2024-04-13 08:12:01
The WHO has already said it since 1946: “the health It is a complete state of physical, mental and social well-beingnot just the lack of a disease.” Therefore, both health and well-being are broad terms. A new concept that has been coined in recent years is that of human flourishing (Human Flourishing), which addresses the essential areas of life. Tyler J. VanderWeele is a mathematician, philosopher, theologian, professor of epidemiology and director of the Human Flourishing program, at the Harvard Universityand has stopped in Madrid to give the conference “What if health is something more?“, organized by the International University of La Rioja (UNIR) and the Illustrious College of Physicians of Madrid (ICOMEM). Indeed, science seems to show that it is.
In his presentation, the expert provided results from his studies, in which the participants were asked to what extent feel happy or unhappyif you understand your purpose of lifeif they are satisfied with their personal relationships, whether these are as satisfying as you would like, and how often you worry about making ends meet. The Harvard professor has said that “all these questions give good information about the well-being in many countries around the worldbefore, during and after the pandemic.” A worrying fact is that the well-being of young people is the one that has plummeted the most. “In Spain, the group between 18 and 24 years old is the one that shows the worst indicators,” said VanderWeele.
A few hours before his presentation, we had the opportunity to chat with him to tell us more about how science and well-being go hand in hand.
QUESTION: For us to understand better, what is human flourishing all about and how does it relate to our well-being?
ANSWER: At Harvard, we define human flourishing as live in a state where all areas of life are well. I know that it is a broad concept, in which everything is included, but it is what we are looking for as people and what we should aspire to as a society. There is a slight difference between well-being and flourishingsince the first focuses on the satisfactory aspects as an individual, while human flourishing also includes contact with the community and the environment.
QUESTION: How can our well-being be linked to science?
ANSWER: To talk about emotional well-being It must be done both from a scientific and experiential point of view. On the one hand, it is important that we tell stories and emotions and be able to share them with others. But it’s also good to look at this issue through the lens of science. This allows us to describe trends within a society and alerts us to how to approach situations, how our social relationships change, how our levels of physical and mental health change, and our indicators of happiness. Whether just from a descriptive perspective, science can be of great help. Furthermore, by studying emotional well-being, we can learn to improve it.
In the Human Fluorishing program, which we are developing at Harvard, we try to establish a bridge between the humanities, philosophy, arts and science. To do this, our research takes into account five domains of well-being: happiness and satisfaction, Physical Health y mentalhe character, the meaning and purposes of life, and social relationships. The contribution of science is enormous, since it allows us to obtain good information from these philosophical reflections. The first objective of the program is to study and promote flowering; the second, integrating knowledge across different academic disciplines. Is a holistic idea and all domains impact flourishing, and vice versa. Therefore, psychological well-being affects physical health and should be introduced into the activity of health professionals, especially Psychiatry and Psychology.
QUESTION: On a day-to-day basis, how can we flourish as people or gain that well-being?
ANSWER: In this program, we have observed, through numerous studies, that there are evidence-based practices that significantly improve well-being. For example, with the simple exercise of the gratitude: three times a week, writing down three things you are grateful for, has been shown to increase happiness and reduce symptoms of depression, improve sleep and raise indicators of good health. You can try doing it for six weeks; then it will be easy to do it permanently.
Something similar happens with the kindness, which can make us flourish too. For six weeks, choose one day each week to perform five kind gestures. It will raise your levels of happiness and satisfaction, and your relationship with others.
Studies have also revealed that those they ask sorry give way to flowering, since, in addition to increasing happiness, it reduces depression and anxiety. We understand that these actions, which use the strengths of character and give the best version of ourselveshave scientifically proven that they can improve our well-being.
QUESTION: We also draw on social relationships for our well-being…
ANSWER: Yes, there are numerous individual actions that impact happiness and health. A review of the scientific literature that we carried out at Harvard has revealed that, to achieve other aspects of well-being, such as meaning and purpose in life, some community pathways are also necessary how are they educationhe jobthe family and the community religious (or spiritual). If people participated more in these areas and society supported them to a greater extent, community well-being levels would also increase and, consequently, individual well-being.
QUESTION: How do we tell our society, so demanding of technology, that what is important is the relationship with other people?
ANSWER: The technology It brings extraordinary possibilities for communication, but at the same time it has brought difficulties. Technological success, as well as economic and scientific success, contributes in part to our well-being, but it is worrying that these material achievements are also leaving aside other aspects, such as social relationships. When we are satisfied with material things, it seems that we don’t need each other each other and, when this happens, we can lose that sense of meaning in life that we mentioned before. Technologies are moving so fast that they do not give us time to reflect or develop good policies and practices. These advances generate new challenges, especially for the youngest.
QUESTION: Is there a way to measure this human flourishing?
ANSWER: Any measurement will be imperfect and partial, but at Harvard, we use a test that you can access from the program’s website, with 12 questions, two from each of those five domains and another two referring to financial stability. In addition, we have launched a global study that will include 200,000 people from 22 countries (including Spain), representing half of the world, from which data will be collected once a year for five years. The goal is to see the big photo with the dimension of flourishing worldwide. It will be interesting to see the different realities. It will be publicly accessible
Finally, I would like to say that flowering does not offer the solutions to everything. However, it gives us different perspectives on problems, and, perhaps, a development of how to make decisions in different aspects of our well-being.
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