Happiness is good for your health: it seems like an obvious, almost banal statement, but if understood in a scientific sense it acquires a deeper meaning. According to what was discovered by a study published in Frontiers in Medicine every small increase in the “happiness scale” would decrease mortality linked to non-communicable diseases (called NCDs, from the English noncommunicable diseases). Common examples of non-communicable diseases are cardiovascular diseases (such as heart attacks and strokes), cancer, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases (such as asthma), mental illnesses and musculoskeletal disorders.
The Cantril scale. To reach their conclusions, the scholars used an evaluation tool known as the Cantril scale, named after the psychologist who created it, which allows a person’s well-being and life prospects to be measured with a rating from 0 to 10, where 0 indicates “the worst possible life” and 10 “the best possible life”.
Starting from data collected between 2006 and 2021 in 123 countries, the authors demonstrated that happiness is positively correlated to the health of citizens, under one condition: that the well-being of the inhabitants of that country exceeds the minimum threshold of 2.7 on the Cantril scale. Above this (very low) value it is estimated that each percentage point increase in subjective well-being is connected to a 0.43% decrease in NCD mortality of people between 30 and 70 years of age.
Happier, healthier. «We have not found any side effects due to “too much happiness”», specifies Iulia Iuga, coordinator of the study. However, below the 2.7 point threshold even small improvements in well-being (such as a change from 2 to 2.2) do not translate into measurable reductions in NCD deaths. The data also shows that countries that exceeded the minimum score on the Cantril scale tended to have higher health spending per capita, stronger social protection networks and a more stable government than “less happy” countries.
Some limitations. According to the authors themselves, the study has some limitations, such as the fact that it is based on self-reported data from the participants, and as such is subject to bias and measurement errors. The researchers hope that future studies will include additional measures, such as years lived with disability or hospital admission records, as well as data at the subnational level and from low-income or conflict-affected countries.
