Robert Waldinger: What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness | TED

What Keeps Us Happy and Healthy?

• A recent study asked millennials about their most important life goals.
• More than 80% said that their main goal in life was to become rich and famous.

“Always demanding that work is prioritized and pushing forward to achieve more. We believe these are the purposes to strive for in order to achieve a comfortable life.”

The Illusion of External Accomplishments for Happiness

• We often believe that focusing on work and chasing external accomplishments will lead to a fulfilling life.
• However, photographs and stories of people’s lives show that achieving fame is not the ultimate goal.

“Images of an entire life from human choices and how they affect your future. It’s difficult to obtain such pictures.”

Remembering the Past and the Imperfections of Memory

• Our understanding of human life is often shaped by our invitation for people to recall the past.
• However, subsequent perception of events is different from the momentary immersion in them.
• We forget much of what happens to us in life, and sometimes our memory fabricates what did not happen.

“Because we forget a lot of what happens to us in life, and sometimes memory fabricates what didn’t happen.”

Studying the Entire Lives of Individuals

• What if we could observe an individual’s entire life as it unfolds?
• What if we could study people from adolescence to old age to understand what keeps them happy and healthy?
• The Harvard Study of Adult Development has been doing exactly that.

“What if we could study people from adolescence to old age to know what keeps people happy and in good health?”

The Longest Study on Adult Life

• The Harvard Study of Adult Development may be the longest study on adult life ever conducted.
• For over 75 years, the lives of 724 men have been tracked year after year.
• Their careers, personal lives, and health have been examined, giving us insights into their well-being.

“The Harvard Study of Adult Development may be the longest study on adult life ever conducted.”

The Rare Persistence of Studies

• Most studies of this nature usually collapse within ten years due to various reasons.
• However, through a combination of luck and the continuous efforts of multiple generations of researchers, this study has endured.

“Most projects of this kind collapse within ten years, as many people abandon the study, funding dries up, or researchers lose focus.”

The Ongoing Participation of Participants

• Around 60 out of the original 724 participants are still alive and continue to be part of the study.
• Most of them are in their nineties and actively contribute to the research.
• The study has now also begun to include over 2000 children of these men.

“Around 60 out of the original 724 participants are still alive, most of them in their nineties, and continue to participate in the study.”

Following Lives from Youth to Adulthood

• The first group of participants entered the study as second-year college students at Harvard.
• They experienced the effects of World War II and most enlisted in the military.
• The second group, from the poorest neighborhoods in Boston, was chosen specifically because of the adversity they faced.

“The first group entered the study as second-year college students at Harvard. The second group was chosen from the poorest neighborhoods in Boston.”

The Diverse Paths of Participants

• Throughout their lives, these participants pursued various careers, including factory workers, lawyers, builders, and doctors.
• Some struggled with alcohol addiction or mental health issues, while others achieved social mobility or experienced downward trends.

“One of them became President of the United States. Some of them struggled with alcohol addiction, while others experienced social mobility or downward trends.”

These notes cover the first part of the video, summarizing the key points made about the study on happiness and health.

The Longest Study on Happiness: An Introduction

• The founders of the study did not envision that after 75 years, Robert Waldinger would be standing here today, still discussing the study’s ongoing nature.
• Every two years, the dedicated and patient team contacts the study participants to ask them additional questions about their lives.

“The study is still ongoing.”

The Extensive Research Methods

• The study goes beyond simple questionnaires and conducts interviews with participants in their own living rooms.
• The team also collects participants’ medical records from their doctors and performs blood tests and brain scans.
• They also speak to the participants’ children and record conversations between the participants and their spouses.

“We don’t just send them questionnaires.”

The Impact of Social Connections

• The study reveals that good relationships make us happier and healthier.
• People who have strong social ties with family, friends, and the community are happier, physically healthier, and live longer than those who are less connected.
• On the other hand, experiencing loneliness has detrimental effects on our health and overall well-being.

“Good relationships make us happier and healthier. Period.”

Quality of Relationships Matters

• The quantity of friendships or being in a relationship does not guarantee happiness or satisfaction.
• It is the quality of our relationships that truly matters.
• Living in the midst of conflict is extremely detrimental to our health, even more so than divorce.
• Conversely, living in warm and supportive relationships is beneficial and acts as a protective factor against the challenges of aging.

“It’s not about the number of friends you have or whether you’re in a relationship. It’s the quality of your relationships that counts.”

Relationship Satisfaction Predicts Future Health

• The study found that people who reported higher relationship satisfaction at age 50 were the healthiest by age 80.
• Close relationships have a positive impact on our well-being and can mitigate the difficulties that come with aging.

“The people who were the happiest in their relationships at age 50 were the healthiest at age 80.”

The importance of good relationships for our well-being

• Emotional pain can magnify the impact on our well-being.
• Good relationships not only protect our bodies but also our brains.
• Deeply connected relationships in our 80s are predictive of longer-lasting memories.
• People who feel they can rely on others during times of need have clearer and more vivid memories.

“People who are more socially connected to family, to friends, to community, are happier, they’re physically healthier, and they live longer than people who are less well-connected.”