It seems only common sense that happiness should be good for our physical health, but psychological research has sent mixed signals in recent years. Some studies have found it is, while others have found no effect, and some even a negative effect.

In a new article published in the Journal of Happiness Studies, Professor Ruut Veenhoven of Erasmus University offers a possible solution to this question. In reviewing 30 studies, he finds that the neutral and negative findings for the effects of happiness on health are in studies on people who were ill at the time.

In comparison, studies on people who were in good health do find a strong positive effect for happiness on health. Professor Veenhoven suggests that happiness may not have a beneficial effect on the physical health of those who are ill, but it does help prevent people falling ill in the first place.

A particularly spectacular study on nuns found that those who were happiest in early life lived 10 years longer than those who were unhappy. Another study of 660 inhabitants of Ohio found that higher levels of happiness translated, on average, into 7.5 years more life.

人們似乎普遍認(rèn)為幸福有利于我們的身體健康，但心理學(xué)研究在近些年得出一個(gè)復(fù)雜的訊息。一些研究發(fā)現(xiàn)幸福確實(shí)有助于我們的身體健康，而其他研究卻發(fā)現(xiàn)幸福對(duì)我們的身體健康毫無(wú)任何影響，甚至有些研究表明幸福對(duì)我們的身體健康有著消極影響。

荷蘭鹿特丹大學(xué)教授魯特‧維恩霍文在《幸福研究雜志》上發(fā)表的一篇最新文章中，為我們找到了這一問(wèn)題的答案。在回顧自己30年以來(lái)的研究時(shí)，他發(fā)現(xiàn)，幸福對(duì)健康所具有的不確定和消極影響只是對(duì)那些處在患病時(shí)段的人的研究。

相比之下，在對(duì)那些身體健康的人的研究過(guò)程中，發(fā)現(xiàn)幸福對(duì)健康確實(shí)存在巨大的積極影響。維恩霍文教授提出，幸�？赡軐�(duì)那些患病人群的身體健康沒(méi)有有利的影響，但它可以首先幫助人們避免生病。

一項(xiàng)特別對(duì)尼姑的驚人研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，那些在早期生活得最幸福的尼姑通常比那些不幸福的尼姑長(zhǎng)壽10年。另一項(xiàng)對(duì)660名俄亥俄州居民的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，那些幸福感越高的人往往平均壽命會(huì)增加7.5年。