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Health

How to be happy, according to the longest-running study of happiness

Harvard psychiatrist Robert Waldinger leads a study that has tracked hundreds of people over 80 years to see what makes a happy and meaningful life. Here's what he has learned

By Alison Flood

9 January 2023

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Robert Waldinger, director of the world’s longest running study of happiness, has learned the secret to well-being

Nibali Nezzar

WHEN talking with Robert Waldinger, it is difficult to ignore the fact that he seems extremely content. A side effect of his job, perhaps. As the director of the longest scientific study of happiness ever conducted, it would be rather disappointing if he was anything else.

The Harvard Study of Adult Development (HSAD) began in 1938, with 724 participants: 268 undergraduate students at Harvard College and 456 14-year-old boys who had grown up in some of the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods in…

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