Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is recovering after undergoing successful quadruple bypass surgery from New York Presbyterian Hospital; the first accredited Chest Pain Center in New York. His heart disease was extensive, with blockages in some arter
IBM announced today that AIST, a leading Japanese research laboratory, will use an IBM BlueGene/L supercomputer to advance their research in proteins, po
Red-headed women are enjoying a new status as sex symbols according to an Australian study by Monash University researcher Ms Amanda Third. Ms Third, a natural red head, said flame-haired wo
A scientist from Australia's Monash University who has recently determined the structure of drug that is widely used as an immunosuppressant, will be presented the 2004 Science Minister's Prize for
America's hospitals should consider turning to latex medical gloves with lower protein and powder levels to reduce latex sensitivity rather than opting for the facilitywide use of synthetic alternatives, according to a recent article in
The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) issued a statement today that the 11 member journals will require, as a condition of consideration for publication, registration in a public trials registry for clinical studies involving h
The Canadian Association of Radiation Oncologists and leading genomic cancer researchers will meet, Thursday, September 9 to 12th, 2004 at the Westin Nova Scotian Hotel in Halifax, to present researc
The most common ways to beat low mood are having someone to talk to and being hugged, a survey published by a mental health charity has found. The Mental Health Foundation's survey found
The British Government has today published a revised draft Mental Health Bill. The Bill will be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by a parliamentary committee, which has been asked to present its report by the end of March 2005.This revised B
A Viewpoint in this week's issue of THE LANCET addresses the state of primary-care research worldwide. Primary care includes the medical services provided by general practitioners (family physicians
Date: Monday, 29-Jan-2007
Money cannot buy you happiness, according to new research from the University of Ulster.The most important sources of happiness are good health and freedom from financial worries, Professor Vani Borooah found.
He studied more than 3,000 interviews from the Poverty and Social Exclusion in Northern Ireland survey and the results of his research were published recently in the Journal of Happiness Studies.
Professor Borooah said the research has important implications for policy makers. Too much emphasis is placed on generating wealth, particularly private wealth. Instead there should be more attention paid to devising policies which would lead to greater happiness, for example, by tackling mental health problems - one of the greatest sources of unhappiness.
Among his findings were:
Of the 1,950 people who described themselves as happy, only 41% regarded their standard of living as high. The key to happiness was satisfaction with one's standard of living. Health - particularly mental health - played a vital role in happiness. People with even mild mental health problems were more likely to be unhappy than people suffering from severe physical health problems such as heart conditions or back pain. At least one third of those with severe physical health problems described themselves as happy, but only 4% of those with severe mental health problems said they were happy. Some 60% said they were unhappy. Freedom from financial worries was a major factor in happiness. People who were divorced or separated or widowed were more likely to be unhappy because of the financial implications of their new status. People living in rural areas were more likely to be unhappy than those living in towns or cities. Rural isolation was a major contributory factor to their unhappiness.Professor Borooah said: "There is an undue concentration of both public and private resources on raising national income: 'undue' because making people richer does not necessarily make them happier or, at any rate, not by enough to justify the outlay of resources in raising income.
"Now that we are able to measure what makes people happy, we should be working towards creating those factors rather than working toward income generation.
"For example, as Professor Richard Layard of the LSE emphasises, improving health, particularly mental health, would be an effective way of making people happier. It is relatively cheap to provide psychotherapy - an effective way of treating mental ill-health - yet there is a shortage of psychotherapists because we don't invest in them. We should be putting more money into providing such services.
"Also, as Professor Layard points out, there are more people today on incapacity benefit than on unemployment benefit. Many of those on incapacity benefits are suffering from depression or other mental health problems. If the country wants to get more people into work then it must tackle these mental health issues."
http://www.ulster.ac.uk