Live Healthier with Happy Friends
Happy Smiley
This weekend, have lunch with a good-natured pal. It could have far-reaching benefits for your mental health.
Research confirms — and quantifies — it. Your chances of becoming happy increase by at least 15 percent if someone in your immediate social circle is happy.
Ripple Effect
Yep, it seems that happy people can spread their feel-good vibes far and wide, the same way a ripple spreads through a pond. Not only do immediate friends matter, but friends of friends, too — more so if they happen to live close by.
Your social network matters. Meeting friends and acquaintenances for coffe, a quick basketball game, friday night dinners and the like, increase your chance of feeling happy as well.
Happy Friends Make You Happy
They concluded that the happiness of an immediate social contact increased an individual’s chances of becoming happy by 15%, Fowler says.
The happiness of a second-degree contact, such as the spouse of a friend, increases the likeliness of becoming happy by 10%, and the happiness of a third-degree contact — or the friend of a friend of a friend — increases the likelihood of becoming happy by 6%.
Richard Suzman, PhD, who directs the behavioral and social research division of the National Institutes of Health, which funded the study, calls the research “pioneering.”
“These findings are very strong,” Suzman tells WebMD. “From a public policy perspective, this research means we need to consider the societal impact on happiness, or obesity, or smoking. We are only just beginning to understand how social networks influence these things for good or for bad.”
Compassionate Caveat
Of course, the study findings don’t mean you should ditch unhappy friends or family members. Instead, remember that the road to happy is a two-way street. You may spread happiness to downtrodden pals by feeling upbeat yourself.
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