It’s long been theorized that happy people generally are in better health, but researchers aren’t sure why. A new study provides strong evidence that the happier you are, the healthier you will be.
Lead author Mohammad Siahpush, Ph.D., of the UNMC College of Public Health, said the study may be the first to look at the effect of happiness on an individual’s health. Findings are published in the September/October issue of the American Journal of Health Promotion.
The study, which was conducted while Dr. Siahpush worked as a scientist at the Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer in Victoria, Australia, set out to evaluate the effect of happiness and life satisfaction on health. Though the study was conducted in Australia, Dr. Siahpush said similar results would be found in the United States.
“The study provided strong evidence that subjective well-being and health are associated,” he said. “Not only happiness and life satisfaction are desired subjective states, but also they contribute to better health.
“Everything else being equal — regardless of your age, gender, whether you smoke, drink or exercise, if you’re happy and satisfied with life now — you’re more likely to be healthy in the future,” said Dr. Siahpush, who added that he was surprised to find such strong results.
Researchers used a survey of 9,981 respondents age 18 years and older from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia. The study was funded by the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation as part of a $500,000 grant.
Three indicators for health were measured in the study:
- The study participants’ self-rated health as excellent, very good, good, fair or poor;
- Whether they had health conditions that limited their activity;
- Their assessment of their physical health including difficulties with activities such as walking, bending and lifting.
In the survey, self-rated health is defined as people’s established beliefs about their health versus a clinical report of their health.
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Mohammad Siahpush, Ph.D. |
Researchers found the odds of reporting good health were estimated to be 1.5 times greater for those who were happy most or all of the time than others. Similarly, the odds of having no limiting long-term health conditions were 1.53 times greater for those who were happy most or all of the time.
Dr. Siahpush’s research, referred to as the emerging field of “positive psychology,” is becoming increasingly popular. Positive psychology is defined by the University of Pennsylvania Positive Psychology Center as the scientific study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive.
Dr. Siahpush and his colleagues cited recent work in positive psychology that suggests several mechanisms for the protective effect of the positive on health. Recent research provides evidence that interventions can make people lastingly happier.
There is emerging evidence that positive effects broaden an individual’s cognition, span of attention and repertoires of thoughts and actions.
“These in turn facilitate coping in adversity and can enhance physical health,” Dr. Siahpush said. “If you’re happy, you deal with stress better. You become a more resilient person.”
He cited a study in which two interventions of one-week duration increased happiness and decreased depression up to six months later.
One intervention asked participants to write about three good things that happened each day and why they happened. The other intervention asked them to take an inventory of “character strengths,” which included such characteristics as gratitude, hope, kindness and open-mindedness.
They then received individualized feedback about their top five strengths and were asked to use one of them in a new and different way every day.
“Efforts to enhance individuals’ self-rated or subjective well-being should be regarded as a health promotion and disease prevention strategy,” Dr. Siahpush said.
Other co-authors of the study are Matt Spittal, Ph.D., Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer, Victoria, Australia; and Gopal Singh, Ph.D., Maternal and Child Health Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in Rockville, Md.