The Secret to Happiness?

Science Vs

Spotify Studios

Education, Science, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 12.4K Ratings

🗓️ 22 January 2026

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There's claims out there that all kinds of things can make us happy in life, from making money to having kids to buying your dream home. But what actually works?? What does it take to have a happy life?? Professor Bob Waldinger is a psychiatrist at Harvard who has spent more than two decades as the director of this amazing study. It has tracked hundreds of people for decades and is the world's longest scientific study into happiness. So we're gonna find out what a lot of us get wrong in searching for the good life. Where we should be putting our time and attention. And we'll get this huge insight into how we can all be happier — and healthier. Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/ScienceVsHappiness In this episode, we cover: (00:00) What makes us happy? (01:48) The world's longest study into happiness (07:25) The biggest finding of the study (13:18) How do you build good relationships? (18:26) How did Bob get happier?? (21:53) How childhood adversity changes us (24:12) Does having kids make you happy? (25:22) Does making money make us happy? (27:55) The Happiest Person (29:40) Looking back on our lives Don't forget to text a friend you haven't seen in a while! Let us know what they say. Send us a photo if you end up catching up!! You can email us at ScienceVsTeam@gmail.com or tag us in an instagram post — we're at @science_vs. And come say hello to Wendy on tiktok, I'm @wendyzukerman This episode was produced by Wendy Zukerman, with help from Ekedi Fausther-Keeys, Rose Rimler, Meryl Horn, and Michelle Dang. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact checking help by Ekedi Fauster-Keeys. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord. Music written by Bobby Lord, Bumi Hidaka, So Wiley, Emma Munger and Peter Leonard. An extra thanks to the Zukerman Family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson. Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Wendy Zuckerman and you're listening to Science Verses.
0:05.2	Today on the show, we're pitting facts against finding happiness.
0:14.2	That's right.
0:15.3	There's claims out there that all kinds of things can make us happy,
0:19.0	from making money to having kids, to buying your dream home.
0:23.6	But what actually works?
0:25.8	What does it take to have a happy life?
0:29.3	To find out, Harvard has been running this amazing study which has tracked hundreds of people for decades. It's actually the longest
0:39.3	running scientific study into happiness. And as a result, we now have all of these
0:46.0	awesome insights into how we can not only be happier, but healthier too. And so today on the
0:53.3	show, we're chatting with the guy who has been the director of this study
0:56.9	for more than two decades.
0:58.6	His name is Professor Bob Waldinger.
1:01.0	He's also a psychiatrist.
1:02.9	And he co-wrote a book about this study.
1:05.7	Bob is going to tell us what a lot of us get wrong in searching for the good life.
1:13.2	And ultimately, how science can help us all to be happy. Here's Bob. Well, the biggest finding is that the people who stayed
1:22.3	healthiest and happiest, the longest, were the people who were... Come on, I'm not going to give it away that easily.
1:31.3	You've got to listen to the episode.
1:33.9	Science spills the beads on how to be happy.
1:36.5	Just after the break.
1:52.0	Get closer to the magic this summer and step aboard our three or four-night Disney Cruise Line sailings from Southampton. Dance with some of your favourite characters.
	...

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