What really makes us happy in life? How would you answer that question? A lot of people think more money would solve their problems.
What really makes us happy in life? How would you answer that question? A lot of people think more money would solve their problems.
The Harvard study on adult aging banks on the lives of men over the past 75 years. In other words, it is not based on what people think may make them happy in the future. Instead, the study looks at what has verifiably led to happiness and health over the decades as the study group has grown older.
The research itself began before WWII and has continued as the men aged into their 90s. Some of those men became bricklayers; one ended up a president. Some developed schizophrenia and others maintained good health.
The lessons are not about wealth or fame or working harder and harder, says current study director and psychiatrist Robert Waldinger. It is social connections that keep us both happier and healthier, but it is not the number of friends you have or whether you are married. It is the quality of those relationships that matter most.
The TED Talk given by Waldinger, below, gives more details and offers tips on how to improve relationships as we age.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KkKuTCFvzI
Click below for the other articles in the April 2019 Senior Spirit
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KkKuTCFvzI
Blog posting provided by Society of Certified Senior Advisors
www.csa.us
www.csa.us
