Happiness is Contagious

A recent study has proven that happiness is contagious. The study was done at The University of California San Diego, co-author James Fowler says that happiness spreads among people up to three degrees removed from one another. That means when you feel happy, a friend of a friend of a friend has a slightly higher likelihood of feeling happy too.

Sadness has been shown to spread in a network as well, but not as quickly. The researchers found that each happy friend increases your own chance of being happy by 9 percent, whereas each unhappy friend decreases it by 7 percent.

With the increase in "social networking" websites, it becomes obvious that we take on the tone of the people we associate with, even if we aren't necessarily in the same space.
The researchers are also looking at the impact of Facebook, which has more than 120 million active users. This study, which has not yet been published, looked at the relationship of people who smile in their photos in comparison to their 'friends" photos. (whether they are smiling or not)

There is an old saying that goes like this, "you can't be happier than your least happy child." It would then stand to reason that we could easily replace "child" with "best friend", "co-worker", "trainer”, or anyone that you are closely associated with on a daily basis, so do yourself a favor and take a close look at the people in your 'social network." Are you the one spreading happiness or gloom? Do you associate with "glass half full" or "glass half empty" people?

Another paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine in July 2007 stated that social ties can also affect obesity. If you know or associate with someone who's weight suddenly increased over a period of time, the chances of the same thing happening to you are 57% more likely. Again, common sense would dictate that the opposite would be true as well, if you associated with someone who suddenly became fit, your chances would increase as well.
That, to me, is the power of this site, and our sister site www.myfittribe.com. You are associating yourself with a network of people who are all sharing positive thoughts and emotions, focusing on getting fit and healthy and not simply "networking' for the sake of hooking up.

With that said, let's all put the power of happiness to the test and see how many lives we can affect today. Say hello, smile at someone, send an encouraging e-mail or text, compliment someone today and see how it makes you and the people in your "social network" feel.
Have I told you how awesome you are lately? Well....YOU ARE!