By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Happy people have better general health and tend to live longer enjoying employment, economic, and personal benefits, according to a report on happiness by California’s Select Committee on Happiness and Public Policy Outcomes.

The committee revealed that the negative impact of unhappiness and its related factors is severe. The report showed that happier people are healthier compared to unhappy people who struggle with behavioral health issues.

Susan DeMarois, director of the California Department of Aging, testified to the committee that loneliness has damaging health outcomes for senior residents.

“A significant driver in the epidemic of older adult behavioral health issues is loneliness,” said DeMarois. “Loneliness has such far-reaching consequences that the health impact is comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.”

According to surveys conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) in 1998 and 2023, happiness for people in California has decreased significantly by almost half in the last 25 years.

The survey showed that fewer residents are “very happy,” 28% of residents were happy in 1998 as opposed to 16% in 2023.

Survey results indicated that more people said they were “not too happy,” 13% of people admitted to being unhappy in 1998 compared to 26% in 2023. A major concern for the committee is that the number of unhappy people has doubled in the last quarter century.

Other survey polls by Gallup showed that coastal residents were more likely to be happy than their inland counterparts.

Given the recent survey results, the committee urged the state to adopt a creative and collaborative approach to improving happiness among residents. Survey polls verified that public trust in the state government is at a historic low. The report recommends lawmakers develop policies that help create trust between residents and the state government.

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