Living Happy, Living Healthy

Surely everyone has heard of the famous Harvard study that has run for more than 80 years, beginning in 1938, across several generations of scientists and of the people they studied.

The study concluded that close RELATIONSHIPS, more than money or fame, are what keep people happy across their whole lives.

Positive relationships help us be happier, healthier and longer-lived.

AND YET

There is another video, another piece of research on this same question, that I like even more

This is the work of Susan Pinker, a developmental psychologist whose research centres on loneliness and on how much our social connections matter. In her TED talk “The secret to living longer may be your social life”, she speaks about how face-to-face social interaction is not only necessary for human happiness but may also be the key to health and to a long life. Social isolation can have a negative effect on our health, including a raised risk of heart disease, depression and dementia.

The part I like most is probably the chart that ranks the specific factors. People may be very surprised, but CLEAN AIR, BODY WEIGHT, EXERCISE, THE FLU VACCINE and so on are not the most important factors. The two at the top of the chart are

• SOCIAL INTEGRATION
• CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS

THAT IS RIGHT — the relationships you have with the people closest to you may matter less than:

• HOW MANY PEOPLE YOU SPEAK TO IN A DAY.
• WHETHER YOU THANK THE PERSON WHO MADE YOUR COFFEE, THE DELIVERY DRIVER, THE WOMAN WHO WALKS HER DOG PAST YOUR HOUSE EVERY DAY
• …

And what the quality of those social interactions is.

SO — treasure every social interaction we have, every day

Make your every interaction count, be a nice human being, ’cause our lives depend on it!

https://youtu.be/ptIecdCZ3dg?si=DAyBXoCHZWXKuBUJ