Spread Some Happiness

The holiday season is upon us, and seldom has the injunction "peace on earth, good will toward men" received stronger scientific support. Indeed, the advice to "Be of good cheer" and spread "joy to the world" is validated by a study that reaches the conclusion, as its primary researcher puts it, that "Happiness is contagious."

You can go to the British Medical Journal's home page, BMJ, to learn more. You can see an abstract of its findings here.

The massive study by Harvard medical sociologist Nicholas Christakis and UC San Diego political scientist James Fowler followed 4,379 people for twenty years, from 1983 to 2003. That's an absolutely enormous sample. If you want to live in a happy community, smile and send out happiness to others. It has an effect to three degrees of separation, that is to the friends of friends of friends.

"A friend who lives within a mile and who becomes happy increases the probability that a person is happy by 25%." When one spouse is happy it increases the happiness of the other by 8% if they live together. For siblings who live within a mile it is 14%, and even affects their friends by 5%. Next door neighbors are affected by 34% if their neighbors are happy. Social networks and distance are important factors in the equation, which has major societal implications. Happy people are consistently measured to be more creative, productive and healthier.

"For a long time, we measured the health of a country by looking at its gross domestic product," said James Fowler, "But our work shows that whether a friend's friend is happy has more influence than a $5,000 raise." People's attitudes and behaviors clearly influence those around them. They found correlations in obesity and quitting smoking, for instance.

So, if you want to live in a happy environment, be the change you desire. Smile, be friendly, exude a positive and upbeat attitude and watch the atmosphere improve. Sometimes the old tried and true cliches are the best. This is certainly an example of it. I consciously follow this maxim in my own life. Try it yourself and you'll enjoy the results-and so will the community around you!