New Study Shows: Shared Happiness Protects Us from Stress

Moments of happiness together can measurably benefit health: When older couples experience positive feelings together, their level of the stress hormone cortisol decreases. This is reported by a research team led by psychologist Tomiko Yoneda from the University of California in Davis in the journal "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology".

Measurements conducted on over 600 couples

"We know from numerous studies that positive emotions such as happiness, joy, love, and excitement are good for our health - they are even associated with a longer life," explains Yoneda according to a press release from the American Psychological Association. "In real life, however, our strongest positive emotions often occur when we interact with someone."

The team wanted to understand how such shared moments affect the body. To do this, the researchers analyzed data from 642 older adults (321 couples) from three studies in Canada and Germany, collected before the coronavirus pandemic from 2019. The participants were between 56 and 89 years old.

Shared moments of happiness reduce stress hormones

For one week, they reported five to seven times a day via electronic questionnaire how happy, relaxed, and interested they felt at the moment. After each survey, they provided a saliva sample to measure cortisol levels. In total, almost 24,000 individual measurements were collected.

The result: Cortisol levels were lower when both partners reported positive emotions at the same time. This correlation remained even when factors such as age, gender, medication use, or the natural daily fluctuation of cortisol were taken into account.

Positive Effect Persists Throughout the Day

"Sharing these positive emotions together had something uniquely powerful," explains Yoneda. Particularly remarkable was that the effect continued throughout the day: "When couples felt good together, their cortisol levels remained lower later in the day. This suggests that experiencing positive emotions together could actually help the body stay calmer over time."

Additionally, the effect occurs regardless of overall relationship satisfaction. Even couples who were generally less satisfied physically benefited from shared moments of happiness.

In future studies, Yoneda wants to investigate whether similar effects occur in other social relationships - such as between friends, family members, or colleagues. "According to the theory, such moments can occur between any two people, not just between romantic partners," she said. "This opens up entirely new possibilities for future research."

(APA/Red)

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