"Eudaimonicwell-being is much more robust and satisfyingthan hedonic happiness, anditengagesdifferentparts of the brain," says Richard J. Davidson, PhD, of the Universityof Wisconsin-Madison.
Psychologists investigating eudaimonic versus hedonic types of happiness over the past five to 10 years have looked at each type's unique effects on physical and psychological health.
Eudaimonic well-being "reduces the bite" of risk factors normally associated with disease like low education level, using biological measures, according to their recently published findings on a subset of study participants.