The study has examined about 700 people and their families since 1938. What elements were taken into account to reach the conclusion
By iProfessional
22/04/2023 – 09,17hs
The search for the happiness It is a constant in the history of the human being. Each person has their own concept of happiness., of what this word means to her. Sometimes, it can coincide with what another person understands by happiness. But what makes us really happy?
Answering this question is precisely what they have been trying to do since the 1930s in a study at Harvard University led by the psychiatrist Robert Waldinger and the psychologist Marc Schulz, entitled “The study of the development of Adults” from Harvard and is popularly known as The Harvard Study. The results that have been obtained to date are published in the book The Good Life.
According to the study, considered to be the most detailed and profound longitudinal study that has been carried out on the lives of human beings, what really makes us happy are positive relationships. Surrounding yourself with loving relationships seems to protect your body and mind. That money gives happiness does not seem to marry Harvard.
Researchers have verified over the years that people who at age 50 had strong social connections and tiesreached 80 in a better way, than those who did not have them.
The study has examined about 700 people and their families since 1938. Some participants were Harvard students and others lived in poor Boston neighborhoods. Researchers have accompanied them throughout their lives, taking note from time to time of their joys, difficulties, physical, mental and emotional state. In recent times, the partners of the first participants and later their offspring were included in the study.
We already know what according to Harvard makes us happier. The next question we ask ourselves is at what age will we achieve the long-awaited happiness. The Harvard study also says so.
Happiness may also be due to the fact that our brain values the positive more than the negative.
From what age are we happiest, according to Harvard
The age from which we humans embrace happiness most closely is, drum roll, 60. “We think it’s because we have a sense of the limits of life and that death is something real and that makes us happier, because we change our lives. We get rid of obligations, friendships that don’t make us happy, or meetings that we don’t like,” say the researchers.
Happiness may also be due to the fact that our brain values the positive more than the negative and prioritize what brings us the most joy. When we turn 60, we still have things to learn but we are emotionally wiser, not like in adolescence or youth.
And what to do to maintain happiness and not let it slip away? Researchers recommend taking care of the personal relationships we have. For them, unwanted loneliness is one of the great enemies of happiness and health, since they affirm that diseases of old age develop earlier and in a more serious way when you are alone and, therefore, the ideal is to stay connected to others. “All of us are connected to the whole world and need each other,” say the study authors.
“When I can complain to another person, I can feel that the body is recovering its balance; the person alone cannot calm it down, while the one who has relationships can,” they defend.
Currently, the researchers of the Harvard study are studying the children of the original participants, asking them, among other things, about social networks and the COVID pandemic.
