Keys to a Happy New Year

CANADA – This is the season when we frequently wish each other a happy, healthy New Year, but how do we make that happen? Is it a matter of luck? Is it an outcome of achieving fame and fortune? Not by a long shot, according to an 84-year study by Harvard University. In 1938, the prestigious school launched the world’s longest running analysis of health and happiness.

The original participants included hundreds of Harvard students, youth from Boston’s poorest neighbourhoods and later, their wives and children. During the subjects’ lifetimes, they shared medical records, provided blood samples, sat down for interviews with researchers, and completed numerous questionnaires.

Researchers pored through data looking for the secrets to a good life. Despite society’s preoccupation with fame and fortune, the real keys are far more attainable.  

The Harvard team found a strong correlation between flourishing lives and relationships with family, friends, and community. In fact, people’s level of satisfaction with their relationships at age 50 was a better predictor of physical health at 80 than their cholesterol levels.

Strong, positive connections with family, loved ones, and community protect people from life’s troubles, help to delay mental and physical decline, reduce indulgence in bad habits, and are better predictors of long and happy lives than social class, IQ, or even genes. These findings proved true across the board from the wealthiest Harvard alumni to the poorest inner-city participants.

Robert Waldinger, one of the directors of the study, and a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, shared highlights of the project in a brief, inspiring TED talk.

This ongoing study has repeatedly revealed three keys to a happy, healthy life:

1.    Do good for yourself by maintaining your finances, work/life balance, and health.

2.    Do more of what you are good at and less of what you are not so good at.

3.    Do good for others by cherishing relationships and contributing to your community.

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Sutton Group Realty Services Ltd. Contact:

Brooke Matthews
604-691-1689
stories@suttonspirit.com