“You can't buy happiness for any money,” says popular wisdom. “But it can be inherited from parents,” American scientists say.
In their opinion, a person's happiness is programmed in his genes, but some get a lot of it, while others just a little. We asked Doctor of Medical Sciences Yuri Soloveykin to comment on this situation.
Yuri Viktorovich, how did American scientists come to this, frankly, sensational conclusion?
- Psychologist Ken Sheldon from the University of Missouri and professor at the University of California Sonia Lubomirsky have long suspected that not only our diseases, habits, tendency to be overweight or thin are transmitted at the genetic level. If there is a gene for obesity, then why can't there be a gene for happiness? - they asked themselves a question and began to look for an answer. Restless researchers conducted such an experiment.
We recruited a group of student volunteers and asked them to write down all the events of their lives in two columns for a month. To the left - those that evoked positive emotions in them. To the right - negative. In addition, the students had to describe in detail how they fought blues and despondency, what they did to free themselves from the embrace of melancholy.
And what conclusion did scientists draw from these "works"?
- Very curious. It turned out that good events had almost the same effect on the test subjects: they inspired, inspired, gave joy and self-confidence. But each student experienced misfortunes in his own way. Someone, having failed the session, was sad for only a couple of days, or even a couple of hours. But there were also those who, because of this circumstance, fell into a real depression and could not cope with the problem without the help of a psychologist.
Naturally, all people are different. They are brought up in different ways and in different families …
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- Right. Here Lubomirsky and Sheldon came to the conclusion that about 50% of our feeling of happiness depends on upbringing, the events that filled our life (someone experienced three deaths of loved ones, and someone not one) and the actions that we take (someone knows how to cheer themselves up, but someone does not). The remaining 50% can be explained by genetics.
But where exactly is the happiness gene stored? Which chromosome is responsible for it?
- Scientists believe that the seventeenth. This is where the 5-HTTLPR gene is located. It is responsible for delivering serotonin to nerve cells.
The hormone of joy?
- Quite right. This provider of good mood helps cells communicate with each other and ensures the normal functioning of the entire nervous system. And his lack, alas, drives a person into melancholy and despondency, makes us sadly look at the world, mourn our unhappy fate and scold everyone and everything.
Do other scientists agree with the conclusions of Lubomirsky and Sheldon?
- Quite. Moreover, British scientists, interested in the conclusions of their American colleagues, took the trouble to analyze the genetic code of 2000 people. The results were quite interesting. It turned out that the 5-HTTLPR gene that we inherit from our parents has several variants (alleles). One gets the short one from the father - the short one from the mother. To others it is long from the father - long from the mother. The third is the long one from the mother - the short one from the father or vice versa.
And what does it mean? What do these alleles affect?
- Our feeling of happiness or unhappiness! 40% of those with long alleles were completely satisfied with their lives, another 30% were simply happy. Total - 70%. But among the owners of short alleles, only 15% of people were satisfied with their position.
So it is the long alleles that make us happy?
- You can say so. It's just that different alleles of a gene work with different strengths. When the allele is long, the gene works harder, delivering more serotonin and making us more happy.
It turns out that if a person inherited a short - short combination, then he will be unhappy all his life?
- You forget that the happiness gene affects only 50% of our emotional mood. The rest we form ourselves under the influence of a lived life. More than once I had to observe people whom nature has endowed with a rather gloomy character. But they worked on themselves and after 10-15 years turned into real merry fellows and optimists. Why am I? Besides, each of us can control our mood. Even if mom and dad have not endowed you with the desired gene combination, do not despair, but work on yourself.
But as? What can be done if a person is feeling unhappy, if they are unlucky with alleles?
- First you need to understand what events or phenomena make you happy and how often they happen in your life. After all, genes and the active substances produced by them (including serotonin) are responsible for the frequency of happy moments. They help you look at the world with optimism, even when minor troubles happen. Imagine a situation - a young girl was abandoned by a guy. How will the young lady, who got the long alleles of the happy gene, react to it? She will be sad a little, then she goes to the club with her friends, have fun from the heart, drink champagne and say: “Hurray, I'm free. This means that she is open to new acquaintances. I'll find myself a better and more reliable guy."
Apparently, a young lady with short alleles will plunge into depression for two weeks. Will you lie on the couch for hours, crying and feeling sorry for yourself?
- And there is. And this is at best. After all, people whose bodies do not produce enough serotonin tend to perceive the slightest defeat as a failure of their entire life. They do not have stress resistance, and they perceive achievements and small joys as an accident, therefore victories cheer them up only for a short time. That is why they are more susceptible to depression, as well as all kinds of addictions - alcoholism, shopaholism, gambling addiction, drug addiction. In these substitutes for happiness, they seek salvation from all their troubles.
What advice would you give these people?
- Most of the advice is as old as the world: make yourself smile in the morning, after a while it will become a habit. Tune in to optimism, think about the good more often, appreciate what you have, do not compare yourself with others, do not envy. Set goals and achieve them. Spend more time on your hobbies, indulge yourself.
Sergey BORODIN
Twins in 99% of cases perceive the world in the same way and are equally happy or, conversely, unhappy. But in twins, which, unlike twins, have a different set of chromosomes, this pattern is not observed. Each of them is happy in their own way.
The level of happiness, scientists say, depends not only on genes, but also on age. Oddly enough, the older a person is, the happier he is. At 40, men and women are the least happy. Life satisfaction rises at age 46 and peaks at age 70. And the happiest age is 74.