Shiny Happy People Part 1

Gentle Reader, please find a comfortable spot and a few minutes to read this lengthy blog post. The below article describes the findings of a recent study on happiness done in London. I don't usually copy and paste entire articles from internet news but this one I feel will only increase optimism and smiles.

Study: Happiness Is Contagious
Cheer Spreads Easily, Even To Complete Strangers

(AP) Scientists reported Friday that happiness is contagious, and that you may have complete strangers to thank for the smile on your face.

In a paper published Friday in the BMJ, formerly known as the British Medical Journal, American researchers tracked more than 4,700 people in Framingham, Massachussetts, as part of a heart study from 1983 to 2003.

When they analyzed the data looking for happiness trends, the scientists found that happy people passed on their cheer to people they didn't personally know - and this transferred happiness lasted for up to a year.

"Happiness is like a stampede," said Nicholas Christakis, a professor in Harvard University's sociology department, one of the study's authors. "Whether you're happy depends not just on your own actions and behaviors and thoughts, but on those of people you don't even know."

Christakis and James Fowler, an associate professor of political science at the University of California in San Diego, previously found that obesity and smoking habits spread socially as well.

For this study, they examined questionnaires that asked people to measure their happiness and found distinct happy and unhappy clusters that were significantly bigger than would be expected by chance alone.

Happiness lasted for up to three cycles: to the friends of friends of friends.

Happy people tended to be at the center of social networks and had many friends who were also happy. Having friends or siblings live nearby increased peoples' chances of being upbeat.

Happy spouses helped too, but not as much as happy friends of the same gender. No effects were seen with coworkers.

Christakis and Fowler estimate that each happy friend boosts your own happiness chances by 9 percent. Having grumpy friends decreases it by about 7 percent.

Being happy also brings other benefits.

"Happiness has a protective effect on your immune system and you produce fewer stress hormones," said Andrew Steptoe, a professor of psychology at University College London who was not linked to the study.

Other experts said people shouldn't assume they can make themselves happy just by making the right friends.

"The psychological health of your friends is a predictor of your own mental health, but to say you can manipulate who your friends are to make yourself happier would be going too far," said Stanley Wasserman, an Indiana University statistician who studies social networks.

Because the study was done in a single community, further research is needed to confirm its findings. The study was also conducted before the rise of online social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.

"This type of technology enhances your contact with friends, so it should support the kind of emotional contagion we observed," Christakis said, though he couldn't say if being on Facebook would make you happier.

Fowler said the study was the first tentative evidence of karma.

"The fact that happiness spreads from person to person to person suggests that these waves of happiness we radiate could eventually wash up on our own shores," he said.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/04/health/main4649393.shtml

We all have our days where we get crabby about living here; mostly in response to the overcast skies and frequent lake effect weather and sometimes we complain about the lack of economic boom that other regions have enjoyed in the recent past. We have short memories when it comes to the seasons though. After spending some time in many other parts of the country that enjoy better weather reputation, I am always reminded that while we have difficult winters, our Spring, Summer and Fall seasons are unparallelled and I think probably more appreciated because of our winters. We don't have the fear of wild fires, mudslides, or hurricanes and twisters that often mar the summer and fall in other parts of the country. We also have beautiful crisp mornings in the summer that are refreshing, our water comes cool off the tap and is not only drinkable but it tastes good. Our Spring and Fall and a good part of Summer allow us to run our homes without air conditioning or heat and we can open our windows and catch the sweet breezes.

Our lack of boom times is paired with the lack of dramatic downturns. Look on your street, I'll bet there are a few houses for sale but how many on your street is in foreclosure? How many compared to a street in Miami or Las Vegas? How much value has your home lost? Frankly, mine never shot up like a rocket so it hasn't really lost anything. I'm pretty certain, judging from the recent sales in my area that they have remained in the same neighborhood as they were in 2006.

One local phenomenon I have experienced in Syracuse is the lack of congested roadways. Yes, it does get busy at rush hours but it is nothing like the insanity of the Boston or DC area roadways. Our drivers are also very generous to each other. Every day, and I mean EVERY DAY, I either witness or experience one driver helping another out by allowing them in a busy intersection, out of a parking lot, into the lane in front of them, so the waiting car can get on their way. One good act inspires another. I have not seen this anywhere else in my travels, not even down South where people are reputed to be much friendlier than us NYers.

I don't mean to say that there aren't people affected by the economy here in central NY, after all, we are in NY, and there are bound be some big budget cuts because the state is running a deficit that keeps growing as Wall Street keeps busting and as citizens we will be expected to absorb it by doing with less and paying higher tolls and fees. However, as a community, I feel we are in better shape to help each other out. If rainy London can transmit happiness to each other by its practice, I am sure we can do the same.

Gentle Reader, please be patient. Likely you are wondering what this has to do with sewing. My next blog post will reveal all. Stay tuned for Shiny Happy People Part 2