The argument that positive wellbeing could – and should – be used in the fight against bad health and stress has been highlighted by a UK study*. Scientists from the University College of London have found that the happiest people, who have a more positive outlook, are 35 per cent less likely to die in the short term than those who are miserable.

While many existing studies already show that happy people are healthier, this study is unique because the participants were accurately reporting their mood in real time rather than recollecting them at a later date which can prove unreliable.

In the mood
The study was based on 3,853 people in total aged between 52 to 79. Using the ecological momentary assessment (EMA) method, they recorded their mood four times in one day – on waking, 30 minutes after waking, at 7pm and when they went to bed.

Each time, they rated the extent to which they felt happy, excited, content, worried, anxious or fearful on a scale of one to four. The first three feelings were combined and described as positive affect (PA) in the results.

The subjects were then divided into three groups based on their PA rankings – high, medium and low. After five years, the researchers followed up with the members of each group to record who had died during that time. Factors such as age, gender, depression, health and lifestyle – which might have influenced the results – were taken into account.

Don’t worry, be happy
The group with the highest PA scores had a gradual increase in lifespan it was found. Only 3.6 per cent of the high-PA group had died during the five years. In contrast, 4.6 per cent in the middle bracket and 7.3 per cent in the lower third had died.

In short, the happiest people were 35 per cent less likely to die. Yet more negative emotions did not reverse the trend and had little influence on survival.
“We were surprised that measures obtained over one single day might predict so strongly,” said lead author Andrew Steptoe in an article on the health-based website healthymagination.com. Other findings the website highlighted were:

- The happiest people were slightly younger and more likely to be male and married
- Positive emotions overall were lowest at 7am and highest at 7pm
- Ethnicity, paid employment, education and presence of serious disease made no significant difference to PA
- Smoking was less common and physical activity higher among those with higher PAs
- Happier people had higher opinions of their own health

However, Steptoe was keen to point out that the results don’t prove that happiness causes people to live longer. He told UK newspaper The Telegraph: “The happiness could be a marker of some other aspect of people’s lives which is particularly important for health. For example, happiness is quite strongly linked to good social relationships – maybe it’s things like that which are account for the link between happiness and health.”

He also suspects that biological processes could be at work: other studies have shown that positive moods reduce stress-related hormones and boost the immune system.

*Steptoe A and Wardle J. Positive affect measured using ecological momentary assessment and survival in older men and women. PNAS. Vol 108, no 45, November 2011