Better Together: How Relationships Impact Your Health – with Robert Waldinger, PhD. (#09)

Imagine if as a college student in 1939 you had agreed to be part of a study dedicated to unlocking the secrets of a life well-lived.

Imagine if from that moment on, for as long as you lived, you were poked and prodded with virtually every medical test and psychological tool at the researchers’ disposal.

Imagine if 267 of your classmates agreed to do the same thing.

Then imagine, over the course of seven decades, as your whole group was studied throughout college, World War II, careers, marriages, and divorces, through parenthood and grandparenthood and into old age, what kind of data would be gathered, and what sorts of insights all that information would give us about the keys to a happy, healthy, and meaningful life.

This is exactly what the men of the Harvard Study of Adult Development agreed to do.

My guest on this week’s episode is Professor Robert Waldinger who is the Director of one of the most comprehensive longitudinal studies in history and the research data is an absolute treasure trove of knowledge about what matters most in life. His TED talk, which summarizes the study’s findings so far has been watched by more than 37 million people world wide.

At a time when we’re more technologically connected and yet more socially isolated than ever before, Robert’s work is more important than ever. Even before we were hit by the global pandemic, loneliness was predicted to reach epidemic proportions by 2030.

In this conversation you’ll learn:

• How the quality of our relationships has ripple effects on our whole life
• How loneliness can get under our skin and influence our health
• That the most important influence on a flourishing life comes down to one five-word conclusion: “Happiness is love. Full Stop.”
  

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