Happiness is contagious (but so is smoking and snacking)

Happiness is contagious (but so is smoking and snacking)

By FIONA MACRAE
Last updated at 9:46 AM on 31st December 2008

In a bad mood? Don't blame the weather, your job or your bank balance – blame your friends.

Our moods are strongly influenced by those around us, research has shown. When our friends smile, we smile with them. And when they are low, we tend to feel sorry for ourselves too.

But it is not only emotions which are contagious – obesity and smoking habits can be too, according to researchers.


You can choose your friends, but you can't choose their habits: Our moods are strongly influenced by those around us

The effect of emotional 'peer pressure' is much more pronounced than previously thought, as even distant friends and acquaintances influence our day-to-day attitudes, New Scientist reports.

An analysis of 20 years of data on more than 5,000 adults revealed that a good mood rubs off on others. The researchers, from Harvard Medical School in the U.S., found that our happiness is dependent on the happiness of our friends – and by their friends in turn.

A cheerful friend who lives nearby raises your own chances of happiness by more than 60 per cent. In contrast, colleagues have no effect on our moods. And interestingly, friends of the same sex affect people's moods more than their spouses do.


Other habits, including diet and smoking, are also likely to be influenced by your network of friends and family, the study reports

The study also discovered that the effect is not down to happy people simply being attracted towards like-minded sorts. Instead, cheerfulness itself is contagious.

Professor Nicholas Christakis, one of the researchers, said: 'Happiness is like a stampede. Whether you're happy depends not just on your own actions and behaviours and thoughts, but on those of people you don't even know.'

The research also found that the likelihood of giving up smoking increases if the would-be quitter is surrounded by peers who are trying to kick the habit.

However, a person's chances of becoming obese trebled if they had obese friends. Professor Christakis said: 'It is not that obese or non-obese people simply find other similar people to hang out with. Rather, there is a direct, causal relationship.

'What appears to be happening is that a person becoming obese most likely causes a change of norms about what counts as an appropriate body size.

'People come to think that it is OK to be bigger since those around them are bigger, and this sensibility spreads.'

New Scientist reported that a whole range of phenomena are 'transmitted' through networks of friends, including happiness and depression, obesity, drinking and smoking habits and even ill-health.

A person's likelihood of voting can also be affected by their friends, as can a taste for certain music or food, a preference for online privacy, and even the tendency to attempt or think about suicide.

Those who are worried about picking up bad habits might want to think twice about the company they keep, says the magazine.

It advises: 'Cutting ties with old friends might be a bit drastic, though perhaps spending less time with those whose traits we do not wish to share would be a good idea.'

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1103218/Happiness-contagious-smoking-snacking.html