Does Happiness Improve Health? Evidence From a Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

Happier people are healthier, but does becoming happier lead to better health? In the current study, we deployed a comprehensive, 3-month positive psychological intervention as an experimental tool to examine the effects of increasing subjective well-being on physical health in a nonclinical population. In a 6-month randomized controlled trial with 155 community adults, we found effects of treatment on self-reported physical health—the number of days in the previous month that participants felt healthy or sick, as assessed by questions from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Questionnaire. In a subsample of 100 participants, we also found evidence that improvements in subjective well-being over the course of the program predicted subsequent decreases in the number of sick days. Combining experimental and longitudinal methodologies, this work provides some evidence for a causal effect of subjective well-being on self-reported physical health.

Predicting fear and perceived health during the COVID-19 pandemic using machine learning: A cross-national longitudinal study

“…These changes likely have an impact on a populations' perceived health, since psychological well-being and loneliness in turn predicts physical and perceived health [36,37]. Lower perceived health has indeed been reported during the COVID-19 pandemic [38], and is associated with high levels of stress during this crisis [39].…”

Helping and Happiness: A Review and Guide for Public Policy

“…People around the world report that happiness is “extraordinarily important” (Diener & Oishi, 2000) and its pursuit motivates numerous consequential decisions—from whom to marry, to what career path to pursue, as well as how to spend one's leisure time and disposable income (Diener & Biswas‐Diener, 2019). A widespread interest in promoting well‐being seems justified when recognizing that people who frequently experience higher levels of positive affect also enjoy a host of beneficial outcomes, such as greater physical health, lower mortality risk, greater likeability, more positive social relationships, higher productivity, as well as greater work place and marital success (see Chida & Steptoe, 2008; Howell, Kern, & Lyubomirsky, 2007; Kushlev et al., 2020; Lyubomirsky, King & Diener, 2005a, for meta‐analytic reviews). In fact, happiness is not just an outcome of success—but a key causal predictor of it (Lyubomirsky et al., 2005a; Walsh, Boehm & Lyubomirsky, 2018).…”

The Gratitude visit: Student reflections on a positive psychology experiential learning exercise

“…Experimentally tested interventions that promote constructs such as gratefulness (Emmons & McCullough, 2003) and kindness (Otake, Shimai, Tanaka-Matsumi, Otsui, & Fredrickson, 2006) have been shown effective at increasing well-being. Furthermore, positive psychology interventions have clinical relevance for depressed, older, and highlymotivated individuals (Sin & Lyubomirsky, 2009) and may promote physical health (Kushlev et al, 2020).…”