Lessons From The World's Longest Study On Happiness - Dr Robert Waldinger - #578

Modern Wisdom

Chris Williamson

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness

4.6 • 5.9K Ratings

🗓️ 19 January 2023

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Robert Waldinger is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, Zen priest and Director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest-running study of adult life ever conducted. What makes for a good life? That was one of the main questions I asked myself when I began this podcast. A far easier solution would have been to speak to Dr Waldinger as his team has been researching thousands of the same individuals for 75 years to answer this question definitively. Expect to learn how you operate a longitudinal study that spans more time than any researcher's career, just how in depth this study went with brain scans and blood tests, what the most important factors which determined life happiness were, how many friends people should have, whether being married makes you live longer, what role achievement has on happiness and much more... Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (00:16) Logistics of The World’s Longest Happiness Study (09:09) Why the Study Focuses on Happiness (12:34) Biggest Misconceptions of What Makes a Happy Life (17:42) Defining Happiness (27:14) Why Do Relationships Matter So Much? (35:43) How Self-centred Actions Lead to Lower Happiness (38:02) What to Look for in an Intimate Partner (44:32) Can Friendships Replace Marriage? (47:34) How Relationships Benefit Health (54:49) Influence of Childhood on Future Relationships (57:58) Is Happiness Based on Luck? (1:02:18) Is Current Society Conducive to Happiness? (1:05:34) What’s Next for the Study? (1:07:39) Where to Find Dr Waldinger Extra Stuff: Buy The Good Life - https://amzn.to/3QwWQ5D Check out Bob's website - http://www.robertwaldinger.com/ Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom - Episodes You Might Enjoy: This Is How To Master Your Life - David Goggins - #577: ⁠⁠⁠lnkfi.re/SN-Goggins⁠⁠⁠ How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs - Dr Jordan Peterson - #712: ⁠⁠⁠lnkfi.re/SN-Peterson⁠⁠⁠ The Secret Tools To Hack Your Brain - Dr Andrew Huberman - #700: ⁠⁠⁠lnkfi.re/SN-Huberman⁠⁠ - Get in touch. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/modernwisdompodcast Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello friends, welcome back to the show.
0:03.4	My guest today is Dr. Robert Waldinger, he's a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, Zen Priest,
0:09.1	and director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest running study of adult
0:13.5	life ever conducted.
0:15.9	What makes for a good life?
0:17.7	That was one of the main questions I asked myself when I began this podcast.
0:21.8	A far easier solution would have been to just speak to Dr. Waldinger, as his team has
0:26.3	been researching thousands of the same individuals for 75 years to answer this question definitively.
0:33.0	Expect to learn how you operate a longitudinal study that spans more time than any researchers
0:38.5	career.
0:39.5	Just how in depth this study went with brain scans and blood tests, what the most important
0:44.0	factors which determine life happiness were, how many friends people should have if they
0:48.6	want to be happy, whether being married makes you live longer, what role achievement
0:52.4	has on life satisfaction and much more.
0:57.9	In other news, this episode is brought to you by Surfshark VPN.
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	...

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