There is an unspoken formula engrained in our society about happiness and success. Societal norms push the idea that success comes before happiness, many times at the cost of our current state of happiness. As it turns out, science has proven that this formula is backward.
Research shows that the most successful individuals are generally happier to begin with, not the other way around. Performance on job evaluations, income, life expectancy and many other objective outcomes are higher among happy individuals. Additionally, happier people are healthier than their counterparts and have what a Harvard study described as “exceptional longevity.” My personal favorite study measured happiness in individuals and then injected them with a cold virus. After a week, subjects who had higher levels of happiness at the beginning of the study had fewer objective symptoms of a cold (cough, runny nose, etc.) than those with lower levels of happiness.
Jeff Bowcutt is a first-year medical student at John Sealy School of Medicine. Dr. Samuel Mathis is an assistant professor in The University of Texas Medical Branch’s Family Medicine Department.
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Internet forum rules ...
Real names required. No pseudonyms or partial names allowed. Stand behind what you post.
Keep it clean. Don't use obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don’t knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be brief. Keep posts to 150 words or less.
Edit yourself. No more than two posts per thread and stay on topic. Do not link to sites outside galvnews.com.
Be aware. All posts are property of The Daily News and may be republished in print.
Be proactive. Use the "Report" link on each comment to let us know of rule violations.