KEY POINTS:
It is a simple question, but it may just reveal whether or not you will live to a ripe old age: does somebody love you?
Those who can confidently answer "yes" are significantly more likely to be alive for the next 10 years than those who feel all alone. For love is a more accurate factor than smoking in predicting life expectancy, according to David Halpern, a senior policy adviser to the UK Government.
He says adored people are happy people, and the happier they are, the longer and more productive lives they lead.
Such ideas may raise eyebrows, but they are being taken increasingly seriously within government as the startling impact of happiness on citizens' lives becomes clearer.
"There is a study of college graduation photographs, the sort where you are told to smile," Halpern says. "A third of people have a true smile, about a third have got a fake smile, and the rest look miserable. People have used those photographs [to trace the students' future lives] and they are predictive of hard outcomes like your life expectancy and the state of your marriage."
A similar study in nuns, analysing statements given when entering cloisters, showed life expectancy varying by nearly a decade between the happiest and unhappiest. And love, it seems, has the biggest impact of all: "There is a pretty strong relationship between subjective wellbeing and longevity."
While the biological relationship between happiness and health is unclear, research has shown happy people have lower blood pressure and are less likely to abuse drink or drugs. Being shown kindness can even produce a measurable surge of oxytocin - the "bonding" hormone released by breastfeeding mothers - which has a de-stressing effect.
Halpern's surprising findings are at the heart of the forthcoming policy review designed to establish Tony Blair's legacy. Ideas now being studied by ministers include proposals to stimulate kindness towards others by offering special "community credits" to those who do good works. In Japan, for example, such a scheme funds community care for the elderly.
Japanese couples who live too far from their ageing parents to look after them will "adopt" an elderly stranger locally and care for them instead, earning credits that their own parents can use to "buy" similar volunteer care nearby.
A pro-happiness administration, Halpern argues, would prioritise reducing unemployment - a critical cause of unhappiness - over reducing inflation, which makes people unhappy but less so. It would also concentrate on improving parenting skills and, most controversially, ditch public service targets in favour of targets to ensure clients are satisfied. Halpern argues that what patients actually say they want most is respect and dignity.
A pro-happiness government might also treat public servants differently.
In one of Halpern's studies, doctors asked to make a diagnosis from x-rays did so faster and more creatively when offered sweets while working, which boosted their mood.
Other findings - such as that a materialistic culture of keeping up with the Joneses fuels unhappiness - are ahead of their time. Halpern admits government is not ready for taxes on consumption. But his findings show that increased economic prosperity in the UK has not produced happier citizens. "When you look at wealthy nations, GDP is less important than the measures of institutional freedoms," he said.
Because ultimately, according to Halpern, our happiness relies on those closest to us: "The way in which people treat each other is really, really important. Acts of consideration and kindness loom very large." In other words, to do yourself a favour - first do a favour for someone else. It could just save your life.
- OBSERVER
