Is Happiness the Next Health Frontier?

As anybody who has experienced the euphoria that comes after a long run—or even a restorative nap—can attest, health and happiness make for obvious bedfellows. But medical research tends to prioritize things that aren’t working, so we know far more about the link between negative emotions and physical illnesses than the reverse. It’s been proven, for instance, that long-term stress and fear can lead to heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. But what exactly is happiness, and how can it change our bodies for the better?

Doctors and public health experts who belong to a controversial new school of thought suggest that looking at only one half of the mind-body connection is shortsighted. A growing branch of research shows that there are very real links between happiness and physical well-being—and those in this field say a further understanding of this dynamic could be key to solving some of our most pressing health problems. Happier people have better immune systems, fewer heart problems, and lead longer lives. Last year, a study found a link between those who reported feeling a sense of purpose in life and a reduced incidence of sleep disturbances. Of course, a bad night’s sleep will not kill you, but a greater purpose in life is also associated with reduced likelihood of having a stroke, developing Alzheimer’s disease, or becoming disabled.

For a long time, the medical community thought of a positive mindset simply as the absence of a negative one. But now, Harvard’s newly opened Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness is devoted to studying this subject and mapping its nuances. And people like the center’s codirector Laura Kubzansky, a professor of social and behavioral sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, are working to tease apart the different kinds of happiness (or “positive psychological well-being,” as scientists call it), and their respective benefits. These sub-categories of mental wellness include optimism, resilience, connectedness, vitality, and purposefulness. Happiness appears to be some part genetic, and also shaped by positive life circumstances such as social support, employment, and education.

“I’m interested in prevention, rather than fixing things after they’ve gone wrong,” Kubzansky says. “While I come from a background of looking at the bad stuff, like stress and anxiety and PTSD, I became interested in looking at the positive psychological states that confer some benefit above and beyond not being depressed. We need to understand, what is optimal functioning and how do we get there? Otherwise we are not going to be able to fully understand the deficits.”

How are they going to do this? The center’s funding—including $21 million from the Chinese Lee Kum Kee family, who built their fortune on oyster sauce—will go towards numerous studies, the results of which are sure to make headlines in years to come. “To prove to skeptics that positive psychological wellbeing is truly causally contributing to improved physical health—that’s our number one goal,” Kubzansky says. Another big priority is communication, so that the center’s findings move beyond the confines of academic journals and help governments set policies that will ward off large-scale health issues.

In the meantime, how can we improve our own sense of happiness? Kubzansky and her codirector K. “Vish” Viswanath—a professor of health communication at Harvard’s School of Public Health—are reluctant to offer advice this early. But one theme Viswanath is excited about is the positive role of friendship—or social capital, as he calls it. “It’s an unfortunate term that suggests money, but it’s actually the product of relationships between two people, and it matters a lot to our well-being,” he says. Those with positive personal relationships are more likely to take care of themselves, he notes. He is also fascinated by research showing links between a sense of purpose and lower mortality and decreased cardiovascular risk.

“It sounds like such a pat formula, but the notion of having a purposeful life geared toward something larger than you is enormously beneficial,” Viswanath says. “People ask me why I work all the time, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

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