Category: Happiness

Over four thousand people were followed for six years to assess their chance of dying through any cause.

Even small increases in happiness are linked to living longer, research finds.

Dr Rahul Malhotra, study co-author, said:

“The findings indicate that even small increments in happiness may be beneficial to older people’s longevity.

Therefore individual-level activities as well as government policies and programs that maintain or improve happiness or psychological well-being may contribute to a longer life among older people.”

The results come from 4,478 people aged over 60, living in Singapore.

They were followed for six years to assess their chance of dying through any cause.

The results showed that among unhappy older people, 20% died in the subsequent six years.

However, in happy older people, just 15% had passed away.

Dr June May-Ling Lee, study co-author, said:

“The consistency of the inverse association of happiness with mortality across age groups and gender is insightful — men and women, the young-old and the old-old, all are likely to benefit from an increase in happiness.”

The study was published in the journal Age and Ageing (Chei et al., 2018).

This perspective has been linked to a wide range of psychological and physical benefits.

A strong sense of purpose in life may lower heart disease risk. The research found that a high sense of purpose reduces the risk of heart disease by 19 percent. The risk of death by any cause was reduced by 23 percent in those who had a high sense of purpose. The study’s lead author, Dr Randy Cohen, said:

“Developing and refining your sense of purpose could protect your heart health and potentially save your life. Our study shows there is a strong relationship between having a sense of purpose in life and protection from dying or having a cardiovascular event. As part of our overall health, each of us needs to ask ourselves the critical question of ‘do I have a sense of purpose in my life?’ If not, you need to work toward the important goal of obtaining one for your overall well-being.”

This is not the first study to link a sense of purpose with both physical and psychological benefits:

• A 2009 study of 1,238 elderly people found that those with a sense of purpose lived longer.
• A 2010 study of 900 older adults found that those with a greater sense of purpose were much less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
• Survey data often links a sense of purpose in life with increased happiness.

Sense of purpose

The conclusion comes from a review of 10 different studies. Together they include data from over 137,000 people. Unsurprisingly, the researchers also found that people with a lower sense of purpose in life have an increased risk of developing heart disease. Dr Alan Rozanski, the study’s co-author, said:

“Prior studies have linked a variety of psychosocial risk factors to heart disease, including negative factors such as anxiety and depression and positive factors such as optimism and social support. Based on our findings, future research should now further assess the importance of life purpose as a determinant of health and well-being and assess the impact of strategies designed to improve individuals’ sense of life purpose.”

Related

• Live With Purpose: 15 Strategies For A More Meaningful Life (course)

The study was published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine (Cohen et al., 2016)

Exposure to nature provides improvements to focus, mood, blood pressure and heart rate.

As little as 10 minutes spent in nature is enough to make people feel happier.

While 10 minutes in nature works, a little more is even better.

Up to around 50 minutes spent in nature provides the largest improvements to focus, mood, blood pressure and heart rate.

People only need to be either sitting or walking to get the boost.

Physicians should ‘prescribe’ a dose of nature to people to help prevent depression and anxiety, the researchers believe.

Dr Gen Meredith, the study’s first author, said:

“It doesn’t take much time for the positive benefits to kick in—we’re talking 10 minutes outside in a space with nature.

We firmly believe that every student, no matter what subject or how high their workload, has that much discretionary time each day, or at least a few times per week.”

For the study, scientists reviewed 14 separate pieces of research on the effects of exposing young people to nature.

The results of all the studies revealed that between 10 and 50 minutes exposure to nature provided the maximum benefit.

Dr Donald Rakow, study co-author, said:

“It’s not that there’s a decline after 50 minutes, but rather that the physiological and self-reported psychological benefits tend to plateau after that.”

Sitting and walking were the only two activities the research looked at, Dr Rakow said:

“We wanted to keep this access to nature as simple and achievable as possible.

While there is a lot of literature on longer outdoor programs, we wanted to quantify doses in minutes, not days.”

Doses of nature could be prescribed by physicians, said Dr Meredith:

“Prescribing a dose can legitimize the physician’s recommendation and give a tangible goal.

It’s different than just saying: ‘Go outside.’

There is something specific that a student can aim for.”

The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology (Meredith et al., 2020).

Why group connections matter more than simple kindness.

When social relationships provide an all important sense of belonging, people feel life has more meaning

The effect was revealed in one experiment in which participants were asked to close their eyes and think of two people or groups to which they really belonged.

Then they were asked about how much meaning they felt life had.

This group was compared with two others where participants (1) thought about the value of other people and (2) the help that others had provided them.

Compared with these two conditions, participants who had been thinking about the groups they belonged to felt the highest levels of meaning in life.

So, belonging to a group provided meaning over and above the value of others or the help they could provide.

It’s more than just bonding, therefore, but really feeling like you are fitting in with others which is associated with higher levels of meaningfulness.

Just the reverse effect has been shown in previous studies: people who feel excluded from social groups tend to feel that life has less meaning.

Belonging and coherence

One of most people’s missions in life–whether they realise it or not–is to find meaning.

Feeling that life is meaningful is important because:

• People who feel life is meaningful are more likely to be in both good psychological and good physical health.
• People who feel life isn’t meaningful are more likely to be depressed, to require therapy and even feel suicidal.

Meaning is found in various ways–sometimes through family, religion and the sense of self.

But, certainly, one way to find meaning in life is by seeking out one or more places where we belong and where things make sense.

One reason that belonging increases meaning in life is it promotes the idea of continuity and of permanence.

If you belong to an organisation or group that is greater than yourself, there is comfort in the idea that it will outlast you.

Along with feeling like we belong, coherence in our environment also promotes meaning.

When we experience things that don’t make sense, we feel life has less meaning.

Demonstrating this, one study has found that people who viewed the seasons in the correct order (spring, summer, fall, winter) felt life had more meaning than those who saw them out of order (Heintzelman et al., 2013).

So: where do you belong and does it make sense to you?

Related

• Live With Purpose: 15 Strategies For A More Meaningful Life (course)

The study was published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (Lambert et al., 2013).