Happiness can indeed prolong life, but only after a certain point. Researchers from Romania came to this conclusion. According to their data, the subjective feeling of well-being begins to positively affect health when a person reaches at least 2.7 points on the "Ladder of Life" happiness scale. The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine.
"We have shown that subjective well-being starts to act as a factor in public health only after crossing the threshold of 2.7 points," said Professor Yulia Iuga, who led the study. "After that, each additional 1% of happiness is associated with approximately a 0.43% reduction in non-communicable disease mortality."
These diseases include cardiovascular disease, cancer, asthma and diabetes; they remain the leading cause of death globally, not related to co-infections.
The Ladder of Life scale ranks subjective happiness from 0 to 10, where 0 represents the "worst possible life" and 10 represents the "best possible life." The average score of the 123 countries that participated in the survey was 5.45, the minimum was 2.18, and the maximum was 7.97.
"The value of 2.7 is closer to the lower limit, the 'barely passable' level." But even the growth of happiness above this threshold begins to affect health," Yuga explained.
Countries where people value their lives above this threshold tend to have higher health care costs, more stable social institutions, and lower levels of inequality. The researchers note that factors such as air quality, obesity prevention and alcohol restriction directly contribute to increased happiness and thus lower mortality rates.
The researchers emphasize that happiness can be considered not only as a personal feeling, but also as a measurable public health resource.
"Determining the threshold of well-being will help us to more accurately develop health and social policy strategies," noted Professor Yuga. "Happiness is not just an emotion. It is a tool that can help societies become healthier."
Translation:Euromedia24.com-in:
