POSITIVE THINKING
work out well by being happy, you may not do what is medically good for you.” But harnessed in an effective and scientifically proven way, the link between happiness and health could pay huge dividends. So what makes people happy and how could
happiness be increased to improve their health? Professor Steptoe says there is strong evidence that one activity that improved people’s level of happiness is helping others.
He cited an experiment in which people were given a sum of money and instructed either to spend it on others or on themselves. The participants who gave the money away were happier for longer than those who used the money to treat themselves. “We now plan to look at what people are doing and how happy they are when they are doing it,” he said. The importance of the pursuit of happiness – for nations as well as individuals – is an imperative that politicians have embraced in recent years. As an adviser to the Labour Government, Richard Layard became known as the ‘happiness tsar’. Lord Layard and two colleagues are launching a Movement for Happiness, calling for “a more co- operative society where people expect more satisfaction from what they give than from what they get”. Lord Layard writes on the Movement for
More significantly, the Hungarians also had worse health problems, higher levels of cortisol and lower levels of ‘heart rate variability’, an indication of chronic strain on the cardiovascular system.
Professor Steptoe said that more work needed to be done and admitted the protective health effects associated with being happy in his study did not appear to be huge. “It would be far better to stop smoking; do more exercise,” he said.
But while the biological effects measured by the
study were small, the ramifications were far bigger. “The effects, although small, are long-lasting – over many months or years. Cortisol differences between the women, for example, may only be five to ten per cent over a day, but then the difference goes on every week, every year and every decade, over 30 years perhaps, and this is much more likely to lead to premature disease. So small effects are important because they lead to differences in our everyday lives.”
Happiness website: “Happiness is good for you. Everyone wants to be happy, yet many are not. This has been the human condition for as long as anyone can remember – Samuel Beckett said that the tears of the world are a constant quantity. But what if the tears of the world are not so constant? What if it really is possible for individuals and whole societies to shape and boost their happiness?” Professor Steptoe’s team is going some way towards helping to find the answer. n
Sarah Womack is former social affairs correspondent of the Daily Telegraph
A positive state of mind may have protective effects and be health promoting
Volunteering to help others may improve one’s levels of happiness
He added: “We can say for certain that negative things like stress and depression do have bad effects on biology, and positive states may have protective effects and be health promoting.” Studies of happiness and health have often been hijacked by pop psychologists who imply that individuals with serious illnesses such as cancer can improve their chances of recovery simply by willing themselves well, and being upbeat. Professor Steptoe said: “It is a ridiculous thing
to say to people with cancer ‘be happy’, and it can be maladaptive – if you have an illusion that things will all
AUTUMN 2010 SOCIETY NOW 25 i
International Study of Biology and Positive Well-Being Contact Professor Andrew Steptoe, UCL Tel 0207 679 1804 Email
a.steptoe@
ucl.ac.uk ESRC Grant Number RES-177-25-0005
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32