What makes a life well lived?

Nobody can answer this for everyone. What counts as a life well lived depends partly on what you value, and that is a question science can’t settle. But science can tell us what tends to go with a good life. On that, one answer keeps showing up: other people.

People ask this at big turning points. A new graduate wonders if chasing money is worth it. A parent wonders what really matters. Someone who has left their childhood faith wonders what can take its place. Someone who still believes wonders if science has anything to add. These are all fair questions.

Start with the longest study of its kind. In 1938, researchers began following 268 students at Harvard. A second group of 456 men from poor Boston neighborhoods was later added. They tracked these men for decades, with interviews, medical records and blood tests. The study’s director, the psychiatrist Robert Waldinger, put its clearest message plainly in a 2015 talk: “Good relationships keep us happier and healthier.” The men most satisfied with their relationships at age 50 were the healthiest at 80.

What about money? It helps, most of all when it lifts people out of hardship. In 2023, researchers who had reached different answers joined forces to reanalyze the data. They found that for most people, happiness keeps rising as income goes up. But they also found the link is weak.

Then there is the bigger question of what happiness even is. Philosophers point out two different ideas. One is feeling good. The other is living well: growing, doing good and caring for others. Many faiths add that a good life is lived in relation to God. Those are questions of value, so we label them Beyond science.

So here is the honest summary. Science can’t hand you a purpose. But whatever you believe, the evidence says the people in your life are a good place to invest.