In recent years, there have been a whole lot of studies that show the connection between emotions and health. Earlier this month, at the annual meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society, researchers at the University of Kansas released the findings from their investigation with Gallup, which they say prove positive emotions play an important role in maintaining physical well-being.
Until now, most of the research on the link between emotions and health have been conducted in industrialized countries. So researchers began to wonder how important happiness is to health in places where basic needs like shelter and food are lacking. They used data from the Gallup World Poll, which gathered reports from 150,000 adults in more than 140 countries.
Interestingly, they found that the link between emotions and physical health is more powerful than the link between health and basic human needs (like getting enough nourishment). In fact, the connection between positive emotions and better health is strongest in the most impoverished countries. —Heather Wax