Happiness

Scientist have researched and concluded that happiness spreads to the people we are around.
We've known that all along.
A SMILE IS CONTAGIOUS!!
It makes me laugh that scientist are doing research on it. It's like they think that something can't be true unless they can prove it scientifically....then it's a fact.

Don't get me wrong I think science and research is a VERY important part of our lives. Why waste your time researching something that the world already knows!!

If you would like to read through the article....

Analysis suggests happiness may be contagious among friends, neighbors.

The Washington Post (12/5, A8, Stein) reports, "Happiness is contagious, spreading among friends, neighbors, siblings, and spouses like the flu," according to a study published online in the BMJ.

Nicholas Christakis, M.D., Ph.D., of Harvard University, and James Fowler, Ph.D., of the University of California-San Diego, "analyzed information on the happiness of 4,739 participants and their connections with several thousand others...from 1983 to 2003," the New York Times (12/5, A12, Belluck) adds. They found, for instance, that "a next-door neighbor's joy increased one's chance of being happy by 34 percent, but a neighbor down the block had no effect." Meanwhile, "a friend living half a mile away was good for a 42 percent bounce, but the effect was almost half that for a friend two miles away."

The Los Angeles Times (12/5, Kaplan) reports, "The research is part of a growing trend to measure well-being as a crucial component of public health. Scientists have documented that people who describe themselves as happy are likely to live longer, even if they have a chronic illness."

The researchers based this study on data "from the Framingham Heart Study, which has been running since 1948 in Framingham, Massachusetts," Bloomberg News (12/5, Kresge) notes. The authors "defined happiness as a perfect score on the questions 'I felt hopeful about the future,' 'I was happy,' 'I enjoyed life,' and 'I felt that I was just as good as other people.'" According to Dr. Christakis, "The Framingham data had been used before to assess depression as a risk factor for heart disease, but this was the first time researchers looked at happiness across a broad network."