Do you think being overweight hurts your happiness? The study reveals a surprising twist

Obesity is often associated with a range of health problems, from chronic diseases to emotional stress and mood disorders. But does gaining weight always affect your happiness? A recent study reveals that the link between body weight and emotional well-being is more complex than previously thought, suggesting that for some people, gaining weight may slightly increase happiness.

Latest test Published in the International Journal of Applied Positive Psychology, it examined how weight gain directly affects happiness over time, using data from nearly 9,000 participants from the German National Education Panel Study (NEPS). The researchers excluded both extremely overweight and underweight participants to avoid outlier bias.

Although traditional analysis suggested a small negative association between BMI and happiness, when the researchers examined the causal effects, they found that weight gain was unrelated to happiness for both men and women. They found that increasing BMI either had no effect on happiness or, in some cases, even led to a slight increase in happiness. These findings held true across all age groups and BMI categories, including those classified as overweight or moderately obese.

“It may be that being overweight has a negative impact on satisfaction, but perhaps only for a short time until people become accustomed to the weight.” he said Felix Bittmann, lead author of the study.

The researcher explained that this could be a potential reason why obesity has become common in many countries, as people may not experience any psychological incentive to lose weight. If weight gain doesn’t significantly impact their happiness, they may be less willing to invest the time and effort required to make changes such as losing weight or improving their lifestyle.

“Surprisingly, there is no evidence of a negative impact of obesity on life satisfaction. This is good because this problem does not seem to directly affect the psyche. Indirect effects are, of course, still available because overweight people have poorer health and shorter lives.