Are you feeling blue? An American study suggests that being surrounded by happy friends and neighbours could have more of an effect on your happiness than money.That is the finding of researchers from Harvard University and the University of California at San Diego.     Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler studied the emotional health of more than 4,700 people.They used information from the Framingham Heart Study.That study began sixty years ago in the American community of Framingham.Massachusetts.It was started to learn more about the risks of heart attack and stroke.          For the new study,the researchers examined the emotions of the men and women in the Framingham Heart Study.The information was gathered from 1983 to 2003.     The researchers found that friends of happy people had a greater chance of being happy themselves.That means that happiness spreads,or has a contagious effect,among people.And,the smaller the physical distance between friends,the larger the effect they had on each other's happiness.     Sadness was also contagious among friends,but not as much as happiness.The researchers say social groups did not influence happiness as much as personal situations.   However,people removed by as much as three degrees of separation still had an effect on one's  happiness.The expression three degrees of separation means the friends of an individual's  friends.     In fact,persons with three degrees of separation had a greater effect on an individual's   happiness than having five thousand dollars.The researchers say the study is historic because it shows that social effects on health can be spread among people.     Another finding is that people who work together or are married do not have as much of an effect on happiness levels as friends.The researchers say this is often true among friends of the same sex. The Framingham Heart Study was founded to_.
study the danger of heart disease study the influence of emotional health collect the information of various diseases provide a place for people of heart disease