Social life, key to happiness and health

Launched in the United States in 1938, under the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, the Grant Study is the longest cohort study ever carried out on human development. It initially numbered 724 men, all white, but divided into two groups: that of Harvard students, including a certain John Kennedy, and that of young men from the poor neighborhoods of Boston. The latter mostly lived in lodgings, but many without running water. Today there are about sixty left, all over 90 years old.

The research team, led since 2003 by Robert Waldinger, a psychiatrist at Harvard, has throughout this study periodically noted various physical and emotional factors, from questionnaires, interviews or medical examinations. Much information has been gleaned from this follow-up of young adults into old age, but according to the fourth research director, the clearest message is that the happiest and healthiest participants, regardless of standard of living, are those who have maintained close relationships with other people throughout their lives, whether in friendship, love or within a community.

A difference from 40 years

“People who have isolated themselves from others more than they wanted to are less happy. Their health declined earlier in their 40s and they often had shorter lives than people who weren’t left alone,” the psychiatrist explained during a conference reported by TEDTalk. The impact of conflicting relationships is also important: a marriage without affection and with a lot of conflict is indeed linked to poor health indicators, more so than a divorce.

Social life not only protects the body, but also the brain. People over the age of 80 who can rely on their connections in times of need thus retain their memories longer. Moreover, these relations do not need to be smooth over time. Disputes, followed by reconciliations, are not a barrier to memory.