09/25/2025
The Harvard Study of Adult Development is one of the longest-running studies in the world. Beginning in 1938, it followed 724 Harvard students throughout their lives to better understand successful aging, happiness, and health. Over time, the study expanded to include more than 2,000 children of the original participants. Today, it continues, with researchers actively collecting data from these second-generation participants.
One of the studyâs most important findings is that strong, positive relationships are powerful predictors of health and longevity. Deep human connections appear to help us live not only longer but better. In fact, the quality of relationships was more strongly associated with long-term health and happiness than physiological markers such as cholesterol.
This underscores the vital role of social connectedness in well-being. It is often overlooked as a pillar of health, overshadowed by more tangible domains like nutrition. Yet the Harvard Study reminds us that itâs not only whatâs on your plate that shapes health and happiness â itâs also who is at the table with you.
Learn more about the Harvard Study of Adult Development by watching Dr. Robert Waldinger â the current director â in his 2016 TED Talk, âWhat Makes a Good Life? Lessons from the Longest Study on Happiness.â
In this talk, Waldinger shares three key lessons from decades of data, challenging the notion that wealth or fame are the foundation of a good life â instead, he argues that deep, nurturing relationships are among the most powerful predictors of long-term happiness and health.
âThe clearest message that we get from this 75-year study is this: Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period.â - Dr. Robert Waldinger
What keeps us happy and healthy as we go through life? If you think it's fame and money, you're not alone â but, according to psychiatrist Robert Waldinger, ...