"ROBERT WALDINGER: I started out as an intern in pediatrics and I would see one ear infection after another, and the kids were adorable, but one ear infection is pretty much the same as every other. Whereas when you talk to people about their lives, it's never the same. And I knew that that would keep me interested for my whole career, which it has."
"Being connected to another person makes us feel safer and keeps our bodies at a kind of physiologic equilibrium that promotes health."
"- I became interested in psychiatry unexpectedly. I had never known a psychiatrist growing up. But when I was in medical school, I found that the way people's minds worked was the most fascinating thing I could possibly study. So I eventually found that there was really nothing else for me in medicine, but doing psychiatry. I am the fourth director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, and it is the longest study of adult life that's ever been done. We're in our 85th year. It started in 1938 as two studies that weren't even aware of each other. One study started at Harvard Student Health Service with 19-year-old sophomores who were thought by the"
The Harvard Study of Adult Development tracked participants across eight decades to identify drivers of wellbeing. Close, high-quality relationships consistently predicted greater happiness, better physical health, and longer life, outperforming socioeconomic status, money, and accomplishments. Emotional closeness and secure connections reduce stress and maintain physiological equilibrium, which supports physical health. Lifelong mental-health trajectories reflect relational patterns formed and sustained over time. Clinical practice and longitudinal data link meaningful social bonds to lower disease risk, improved emotional regulation, and higher life satisfaction in older age.
Read at Big Think
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