries, happiness can be judged as somewhat morally and intellectually suspect. in these countries perfectly happy people may say they are unhappy so as not to appear self-indulgent or selfish.
33
Very appropriate and needed comment, and important consideration for "self-report" studies. What is compelling, though, is the sheer number of participants. The UK is diverse enough, I think, to suggest some kind of cross-cultural validity of the results. We need more studies like this!
Why is happiness or unhappiness a measure of anything; what about contentment and gratitude.
6
Obviously. Unhappiness makes time pass slower. Everyone knows that.
6
And don't forget about boredom. Clevinger developed boredom to make the time go slow so he would seem to live longer. I can't remember if this actually made him happy or not.
7
Wait a minute, am I'm reading The Onion or The New York Times? Happy Holidays to all!!
7
To summarize, asking people to rate their happiness level is completely disconnected from discovering whether they exhibit one of the patterns of symptoms - including physical symptoms - known as depression. The idea that happy thoughts can ward off disease is simply a cliché; but if this kind of soft-minded research is used to dispute the fact that clinical depression often has lethal outcomes, it would be a moral travesty.
The study's apparent "strength", i.e. the huge number of respondents, is inseparable from the fact that nothing important was measured about them except when they died. The expense of collecting useful information on human individuals tends to limit sample sizes radically.
The study's apparent "strength", i.e. the huge number of respondents, is inseparable from the fact that nothing important was measured about them except when they died. The expense of collecting useful information on human individuals tends to limit sample sizes radically.
25
"Happiness is a squishy measure.”
That line is going to become an indelible part of my thinking from here on :)
That line is going to become an indelible part of my thinking from here on :)
12
Returning now to my inner grouch...
4
This article makes me...happy!
48
Yeah, they keep finding out that the condition of being alive is actually 100% fatal to everyone's continuing surprise and dismay. Ironically they keep claiming we are the most intelligent specie. So they fall back on the typical American quantity vs quality standpoint: as if there is nobility in a long existence of sensory deprivation. And still blame butter. The smartest person is still the one that proposed eating dessert first.
1
Being kinda grumpy by nature, I totally agree with this study. Why I believe is really harmful to one's health is STRESS. That connection needs to be studied as well. Stress actually affects chemicals in your body, which in turn over a long period of time will cause trouble. Unhappiness, not so much. Get over it! You'll find something else to be unhappy about soon enough! Cheers! /s
10
You need to re-read the article:
"When the answers were analyzed statistically, unhappiness and stress were not associated with an increased risk of death...This finding refutes the large effects of unhappiness and stress on mortality that others have claimed."
Stress does not appear harmful to health according to the study, at least for women.
"When the answers were analyzed statistically, unhappiness and stress were not associated with an increased risk of death...This finding refutes the large effects of unhappiness and stress on mortality that others have claimed."
Stress does not appear harmful to health according to the study, at least for women.
2
If being grumpy makes you happy, then all is well.
2
The stress connection has been studied and there is a definite correlation between prolonged stress and ill health.
2
"This type of study, which depends on participants’ self-assessments, is not considered as reliable as a rigorously designed experiment in which subjects are picked at random and assigned to a treatment or control group. But the huge number of people in this study gives it power"
This seems to be confusing a few issues.
First, there is the issue of self-reported assessments versus assessments performed by a practitioner.
(This study is using self-reported assessments.)
Second, there is the separate (more problematic) issue of a randomized study versus a correlation study.
(This is a correlation study.)
Finally, the end of this paragraph might give some the impression that one can make up for the defects of correlation studies by using very large sample sizes, but this is not the case: even if a study involved every human alive today, there would not be a reliable way of inferring causality from correlation.
This seems to be confusing a few issues.
First, there is the issue of self-reported assessments versus assessments performed by a practitioner.
(This study is using self-reported assessments.)
Second, there is the separate (more problematic) issue of a randomized study versus a correlation study.
(This is a correlation study.)
Finally, the end of this paragraph might give some the impression that one can make up for the defects of correlation studies by using very large sample sizes, but this is not the case: even if a study involved every human alive today, there would not be a reliable way of inferring causality from correlation.
21
Happiness is a subjective feeling, and self-reported assessment makes sense in my opinion. I agree with your other points, and wish to see more comments as thoughtful as yours.
1
Hallelujah! I'll probably live forever, and my ex's won't!
6
So my being a curmudgeon is not going to adversely affect my health. That makes me happy -- which is not going to do me one damn bit of good. Oh well...
129
Ed,
Hilarious, concise and precise. Well done!
Rod
Hilarious, concise and precise. Well done!
Rod
1
But the study only talks about women. Maybe male curmudgeons are less healthy.
I was quite unimpressed by this study. First, it is only of women. As for the women (I am being realistic, not sexist), maybe some of them are happy because they have married someone rich and don't have to work; others work and have satisfying work; others work and are not satisfied in their work. And the stress of children, or the stress of not conceiving, or the happiness of not having children ... there are just too many factors that are not accounted for.
I was quite unimpressed by this study. First, it is only of women. As for the women (I am being realistic, not sexist), maybe some of them are happy because they have married someone rich and don't have to work; others work and have satisfying work; others work and are not satisfied in their work. And the stress of children, or the stress of not conceiving, or the happiness of not having children ... there are just too many factors that are not accounted for.
Health and longevity are not synonymous. Happiness is one of the strongest indicators of positive mental health.
6
In the days before all sorts of mood-altering drugs, it might be indeed true that happiness depends on a sound brain.
Well,that is ridiculous!In fact,human is emotional and good at giving himself or
herself positive feelings and encouragement.This is the very point that distinguishes us from the rest animals!
herself positive feelings and encouragement.This is the very point that distinguishes us from the rest animals!
1
Someone had to study this? My grandmother's veins ran with bile. Unhappiness was her oxygen and she took her last breath at a 101. She was bowling the day before she died.
113
Unhappy people are rarely unhappy about themselves, and could be seeking happiness in making other people unhappy for as long as possible. Just a thought.
3
The study was done to address exactly these sorts of anecdotes that people have been using to make or refute generalizations.
It also seems like bowling may have actually made her happy. I hope so.
It also seems like bowling may have actually made her happy. I hope so.
1
some people are at their happiest when they are unhappy.
61
Thank you for the beautiful contradiction!
1
Taking people's self-assessment on the happiness scale is naive. Most people will not be honest about their level of happiness. Admitting that you are unhappy in many areas of your life is often not acceptable. In many circles, it's regarded as the sign of being a loser, an ingrate, a neurotic, or an hysteric. Too many of studies like this based on people self-assessment are full of misleading and inaccurate information-lacking in rigorous science
45
If you were talking about an American study you might be right, but this was a study of British women. In Britain people aren't expected to be happy and smiling all the time no matter how they really feel.
4
"Admitting that you are unhappy in many areas of your life is often not acceptable."
Yes but this study was conducted in Britain.
Sorry! Couldn't resist.
Yes but this study was conducted in Britain.
Sorry! Couldn't resist.
3
Well, you know what, whether I die now, later or eventually, the fact is EVERYONE is going to die. And I'd rather die happy than miserably and fearfully and desperately struggling to live ... I dunno, I guess forever.
Whether you believe existence is random and purposeless or, perhaps, something more, the Buddhists are right in stating that it is our clinging to that which is, by its nature, impermanent which makes so many of us so miserable.
Get over it.
Whether you believe existence is random and purposeless or, perhaps, something more, the Buddhists are right in stating that it is our clinging to that which is, by its nature, impermanent which makes so many of us so miserable.
Get over it.
29
Happiness might not lengthen your life but at least you'll be happy when you're alive.
30
Oh come on, this is obvious. The really, really old people among us, 90 plus, are often tremendously bitter and crabby. Their hatred and anger keeps them alive, keeps them motivated.
Happy people are easygoing and don't worry too much about things, which is why inevitably mortality catches up and blindsides them. Unhappy people are always worrying about stuff and hence they probably take better care of their health overall.
But this hardly matters in the long run, because I'd much rather lead a shorter, happy life than a longer, miserable one. And nobody lives forever, which is just as well.
Happy people are easygoing and don't worry too much about things, which is why inevitably mortality catches up and blindsides them. Unhappy people are always worrying about stuff and hence they probably take better care of their health overall.
But this hardly matters in the long run, because I'd much rather lead a shorter, happy life than a longer, miserable one. And nobody lives forever, which is just as well.
72
the article does't say "miserable"---
1
Mr. Stackhouse, you always make me feel chipper, reminding me of a relative going strong at 102, the 'trouble-maker' of the family, one I always knew would outlive us out of sheer spite.
In his journal of over 2000 pages, my late father wrote only one unkind sentence, comparing this elderly person to a sour French cook. He did not wish to grow old and died overnight from a bout of pneumonia at 70. The happiest person I have ever known. Happy New Year to you and yours!
In his journal of over 2000 pages, my late father wrote only one unkind sentence, comparing this elderly person to a sour French cook. He did not wish to grow old and died overnight from a bout of pneumonia at 70. The happiest person I have ever known. Happy New Year to you and yours!
3
Happy new year to you too Miss Ley, and thanks!
And dear Patty Guerrero, really I was mostly joking around. Cheers!
And dear Patty Guerrero, really I was mostly joking around. Cheers!