‘Emotional Diversity’ Is More Important Than Happiness -- Science of Us

While most of us believe that happiness is the key to a long and healthy life, meaning first and foremost a life without stress, recent studies have shown that actually, it is emotional diversity that enables us to live longer and healthier rather than happiness itself.

This means that it is better to experience a wider range of positive emotions rather than just happiness alone.

In a recent study, focused on measuring the systematic inflammation, a large number of participants were asked to rate the extent to which they had experienced both positive and negative emotions throughout the day, for 30 days. As a result, the people who experienced a wider range of positive emotions were also the ones who had the lowest rates of inflammation.