According to a Harvard study, happy relationships are one of the foundations for a happier and physically healthier life.
According to study leader Robert Waldinger, the more closely we connect with other people, the lower the risk of death.
This also affects wound healing. “Relationships are like stress relief,” explains Waldinger.
What makes people happy? Robert Waldinger has spent many years investigating this question. As leader of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, an 85-year-old research project spanning three generations, he examined data from 2,024 participants. According to the study, exercise, a healthy diet and a sense of accomplishment in life all contribute to our long-term well-being. According to him, however, healthy relationships are also particularly important, according to Waldinger one of the foundations for a happier and physically healthier life.
One of the key findings of the Harvard study is that our connections with other people—whether intimate, casual, or somewhere in between—are important to our health. “At first we didn’t believe our own data, but then other studies had similar results,” he says. Numerous other researchers around the world have also found that the more connected we are to other people, the lower our risk of dying, as Waldinger points out in his book The Good Life: Lessons from the world’s longest scientific study of happiness.
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One research summary found that “across all age groups, genders, and ethnicities, strong social connections are associated with increased chances of living longer.” Some studies even suggest that healthy relationships make patients less likely to develop chronic problems like heart disease or type 2 diabetes.
A happy partnership can ease the physical pain of aging
Harvard researchers also found that those in happier relationships are more likely to overcome pain. When surveying participants over the age of 80 who struggled with physical pain, the Harvard researchers found that respondents in happy partner relationships remained happier even on physically painful days and had fewer mood swings.
However, “when people in unhappy relationships reported physical pain, their mood worsened, causing them additional emotional pain,” it said. Relationships can also have far-reaching effects on our immune systems. In a now-famous study cited in Waldinger’s book, people’s skin was examined to see if the stress of nursing made it difficult for wounds to heal. The answer is yes.
The 1995 research showed that women over 60 who primarily cared for people with Alzheimer’s took an average of nine extra days to heal from their physical wounds. The psychological stress of caring for a loved one literally impeded the body’s ability to heal itself, they say.
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Why you should hold hands more often
Finally, the Harvard authors point to research showing that holding hands has health benefits. In a study in which patients were given small electric shocks, researchers found that participants who held hands with someone close to them felt less pain. A control group that held hands with strangers had no such effect.
In fact, the effect was so great that the study’s author, Professor James Coan of the University of Virginia, concluded that holding a loved one’s hand during a medical procedure was as good as any mild anesthetic.
Waldinger theorizes that in all of these situations, our entire body—from the heart to the head—experiences and responds to stress in ancient, primal ways. “Relationships are like stress relief,” he says. “Because they calm your body. They balance you out of fight or flight mode and back into balance.”
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This article was translated from English by Klemens Handke. You can find the original here.
This article first appeared on January 16, 2023. It was reviewed and updated on January 17, 2023.
