Happier people are more successful in their careers, have more fulfilling relationships and live longer, healthier lives, previous research has shown. Now, scientists say they have identified the “happiness threshold” needed for a country’s population as a whole to achieve certain health benefits.
Specifically, a nation’s happiness level can influence its people’s risk of premature death from chronic illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and respiratory disease, according to a study published October 20 in the journal Frontiers in Medicine.
The research team used a scale called the Life Ladder to estimate the happiness levels of 123 countries. Zero represents the worst possible life imaginable and 10 the best.
Once a country surpassed a score of 2.7, its happiness was tied to a decrease in deaths due to chronic or noncommunicable diseases among people 30 to 70 years old, researchers found.
Scores ranged from 2.18 to 7.97, with an average of 5.45. The United States was among the countries analyzed, but individual Life Ladder scores weren’t published in the study.
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