A study of 5,000 adults suggests happiness is infectious and can ‘ripple’ through social groups, according to researchers at the Harvard Medical School.
Their findings, published in the British Medical Journal, report that a friend who becomes happy and lives less than a mile away increases your likelihood of happiness by 25 per cent, but the mood of work colleagues does not have an effect.
Participants were asked to identify their relatives, close friends, place of residence, and place of work and were followed up every two to four years. They were also asked whether they agreed with statements on whether they enjoyed life, felt hopeful about the future, were happy and felt they were just as good as other people. The relationship between people’s happiness levels seemed to extend up to three degrees of separation – to the friend of a friend of a friend.
Professor Andrew Steptoe, a psychology expert from University College London, says the research had implications for public health: ‘Happiness does seem to be associated with protective effects on health. If happiness is indeed transmitted through social connections, it could indirectly contribute to social transmission of health.’
BBC