Hope you catch this ..Ana
excerpts:
Happiness is contagious, research finds
A study of the relationships of nearly 5,000 people tracked for decades in the Framingham Heart Study shows that good cheer spreads through social networks of nearby family, friends and neighbors.
By Karen Kaplan
December 5, 2008
They say misery loves company, but the same may be even more true of happiness.

In a study published online today by the British Medical Journal, scientists from Harvard University and UC San Diego showed that happiness spreads readily through social networks of family members, friends and neighbors.~~~~
The results were striking:A happy friend who lives within a half-mile makes you 42% more likely to be happy yourself. If that same friend lives two miles away, his impact drops to 22%. Happy friends who are more distant have no discernible impact, according to the study.

Similarly, happy siblings make you 14% more likely to be happy yourself, but only if they live within one mile. Happy spouses provide an 8% boost -- if they live under the same roof. Next-door neighbors who are happy make you 34% more likely to be happy too, but no other neighbors have an effect, even if they live on the same block.
"We suspect emotions spread through frequency of contact," Fowler said. As a result, he said, people who live too far away to be seen on a regular basis don't have much effect.
The one exception was co-workers, perhaps because something in the work environment prevented their happiness from spreading, the study found.
The research was funded by the National Institute on Aging and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Shigehiro Oishi, a University of Virginia psychologist who studies the causes and consequences well-being, said the importance of geography was a profound finding.
"Although we are connected with friends and family members who live far away via cellphone and the Internet, these results indicate that there is nothing like a face-to-face interaction," Oishi said. "We are told to get connected by cellphone companies, but in order to get connected you really have to live close by and interact face to face."
Fowler and Christakis said they didn't know the mechanism by which happiness spreads. One possibility is that happy people spread their good fortune directly by being generous with their time and money. Evolution may have encouraged infectious happiness if it helped hominids and early humans enhance their social bonds so they could form successful groups, the researchers said.
UC Irvine sociologist Katherine Faust, who studies social networks, said the study might overstate the role of social ties in transmitting happiness. Many of the Framingham volunteers are the parents, siblings and children of other volunteers, and their propensity toward happiness could be grounded in their genes, she said.
But Richard Suzman, director of behavioral and social research at the National Institute on Aging, said Fowler's and Christakis' work was persuasive enough to force policymakers to rethink the importance of social ties when contemplating happiness or obesity or smoking.
"You can't just treat individuals; you have to treat networks or communities," he said.
Kaplan is a Times staff writer.
karen.kaplan@latimes.com
Happiness is contagious, research finds
Los Angeles Times, CA - Dec 5, 2008
In a study published online today by the British Medical Journal, scientists from Harvard University and UC San Diego showed that happiness spreads readily ...
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