Positive health: connecting well–being with biology

TLDR

Well‑being is conceptualized as eudaimonic, emphasizing self‑development and purposeful engagement, and hedonic, focusing on positive feelings such as happiness and contentment. The study proposes future research directions building on these initial findings. The authors examine how well‑being varies with age and socioeconomic status and explore its biological correlates, including neuroendocrine, immune, cardiovascular, and REM sleep markers. In ageing women, higher eudaimonic well‑being was associated with lower daily salivary cortisol, reduced pro‑inflammatory cytokines, lower cardiovascular risk, and longer REM sleep, whereas hedonic well‑being showed minimal biomarker linkage.

Abstract

Two key types of well-being, eudaimonic and hedonic, are reviewed. The first addresses ideas of self-development, personal growth and purposeful engagement, while the second is concerned with positive feelings such as happiness and contentment. How well-being varies by age and socio-economic standing is briefly summarized, followed by examination of its biological correlates (neuroendocrine, immune, cardiovascular, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep). Preliminary findings on a sample of ageing women showed that those with higher levels of eudaimonic well-being had lower levels of daily salivary cortisol, pro-inflammatory cytokines, cardiovascular risk, and longer duration REM sleep compared with those showing lower levels of eudaimonic well-being. Hedonic well-being, however, showed minimal linkage to biomarker assessments. Future research directions building on these initial findings are discussed.