Fun and Fitness for the 40-Something

It’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg conundrum: Which comes first—happiness or health? Lots of people probably think good health will bring them happiness, and rightly so. But it turns out the opposite is true, too.

A recent study in the American Journal of Health Promotion indicates adults who are happy are more likely to report good health, both now and later.

“Everything else being equal—regardless of your age, gender, whether you smoke, drink or exercise, if you’re happy and satisfied with life now—you’re more likely to be healthy in the future,” says the study’s lead author.

The researchers examined data collected in two waves of an Australian survey conducted in 2001 and 2004 (the lead author says the results would be same in the United States). Three indicators for health were measured:

• the participants’ self-rated health as excellent, very good, good, fair or poor
• whether they had health conditions that limited their activity
• their assessment of their physical health, including difficulties with activities like walking, bending and lifting

The question “During the past four weeks, have you been a happy person?” was used to assess happiness. Satisfaction with life was determined by asking: “All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life?”

The researchers found “strong evidence” that subjective well-being and health are associated. The odds of reporting good health were 1.5 times greater for adults who were happy most or all of the time than for adults who reported being happy only a little or none of the time.

Happiness and life satisfaction in the initial survey were both associated with:

1. excellent, good or very good health;
2. the absence of long-term, limiting health concerns; and
3. higher levels of physical health three years later.

As the lead author noted, not only are happiness and life satisfaction desirable subjective states, they also contribute to better health!

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 at 7:49 am and is filed under Health and Wellness, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.