Insights for What Makes a Good Life From the World’s Longest Study

The world’s longest study shows us that it isn’t cholesterol or blood pressure levels that matter most to our health and happiness.

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In 1938, Harvard researchers began a study that, unbeknownst to them, would become the longest study of adult life that has ever been conducted.

The Harvard Study of Adult Development—now in its 85th year—aimed to gain insights into human health by helping to understand what makes people happy and thrive in life as opposed to focusing on what makes them sick.

The First Generation

Beginning in 1938, the study followed the lives of two groups of men.