The way to achieve happiness has been a answer long sought after by all of mankind, the focus of countless studies, theories and philosophies. And of course, everyone
holds their own belief of how to be happy in their life. Yet, a new study in England seems to point not to our attitudes on life or the conditions we live in as the things to determine our happiness, but instead to our genetic composition. That’s right, the study suggest we are born destined to be happy people or to be sad people. Since the study itself, as with most scientific studies is long-winded and complex, the tl;dr version of their findings is that
the further away genetically you are from the people of Denmark, the less happy you will be. The predictions made based on this conclusion actually almost match the world happiness rankings exactly. So, if you are a Dane, congratulations, you are literally chemically constructed to be happier than any other race in the world. On the other hand, if your ancestors hail from Madagascar, you are among the furthest away from the Danish genetically and in turn, have a DNA sequence that works against any attempts you may have of achieving joy. The basic biological concept behind this lies in the gene which governs the body’s release of serotonin, the chemical hormone which is most responsible for creating our sense of happiness. A mutated, shorter version of this gene causes you to be able to produce less chemical happiness, leading you to be real-life sad. And those lucky Danes managed to get the best of it, as the genetic constitution of the majority of the Danish population possess the longer, non-mutated version of this gene, allowing them greater capacity for happiness production. Even more evidence in the way of this study lies in the fact that this seems to be her
editary, those who have ancestors from northern Europe (ie Denmark), were also more genetically capable of being happy than those who had ancestors from elsewhere.
Luckily, it seems that while genes are a factor within our happiness, it is not the ultimate requirement in determining how happy we will be. The study still notes that multitudes of other factors such as sleep, relationships, and general quality of life, still play a massive role within determining an individual’s overall satisfaction. It’s similar to how genes play a role within an individual’s cholesterol production, just as diet and exercise habits do. So, depending on what heritage you might be, this could be great news or terrible news. In either case, at least this gives us all another reason to explain why we cannot be all sunshine and rainbows all the time. It’s in the genes!
Sources:
