What The Ultimate Study On Happiness Reveals

- This video is one of the most important questions: What leads to a happy life? - Realistically, money. - Being rich is definitely a great appearance. - To save a lot of money. - Money. - Money. - Ear money. - It is very important to be rich. - It is easy for people to say that they don't mind having money and that money cannot buy

happiness

, but that really is not true. - Because I would prefer to cry on a yacht than in a sub -u. (They both laugh) - Clearly, having a successful career and financial wealth is important for people.

Is there a number in mind? Something you want to get to? - At least one million. - Yeah? - Yes. - In a 2018 survey of around one hundred thousand first -year university students, approximately 55% said they wanted to succeed in their career and 83% reported that they wanted to get rich. But these achievements really increase

happiness

? Well, that's

what

I want to discover in this video. But how do you

study

what

makes people happy? Well, you can ask them. What will make you happy? - Um. - Oh. - Oh. - Oh. - Ooh. - But people are not really good to judge what will make them happy.

Winning the lottery seems to make you happy. - That!? (Sister shouts) What? That!? - But numerous studies on the winners of the lottery find that after the initial increase in happiness disappears, many are not happier than the rest of us. Some are, in fact, more miserable than in advance. - Because you don't see so many people as you used to see. Obviously, you become slightly isolated, I think somehow. - Yes, I agree. - Another problem is that people's memories are not reliable. - We only detect, encode and store in our brain pieces and pieces of all the experience in front of us.

It is called reconstructed memories. It happens to us in all aspects of our lives all the time. - Most studies on happiness find older people and ask them to remember what made them happy. But as we have just seen, memory is not reliable. Therefore, a better way to carry out a

study

would be to follow people throughout their lives, capture the elections they take and how they affect their happiness. That is really difficult to do. But there is a study like this that has been operating since 1938. Now, 85 years is a long time to carry out a study, so it has been transmitted from a generation of researchers to the next.

He is currently led by his fourth director, Robert Waldinger. What is the claim of the fame of the study? - You know, the affirmation of fame is that it is, as far as we know, the longest study of human development that has been done. The longest study of any depth. These are studies that have deep dives in people's lives and their mental and physical health. - The study actually began as two separate studies of two groups of Harvard researchers who did not know each other. The first group followed 268 Harvard young people to discover how they would become an early adulthood. - Then, of course, if you want to study the normal development of young people for adults, you study all Harvard whites, right? (Derek laughs) You know, it's one of those limitations. - The second group studied 456 children from school high school from the poorest and most disadvantaged families in Boston. - So there were these two studies, both destined to be studies of what is going well in development and how we predict who does it well as they grow. - Finally, the two studies merged into one: Harvard's study on adult development.

At the beginning of the study, the participants were interviewed and received extensive physical exams. And as they grew up, they entered all areas of life. Some of them became masons and doctors and workers of factories and lawyers, and even one became president of the United States. (Presidential music) Every two years, researchers ask them questions about their lives. As, "if you could stop working without loss of income, what would you do? How often do you feel isolated from others? True or false, life has more pain than pleasure." And other questions about their marriage, career, friendships and physical and mental health.

Although the study began with only 724 participants, over time, their spouses and children were also included in the study. So, how many people are we talking about that they have been part of the study? - Between 2,500 and 3,000 people in total in the study. - And as technology improved, so did the data collection methods. - Now we get blood from DNA. You know, DNA did not even imagine in 1938. We measure the messenger RNA, the methylation of DNA, we bring people to our laboratory, we deliberately stress them and then we see how fast they recover from stress. Looking at the variability of the heart rate, for example, looking at the cortisol deposited in the hair, because that seems to be a long -term circulating measurement.

But all these new methods are at the service of studying the same great phenomena of human well -being. - So what teach us 85 years of research in whole human lives about a healthy and happy life? - Two huge conclusions actually. One is not a surprise. It is that if you take care of your physical health, you have great benefits, not only for your longevity, but for how long it remains healthy. Eating well, exercising regularly, not abusing alcohol or drugs, not smoking, obtaining preventive medical attention, exercising is very important. - A Taiwanese study analyzed the medical data of 416,000 healthy people between 1996 and 2008.

Eight years later, they continued with each person to see the link between exercise and mortality. They discovered that people who exerted only 15 minutes a day had a reduced risk of 14% of dying and a life expectancy of three more years. Every additional year of exercise decreased the risk of dying by an additional 4%. A great meta -analysis of 2008 confirms that physically active persons have a reduced risk of dying during the deadlines investigated in each study. Exercise also protects our cognitive health. A 2014 meta -analysis found that participants with higher levels of physical activity had a reduced risk of 35% cognitive deterioration and a reduced risk of 14% dementia. - And then, the great surprising finding is, relationships, not only keep us happier, but keep us healthier and help us live longer. - It's not just Harvard's study.

Now there is a complete list of studies that show the importance of relations with happiness and human health. They teach us three main lessons. The first is that relationships are excellent for our health. In 2010, researchers sought 148 studies with a total of more than 300,000 participants. They discovered that, on average, people with stronger social connections had a 50% more probability of survival for a certain year. Being married, in particular, has a great impact in how long people live. - There is a study, I think it is quite respected, which suggests that married men live 12 more years on average than single men and married women live seven more years on average than single women.

Marriage is always a better treatment for men in all parameters than for women. (Derek laughs) and it's not because you have a marriage license, right? It is because people who live together in an intimate association tend to stay healthier. You have someone who is looking, taking care of you. It is a very real and concrete effect. - If feeling well connected to others makes us happier, healthier and extends our lives, what happens if we feel disconnected? -There is a researcher, Julianne Holt-Lustad, from the University of Utah, who made a meta-analysis of a large number of studies of the physical effects of loneliness.

And his calculation was that being only is as dangerous to his health as smoking half herd of cigarettes a day, or as dangerous as being obese. - Feeling disconnected from others also makes you more prone to the disease. A great meta -analysis of 2016 found that bad social relations were associated with a 29% increase in the risk of heart disease and a 32% increase in the risk of stroke. - Therefore, these have real quantifiable consequences when we observe studies of thousands of people. - A warning is that most studies on the effects of loneliness are focused on people over 50. (Mark the clock) and loneliness is increasing. - The United States general surgeon today declared a new public health epidemic in the United States.

Loneliness. - Now we are discovering that one in two adults informs measurable levels of loneliness and it turns out that young people are more affected. And here is why this is so worrying. It is because we have realized that loneliness is more than a bad feeling. It has real consequences for our mental and physical health. - The United Kingdom has appointed Minister of Soledad. Many, many countries are concerned about this breakdown in social connection. - A question about loneliness, as, how does that look? Because, obviously, all experience some periods of loneliness. Then you know, when does it really become harmful and how do we define that? - Well, loneliness is different from being alone, right?

Then you can be alone and quite happy, and many people are, in fact. The ability to be happy when you are only a great skill and it is a wonderful ability. Loneliness is that subjective experience of being less connected to people than you want to be. And that's why, you know, you can be alone in a crowd. We are all in a spectrum between extroversion, you know, wanting many people in our lives and introversion, actually needing a lot of solitude and not wanting many people, many people are stressful for introverts. And what we know is that neither is healthier, right?

Like introverts are perfectly healthy. They may need one or two really solid relationships and do not want many more people. There is nothing wrong with that. While outgoing may want many people in their lives. - Then, the second lesson is that it is not how many people you know or see, or even if you are married or not, because a bad marriage can be worse for your health to divorce. Instead, it is the quality of its close relationships that matter. - When we follow all the original people at 80, we said: "Well, what data are the best predictors at age 50 of who will be happy and healthy at age 80 instead of sick or dead?" And we thought we were going to look at blood pressure and cholesterol level at age 50 as the strongest predictors.

They were his relationships. It was particularly his satisfaction with his marriage relationships that was the strongest predictor. - And relationships not only keep us happier and more physically healthier, but also protect our brains. People who are in safe relationships in their 80s, where they feel they can trust the other person, discover that their memories remain more acute longer. And people who feel alone, well, their memories vanish faster. A study of retired American adults found that the cognitive decrease rate was 20% higher for 10 years for those who felt alone. A 2018 meta -analysis confirms even more the harmful effects of loneliness, discovering that the risk of dementia also increased.

But there is still a great open question: what does the relationships that make them particularly healthy or useful? - The best hypothesis, for which there is a fairly decent investigation, is that relationships are regulators of emotions. They are stress regulators. So, stressful things happen every day for many of us, right? So what happens? Well, the body enters into struggle or flight mode, blood pressure increases, breathing becomes faster, circulating stress hormone levels increase. But then the body is intended to return to balance after that normal fighting or flight response when we face a challenge. If I can return home and there is someone here to talk to, I can literally feel that my body calms down.

What we are quite sure is that isolated people are isolated, who are more likely to remain in a kind of chronic way of struggle or flight. And that means that they have higher levels of circulating cortisol, higher levels of chronic inflammation, and that these things gradually discourage body systems. This is, for example, chronic stress can predict coronary artery disease, but also arthritis and also type two diabetes due to this common mechanism that decomposes multiple body systems. - The key to preventing this breakdown is simple. Simply spend a little more time with the people who care. Unfortunately, it seems that we are doing exactly the opposite.

Before entering why we are doing exactly the opposite, this part of the video was sponsored by Betterhelp. There are many things that can negatively affect our happiness. It could be stress or fear or a clinical problem of mental health such as depression or anxiety. But independentlyWhatever therapy, therapy can help you by giving you the tools to address your life in a very different way. And that's where he enters better. I know that finding a good therapist is difficult, especially when you only have the options in your city. But Betterhelp changes the game in this because it is an online platform.

And when completing some questions, you will match a professional therapist. Therefore, you can speak in most cases within 48 hours and then you can perform your therapy session as a phone call, such as a video chat or even through messages if you prefer. Whatever the most comfortable version of therapy for you. And it is easy to register, there is a link in the description. It is betterhelp.com/veritasium. Click on that link helps support this channel and also gives you a 10% discount in its first month of Betterhelp. Then you can try it and see if it helps.

And if it really does not fit with your first therapist, which is quite common, you can easily change a new one for free without stressing about insurance, who is on your network or something. If you feel that you could benefit from speaking with someone, receiving comments, advice and help for anything that may affect your happiness and progress in life, then visit Betterhelp.com/veritasium or click that link in the description below. So I want to thank Betterhelp for sponsoring this part of the video. And now, returning to the importance of relationships. There is an alarming trend in our society. - The social commitment to friends decreased from 60 minutes a day in 2003 to only 20 minutes a day in 2020.

Technology has fundamentally changed the way we interact between us and how we communicate between us and, unfortunately, it has often replaced what used to be rich in connections in people with online connections, which are often of less quality. - Now, you can say that you are an introvert and do not need to spend much time with people to feel good. And although it is true that introverts and extroverts need different amounts of social stimulation, both need human connection. In 2015, Holt-Alcanstad and his colleagues analyzed the data of 70 independent studies with more than 3 million participants in total. Similar to other studies, they found that the subjective feeling of loneliness increased the risk of premature death by 26%.

But they also analyzed the objective measure of social isolation, how long it really happens with other people. And discovered that social isolation increased the risk of premature death by 29%. And unfortunately, introverts run the risk of being socially isolated. Like many young people today, many Harvard study participants also believed that money and achievement were what they should look for to have a good life. But what this study and many others show is that the people who were happier were the ones who relied on their relationships with their partner, friends, family and community. And when they had the 80s, the researchers asked them, what are you most proud and what is your greatest regret? - Many people said they were more proud of something to do with their relationships.

Then it could be: "He was a good boss, he was a good father, he was a good friend, he was a good mentor." No one said: "I made a fortune," right? Nobody said, you know, "I won the Nobel Prize," what some people did. It was not those achievement badges, right, that we think how: "Oh, that is what we have to feel that we have had a significant life." Everyone looking back mentioned their relationships. The greatest regret was particularly among men, because this was the generation of World War II. They said: "I wish I would not have spent so much time at work, I would like to have spent more time with the people who care." - So what happens to our original question?

Do achievements and money really make us happy? Well, according to Harvard's study, the badges of achievements do not necessarily make us happier, but doing significant job can. And money? Does that make us happier? Well, there is a famous 2010 study by Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton who discovered that above an income of around $ 75,000 a year, there is no improvement in emotional well -being measures. But 11 years later, Matthew Killingsworth studied data on 33,000 American adults used and discovered that the highest income corresponded to higher levels of well -being. Then he wrote: "There was no evidence of an experienced well -being plateau above $ 75,000 per year, unlike some previous influential investigations." In 2022, Kahneman and Killingsworth set out to resolve the conflict with Barbara Mellers as a mediator.

When they analyzed Killingsworth data, they discovered an interesting pattern, depending on how happy people were in relation to others, which obtained more increases in different increases in happiness. For each income level, they divided people into groups based on their happiness, low, medium, high, etc. And they discovered that below a threshold of approximately one hundred thousand dollars a year, a higher income was associated with more happiness for all groups. But if you go over that threshold, then for the most unhappy group, an additional increase is not associated with more happiness. However, for all happier groups, the highest income seems to lead to more happiness.

And the real turn is that those who are the happiest to start with the maximum win with the increase in income. Relationships, significant work and money play a role in our happiness. So why can it be so difficult to realize how important relationships are? - You know, if you think about it, relationships have been there since we have memory, right? So they are like the air we breathe, we take them for granted. Then you don't think about that as something you grow to make you happy. We don't think about that at all. And yet, when we study it scientifically, we find that it turns out to be a huge predictor of happiness and physical health. - What will make you happy? - Um. - Oh. - Oh. - Oh. - Um. - Oh. - Being rich is definitely a great appearance.

But that loving family is something like the basis of it. You know what I mean? - Realistically, money. But just like building deep connections with people, they are what will make me happy. - That's incredible. - Have good relationships with other people. - You raise a family. - Have a family and provide. - Friends and family. - See my family happy, that's all that really matters to me. - Return to the community where you came from, the world. - A strong family base just to return home every night. - Yes. I want to marry, have a lot of children.

I want: how many are a ton? - Probably like five, six. - That is as many as I can pay. (Derek laughs) So. - In fact, when I interviewed people, I was pleasantly surprised to see how many identified the importance of relationships. So, if you could give people advice on what to start doing today to begin to be happier, what suggestions would you do? - Think about it as analogous to physical aptitude, if you go out today, do not get home and say: "I've finished. I don't have to do that again," right? It's like a practice, right?

That the people who were better in relationships were the people who did it a practice day after day, week after week, to stay connected to the people who cared. You know, talk on the phone, go for a walk, drink coffee, do anything, play basketball. The people who took those actions again and again were the people who were very connected and remained happy in that way. So, what we propose is that this is a practice that we can cultivate and that there are small actions that people can take. We have many stories of people who thought they were not good in relationships, which would never have happy lives.

And then changed. And many times he changed when they didn't expect it. So, we have a story about a man who really didn't have a good marriage and was a bit distant from his children, he had no friends. And then, when he retired, he joined a gym and found this group of friends who became, for the first time, a kind of tribe for him. And that is just an example of how our lives take these turns and turns that we cannot generally predict, that we do not expect. And many of those shifts are in positive directions.

The message that science tells us is not to give up this aspect of his life. Because many things can change at any age. (Transition beeps and bells)