Robert Waldinger: What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness | TED

Translator: Barbora Damborská Reviewer: Elena Urbanova

What keeps us healthy and happy

Vďaka čomu sme zdravými a šťastnými počas života?

as we go through life?

If you were going to invest now

Ak by ste teraz začali pracovať

na svojom najlepšom možnom ja,

in your future best self,

čomu by ste venovali svoj čas a energiu?

where would you put your time and your energy?

There was a recent survey of millennials

V nedávnom výskume sa ľudí v strednom veku

asking them what their most important life goals were,

pýtali, po čom v živote túžia najviac

and over 80 percent said

a viac ako 80 % opýtaných sa vyjadrilo,

that a major life goal for them was to get rich.

že ich hlavnou métou je zbohatnúť.

And another 50 percent of those same young adults

Navyše, 50 % tých istých mladých uviedlo,

said that another major life goal

že ich ďalším veľkým životným cieľom

was to become famous.

je byť slávnym.

(Laughter)

(smiech)

And we're constantly told to lean in to work, to push harder

Všade nás nabádajú byť v práci snaživejší

(smiech)

and achieve more.

a viac toho dosiahnuť.

We're given the impression that these are the things that we need to go after

Máme dojem, že práve to sú veci,

in order to have a good life.

ktoré nám k šťastnému životu treba.

Pictures of entire lives,

Predstavy, ktoré máme o živote,

of the choices that people make and how those choices work out for them,

o rozhodnutiach a ich následkoch,

those pictures are almost impossible to get.

sú často takmer nedosiahnuteľné.

Most of what we know about human life

Väčšina toho, čo o ľudskom živote vieme,

we know from asking people to remember the past,

sú spomienky ľudí, ktorí sa o ne podelili.

and as we know, hindsight is anything but 20/20.

No ako vieme, spomienky sú nepresné.

We forget vast amounts of what happens to us in life,

Mnoho z toho, čo sa nám stane, zabudneme

a niekedy si pamäť všeličo poprekrúca.

and sometimes memory is downright creative.

But what if we could watch entire lives

No čo keby sme mohli sledovať život

as they unfold through time?

ako plynie od začiatku až po koniec?

What if we could study people from the time that they were teenagers

Čo keby sme vedeli preskúmať životy ľudí

od mladosti po starobu, aby sme zistili,

all the way into old age

to see what really keeps people happy and healthy?

čo ich život robí šťastným a zdravým?

We did that.

Presne to sme urobili.

The Harvard Study of Adult Development

Harvardský výskum dospelého života

may be the longest study of adult life that's ever been done.

je možno najdlhšou štúdiou dospelosti vôbec.

For 75 years, we've tracked the lives of 724 men,

75 rokov sme šli po stopách 724-och mužov

a pýtali sa ich na prácu, domov a zdravie.

year after year, asking about their work, their home lives, their health,

and of course asking all along the way without knowing how their life stories

Samozrejme, že sme celý čas ani netušili,

ako sa ich životy vyvŕbia.

were going to turn out.

Studies like this are exceedingly rare.

Podobné výskumy sú skutočne výnimočné.

Almost all projects of this kind fall apart within a decade

Takmer všetky do 10-tich rokov zaniknú.

Opýtaní vo výskume odmietnu pokračovať

because too many people drop out of the study,

or funding for the research dries up,

alebo dôjdu peniaze,

alebo sa vedci pustia do iných výskumov,

or the researchers get distracted,

or they die, and nobody moves the ball further down the field.

či zomrú a nikto v ich práci nepokračuje.

But through a combination of luck

No vďaka zhode šťastných náhod

and the persistence of several generations of researchers,

a vytrvalosti niekoľkých generácií vedcov

tento výskum pokračuje.

this study has survived.

About 60 of our original 724 men

Okolo 60 z pôvodných 724 mužov

stále žije

are still alive,

still participating in the study,

a zúčastňuje sa výskumu,

most of them in their 90s.

väčšina z nich už má po 90-tke.

And we are now beginning to study

Teraz začíname skúmať

the more than 2,000 children of these men.

viac než 2 tisícky ich detí

And I'm the fourth director of the study.

a ja som štvrtým vedúcim tohto výskumu.

Since 1938, we've tracked the lives of two groups of men.

Od r. 1938 sme sledovali 2 skupiny mužov.

Prvú skupinu tvorili

The first group started in the study

when they were sophomores at Harvard College.

druháci na Harvardovej univerzite.

They all finished college during World War II,

Všetci dokončili štúdium za 2. svetovej vojny

and then most went off to serve in the war.

a väčšina z nich po tom naverbovala.

Druhou skupinou nám boli

And the second group that we've followed

was a group of boys from Boston's poorest neighborhoods,

chlapci z najbiednejších štvrtí Bostonu.

boys who were chosen for the study

Vybrali sme si ich práve preto,

specifically because they were from some of the most troubled

lebo pochádzali z najproblematickejších

a najviac znevýhodnených rodín,

and disadvantaged families

in the Boston of the 1930s.

aké v Bostone v 30. rokoch žili.

Most lived in tenements, many without hot and cold running water.

Zväčša žili v podnájmoch bez tečúcej vody.

Na začiatku sme každému účastníkovi

When they entered the study,

all of these teenagers were interviewed.

položili zopár otázok,

They were given medical exams.

boli im urobené zdravotné prehliadky

We went to their homes and we interviewed their parents.

a u nich doma sme hovorili s ich rodičmi.

A potom títo mladíci dospeli,

And then these teenagers grew up into adults

who entered all walks of life.

vydali sa rôznymi smermi – stali sa z nich

They became factory workers and lawyers and bricklayers and doctors,

robotníci, právnici, murári, lekári,

one President of the United States.

jeden z nich sa stal prezidentom USA.

Niektorí prepadli alkoholu či schizofrénii.

Some developed alcoholism. A few developed schizophrenia.

Some climbed the social ladder

Niektorí sa prepracovali

from the bottom all the way to the very top,

zo spoločenského dna až na vrchol,

and some made that journey in the opposite direction.

niektorí spadli z vrcholu až na samé dno.

The founders of this study

Vedci, ktorí stáli pri zrode tejto štúdie,

ani v najdivokejších snoch nedúfali,

would never in their wildest dreams

have imagined that I would be standing here today, 75 years later,

že tu o 75 rokov neskôr budem stáť

telling you that the study still continues.

a hovoriť o tom, ako projekt pokračuje.

Every two years, our patient and dedicated research staff

Každé 2 roky sa náš trpezlivý a oddaný tím

calls up our men and asks them if we can send them

spýta našich účastníkov, či by o tom,

ako sa im darí, vyplnili ešte 1 dotazník.

yet one more set of questions about their lives.

Many of the inner city Boston men ask us,

Tí z chudobných štvrtí sa často pýtajú:

"Why do you keep wanting to study me? My life just isn't that interesting."

„Prečo ma skúmate? Môj život je všedný."

The Harvard men never ask that question.

Tí z Harvardu sa to nikdy nepýtajú.

(Laughter)

(smiech)

To get the clearest picture of these lives,

Aby sme o nich mali jasnejšiu predstavu,

we don't just send them questionnaires.

neobmedzujeme sa len na dotazníky.

We interview them in their living rooms.

Kladieme im otázky priamo u nich doma.

We get their medical records from their doctors.

Zhromažďujeme ich zdravotné záznamy,

We draw their blood, we scan their brains,

dávame im robiť rozbor krvi a sken mozgu.

we talk to their children.

Hovoríme sa s ich deťmi.

We videotape them talking with their wives about their deepest concerns.

Nahrávame, ako sa ženám zverujú s obavami.

And when, about a decade ago, we finally asked the wives

Pred 10-imi rokmi sme sa ich žien spýtali,

if they would join us as members of the study,

či by sa tiež zúčastnili nášho výskumu,

many of the women said, "You know, it's about time."

na čo mnohé povedali: „No už bolo na čase."

(Laughter)

(smiech)

So what have we learned?

Čo sme sa teda dozvedeli?

What are the lessons that come from the tens of thousands of pages

Aké ponaučenie plynie

z desiatok tisíc strán zozbieraných údajov

of information that we've generated

on these lives?

o týchto životoch?

Well, the lessons aren't about wealth or fame or working harder and harder.

Nejde o bohatstvo, slávu či ťažkú prácu.

The clearest message that we get from this 75-year study is this:

Závery z tohto 75-ročného výskumu sú jasné:

Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period.

dobré vzťahy = šťastný a zdravý život. Bodka.

We've learned three big lessons about relationships.

O vzťahoch sme sa naučili 3 základné veci.

The first is that social connections are really good for us,

Poprvé – sociálne väzby majú obrovský význam

and that loneliness kills.

a samota zabíja.

It turns out that people who are more socially connected

Ukázalo sa, že ľudia s pevnými väzbami

na rodinu, priateľov a komunitu

to family, to friends, to community,

sú šťastnejší, zdravší a žijú dlhšie

are happier, they're physically healthier, and they live longer

oproti tým, ktorí tak pevné väzby nemajú.

than people who are less well connected.

And the experience of loneliness turns out to be toxic.

Osamelosť je, naopak, pre človeka jedom.

People who are more isolated than they want to be from others

Ľudia, ktorí sú izolovanejší,

ako by chceli, sa cítia menej šťastní,

find that they are less happy,

their health declines earlier in midlife,

ich zdravie

a mozgová činnosť začnú pokrivkávať skôr

their brain functioning declines sooner

and they live shorter lives than people who are not lonely.

a ich životy sú kratšie.

And the sad fact is that at any given time,

Bohužiaľ, viac ako 1 z 5-ich Američanov

more than one in five Americans will report that they're lonely.

sa cíti osamelým.

Vieme, že osamelo sa možno cítiť v dave,

And we know that you can be lonely in a crowd

and you can be lonely in a marriage,

no aj v manželstve.

so the second big lesson that we learned

Druhá vec, ktorú sme sa naučili, je,

is that it's not just the number of friends you have,

že nejde len o to, koľko priateľov máme

and it's not whether or not you're in a committed relationship,

či o to, či sme si s partnerom verní.

but it's the quality of your close relationships that matters.

Dôležitá je kvalita blízkych vzťahov.

It turns out that living in the midst of conflict is really bad for our health.

Vykopávanie vojnovej sekery škodí zdraviu.

Napríklad konfliktné manželstvá bez lásky

High-conflict marriages, for example, without much affection,

turn out to be very bad for our health, perhaps worse than getting divorced.

nám škodia možno viac ako rozvody.

Dobrý, vrúcny vzťah nás však chráni.

And living in the midst of good, warm relationships is protective.

Once we had followed our men all the way into their 80s,

Keď sme našich mužov sprevádzali až do ich 80-tky,

we wanted to look back at them at midlife

obzreli sme sa za ich najlepšími rokmi

a zisťovali, či sa dalo predpokladať,

and to see if we could predict

who was going to grow into a happy, healthy octogenarian

ktorí 80-nici budú kypieť zdravím a šťastím

and who wasn't.

a ktorí nebudú.

And when we gathered together everything we knew about them

Keď sme si spojili, čo sme o nich vedeli,

at age 50,

keď mali 50,

nebol to cholesterol v strednom veku,

it wasn't their middle age cholesterol levels

that predicted how they were going to grow old.

ktorý by napovedal, ako zostarnú.

It was how satisfied they were in their relationships.

Kľúčové bolo, ako boli spokojní so vzťahmi.

50-nici najspokojnejší so svojimi vzťahmi

The people who were the most satisfied in their relationships at age 50

were the healthiest at age 80.

boli v 80-tke najzdravší.

And good, close relationships seem to buffer us

Dobré blízke vzťahy sú tlmičmi

from some of the slings and arrows of getting old.

niektorých zakopnutí a nástrah starnutia.

Muži a ženy najšťastnejší vo zväzkoch,

Our most happily partnered men and women

reported, in their 80s,

v ktorých žili, v 80-tke uviedli,

that on the days when they had more physical pain,

že silnejšia fyzickú bolesť

their mood stayed just as happy.

na ich dobrú náladu nevplývala.

But the people who were in unhappy relationships,

Ľudia žijúci v nešťastných vzťahoch

on the days when they reported more physical pain,

v dňoch, kedy bola fyzická bolesť väčšia,

it was magnified by more emotional pain.

pre citovú bolesť trpeli fyzicky ešte viac.

And the third big lesson that we learned about relationships and our health

A po tretie, naučili sme sa,

is that good relationships don't just protect our bodies,

že zdravé vzťahy nielenže ochraňujú telo,

chránia aj mozog.

they protect our brains.

It turns out that being in a securely attached relationship

Pevné, trvalé zväzky, ktoré v 80-tke máme

to another person in your 80s is protective,

nás chránia.

that the people who are in relationships

Ľudia, ktorí sú schopní byť jeden druhému

where they really feel they can count on the other person in times of need,

v ťažkých časoch oporou,

those people's memories stay sharper longer.

majú dlhšie dobrú pamäť.

And the people in relationships

U tých, ktorí sa na partnera

where they feel they really can't count on the other one,

spoľahnúť nemôžu,

those are the people who experience earlier memory decline.

sa prejavil pokles činnosti pamäte skôr.

And those good relationships, they don't have to be smooth all the time.

Dobré vzťahy však nemusia byť bezchybné.

Some of our octogenarian couples could bicker with each other

Niektoré naše páry 80-nikov

sa z času na čas hašterili.

day in and day out,

but as long as they felt that they could really count on the other

No pokiaľ jeden v druhom našli

kamaráta do dažďa,

when the going got tough,

šarvátky na ich pamäť nemali vplyv.

those arguments didn't take a toll on their memories.

So this message,

Ponaučením teda je,

that good, close relationships are good for our health and well-being,

že dobré blízke vzťahy sú životu prospešné.

this is wisdom that's as old as the hills.

To je múdrosť starých materí.

Prečo to tak často prehliadame?

Why is this so hard to get and so easy to ignore?

Well, we're human.

Nuž, sme ľudia.

What we'd really like is a quick fix,

Prahneme po rýchlych riešeniach,

something we can get

po niečom, čo by z nášho života urobilo

that'll make our lives good and keep them that way.

rozprávku, ktorá by nikdy neskončila.

Relationships are messy and they're complicated

Vzťahy sú spletité, komplikované

and the hard work of tending to family and friends,

a starostlivosť o rodinu a priateľov

it's not sexy or glamorous.

nie je príťažlivá ani oslňujúca.

It's also lifelong. It never ends.

Starostlivosť o rodinu nekončí – je navždy.

The people in our 75-year study who were the happiest in retirement

Najšťastnejší dôchodcovia nášho výskumu

were the people who had actively worked to replace workmates with new playmates.

boli tí, ktorí kolegov nahradili blízkymi.

Just like the millennials in that recent survey,

Presne ako dospelí z nedávneho výskumu –

many of our men when they were starting out as young adults

aj oni boli v mladosti presvedčení o tom,

really believed that fame and wealth and high achievement

že sláva, peniaze a úspech

were what they needed to go after to have a good life.

im zabezpečia dobrý život.

But over and over, over these 75 years, our study has shown

No 75 rokov náš výskum opakovane dokazuje,

that the people who fared the best were the people who leaned in to relationships,

že najlepšie bolo tým, čo pestovali vzťahy

s rodinou, priateľmi a komunitou.

with family, with friends, with community.

A čo vy?

So what about you?

Let's say you're 25, or you're 40, or you're 60.

Povedzme, že máte 25, 40 či 60.

What might leaning in to relationships even look like?

Ako môže vyzerať pestovanie vzťahov u vás?

Well, the possibilities are practically endless.

Možnosti sú vlastne neobmedzené.

It might be something as simple as replacing screen time with people time

Možno stačí obrazovky vymeniť za ľudí,

or livening up a stale relationship by doing something new together,

oživiť staré vzťahy novými aktivitami –

ísť na dlhú prechádzku či rande,

long walks or date nights,

or reaching out to that family member who you haven't spoken to in years,

prehodiť pár slov s rozhádaným príbuzným.

because those all-too-common family feuds

Bežné rodinné spory

take a terrible toll

totiž majú hrozný dopad na tých,

ktorí v sebe nenávisť prechovávajú.

on the people who hold the grudges.

I'd like to close with a quote from Mark Twain.

Dovoľte mi rozlúčiť sa výrokom M. Twaina.

More than a century ago,

Pred viac ako 100 rokmi

he was looking back on his life,

sa obzrel späť na svoj život

and he wrote this:

a napísal:

"There isn't time, so brief is life,

„Život je na škriepky, ospravedlnenia,

for bickerings, apologies, heartburnings, callings to account.

ľútosť a spytovanie svedomia prikrátky.

There is only time for loving,

Máme čas len na milovanie

and but an instant, so to speak, for that."

a aj na to máme takpovediac len okamih."

The good life is built with good relationships.

Dobrý život = dobré vzťahy.

Thank you.

Ďakujem.

(Applause)

(potlesk)