Did you know that Americans lie an average of 11 times per week?
Or that telling fewer lies improves one’s health and helps relationships?
Those are the conclusions coming out of a study from the University of Notre Dame recently reported in the news.
The “Science of Honesty” 10-week study found that when people managed to reduce their lies over a given number of weeks, they reported significantly improved physical and mental health in those same weeks.
“We found that the participants could purposefully and dramatically reduce their everyday lies, and that in turn was associated with significantly improved health,” says lead author Anita Kelly, a Notre Dame psychology professor, according to Notre Dame News.
When participants told three fewer white lies than they did in other weeks, they experienced on average about four fewer mental-health complaints, such as feeling tense or melancholy, and about three fewer physical complaints, such as sore throats and headaches, the researchers found.
The results were similar for major lies, the researchers found.
The study also revealed positive results in participants’ personal relationships when they told no lies.
Hmm…
A funny thing … I came across this research as the result of a news report of a “recent” study about lies. When I clicked on the link in the news account, I was taken to the website of Notre Dame News.
But when I looked at the date of the article, I saw that it was dated Aug. 12, 2012.
Hardly “recent” news … just another lie told to get attention.