No this isn’t from the Onion, but, it is amazing….
Happiness has long been linked to healthiness, but according to a new study, our genes can tell the difference between the kind of happiness derived from giving back to the community and the kind derived from being Charles Montgomery Burns—and they reward or punish us accordingly.
Researchers from the University of North Carolina and UCLA found that our genes have an innate “heightened moral sense,” and can attack us when we put ourselves before others. For the study, 80 people were given a questionnaire asking why they’re satisfied with their lives and what makes them happy. Then their blood was drawn and the white blood cells were analyzed….
The test subjects who admitted that they derive their happiness through self-serving or hedonistic endeavors had unhealthy profiles, featuring high levels of biological markers “known to promote increased inflammation throughout the body”—the kind of inflammation that’s linked to cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. They also had low levels of markers that produce antibodies that fight off infections.
Conversely, people whose happiness was derived from being of service or having a greater purpose had low levels of inflammatory markers and high levels of antibody production markers.
The authors of the study said this is an “evolutionary strategy” of weeding out the assholes (in so many words).
Link to the original article:
A functional genomic perspective on human well-being.
I especially like the last sentence of the abstract: “the human genome may be more sensitive to qualitative variations in well-being than are our conscious affective experiences.” Translation (with apologies to John Lennon): You can hide your face behind a smile
One thing you can’t hide
Is when you’re crippled inside.