The science of happy
8 ways to get into the habit
 |
Money, fame, love, sport, chocolate—what works? For centuries we’ve been trying to figure out what makes us happy. Psychologists, economists, theologians, and others have come at this from different angles. Can we choose to be happy? How?
studentvoice
Is happiness genetic?
Ever wondered how much control you have over your happiness? Studying identical twins raised in different environments helped researchers figure out that 48 percent, nearly half of our happiness, can be attributed to our genes.
Your happiness, your health
What about the rest? And how much does it matter? People who rate happier on psychological tests experience a range of health benefits, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in the US:
- Better response to flu vaccines
- Less severe colds
- Reduced risk of heart disease and diabetes
- Better health maintenance
What is happiness, anyway?
Happiness is hard to define, because it’s so personal. It reflects values, character, genes, and other factors. Happiness is not the same as quality of life: You can have everything you need and more, yet still feel sad. Finding out what makes you happy, and seeking it out, can have profound effects on your present and future.
“We can’t change the circumstances of our lives easily, but we can change the variables—and become happier people,” says Dr. Mark Berber, a Psychiatrist using positive psychology techniques in Toronto, Ontario, in a 2014 interview with The Globe and Mail.
Remember when "YOLO" was everywhere? It was the hip, modern version of carpe diem ("seize the day"). You only live once. Research has repeatedly shown the importance of savoring the ordinary moments. Valuing everyday experience offsets the diminishing returns of maximum-excitement activities, according to psychologists.
1. Cherish the ordinary
Connect with friends and family in person rather than living from one social media Like to the next.
Explore your own city and province. Experience the familiar in an unfamiliar way. You’re bound to find local gems.
Spend more time with your parents. The pace of Saturday night may be slower, but they’ll love it. You may get funny stories from their youth, a free meal, and laundry service. If you’re not sure what to talk about, help them sort books, reorganize the garage, or do a jigsaw puzzle. The conversation will happen.
Take care of your body. “There is now fairly clear evidence that eating seven portions of fruits and vegetables a day will help your happiness and mental health,” says Andrew Oswald, Professor of Economics (and a Behavioural Scientist) at the University of Warwick, UK. Quick tip: To keep your mood up, make sure you don’t get too hungry. (Only 40 percent of Student Health 101 survey respondents correctly identified not getting hungry as a source of happiness.)
Stay in the moment. People reported higher levels of happiness during activities where their minds wandered less, according to a 2009 study conducted by Harvard University psychologists. “If you can enjoy yourself in the moment, instead of just focusing on outcomes, that’s a good thing,” says Dr. Jamie Gruman, Associate Professor of Organizational Behaviour at the University of Guelph in Ontario and co-founder of the Canadian Positive Psychology Association.
The Beatles established that we can’t buy love, but what about happiness? A large body of research attempts to answer this question. Here’s what we know (sort of).
2. Get that it’s not all about the Benjamins
The $75,000 benchmark
- The lower our income falls beneath $75,000 a year, the unhappier we feel, according to a Nobel Prize–winning study by Princeton University researchers.
- But earning more than $75,000 doesn’t increase happiness.
- Wait! Let’s define happiness. Our “changeable, day-to-day mood” is not affected by an income above $75,000. But the “deeper satisfaction you feel about the way your life is going” continues to rise with earnings above $75,000. “High incomes don’t bring happiness, but they do bring you a life you think is better,” wrote researchers Angus Deaton and Daniel Kahneman.
- Downsides to a lower income? It doesn’t automatically cause sadness, but it makes us feel worse about the problems we already face.
Anything else going on?
It’s not as simple as a number, says Gretchen Rubin of the Happiness Project, a research project that combines personal accounts, scientific studies, and lessons from popular culture. The relationship between wealth and happiness depends on a person’s circumstances and personality, including:
- Our personal preferences: For example, these determine how we use the money we have. Cozy evenings at home? Or global travel?
- Our values: Some purchases make us happier than others. Spending our money on meaningful experiences, including helping others, makes us happier than buying items we expect to enjoy, like a car or big-screen TV. (“Giving to others” is an acknowledged source of happiness for 51 percent of respondents to a Student Health 101 survey.)
- Comparisons: It’s all relative. Feeling like we’re worse off now than in the past, or struggling more than the people around us, makes us unhappy.
Does having the most friends or followers translate to much? Seeking outward recognition and affirmation via social media is making us unhappy, studies suggest.
3. Use social media carefully
Frequent social media use can result in a separation between the social media “you,” who posts only the best moments of each day and builds a crafted public persona, and the real you, with all your mundane, less glamorous moments. As you compare your real life to the social media personas of others, your self-esteem can take a hit. Again, this remind us how much of our happiness tends to be based on how we perceive others.
Over a two-week period, higher Facebook use was connected to lower life satisfaction levels among study participants, according to a 2013 study. (Cause and effect have not been fully unravelled.)
To break free:
- Remember that Facebook and Instagram aren’t real life. Just as you filter pictures and carefully select what you post, your friends are doing the same.
- Avoid comparing yourself to others. Your newsfeed is not a race. Instead of envying your friend’s amazing study abroad pics, have faith in your own goals, pace, and priorities.
- Unplug for a set period each day. Those notifications, tags, and Candy Crush invites aren’t going anywhere (unfortunately).
Physically active people are more enthusiastic and excited than sedentary people. Research proves it—and so does going for a walk.
4. Run, jump, dance, splash, reach
College and university students are happier on days when they’re physically active, according to a 2011 study. Students recorded their quality of sleep, physical activity levels, and emotional states. On days of higher physical activity, students reported more frequent pleasant feelings.
Exercise isn’t just a short-term mood booster. It can have lasting happiness benefits. People who remained active over a two- and four-year period were less likely to report unhappiness than their inactive peers, according to a 2012 study on data from the Canadian National Population Health Survey.
Physical activity also protects against depression caused by stress. Exercise reduces kynurenine acid, a substance which is harmful to the brain and known to collect in the blood during stress, reported researchers in Sweden this year.
Having a case of the Mondays? Contrary to common belief and the Sunday night blahs, work makes us happier, according to research.
5. Love your work
Job satisfaction can affect emotional well-being, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Better Life Index. But good news: Canadians have high job satisfaction rates, according to a survey conducted by Monster.ca and GfK, a market research company.
In 2013:
- Nearly two out of three Canadians said they “love” their job or “like it a lot.”
- One out of four Canadians said they enjoyed their job so much they would do it without payment.
What's love got to do with it? A lot. Strong, satisfying relationships are the key to happiness, according to the landmark Harvard Grant Study conducted over 75 years. Since then, numerous additional studies have shown that people who have satisfying relationships with friends, family, and their community experience fewer health problems, are happier, and live longer than those who are more socially disconnected.
6. Nurture your people
The quality of your relationships is key. For college and university students—away from family and childhood friends, and grappling with internships, academic pressures, and extracurriculars—a call home or a late-night chat with an old friend can go a long way. Spending time with friends increases happiness, said 73 percent of students who responded to our survey.
“What we have found in our research is that students were more satisfied and experienced greater well-being if they had made progress in getting to know themselves better, in building meaningful relationships, and in contributing to their community,” says Dr. Edward Deci, a Psychology Professor at the University of Rochester, New York, who studies human motivation
Happify your social life
- Volunteer for a cause you believe in. It might help you connect with people who share your energy and values. To check out all the options at Volunteer Canada.
- Join a running group or casual sports league, like Ultimate Frisbee.
- Stay in touch with loved ones. Answer phone calls, respond to emails, and notice what’s going on in other people’s lives.
- Be inclusive. Invite shy or socially awkward people to join you. For emotional and developmental reasons, it’s harder for some than others.
Do fame and recognition make us happy? With social media and reality television giving us 24/7 access into the lives of others, one must wonder, is it all worth it?
7. Reconsider getting famous
“Becoming wealthier, more widely recognized, and more attractive does not add to college students’ satisfaction and well-being,” says Dr. Edward Deci, a psychology professor at the University of Rochester, New York who studies human motivation.
The goals of recent college graduates predicted their happiness levels, his research found. Those who sought and attained “intrinsic” goals, such as a deep, lasting relationship, were happier than those who sought more “extrinsic” goals, such as fame or recognition. Might this explain the popularity of Celebrity Rehab?
Ever reassured yourself that "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger"? There’s some truth to this.
8. Value what you went through
A little adversity goes a long way. Some forms of stress are good by helping us grow and providing us with an opportunity to overcome a challenge, says Dr. Matthew Hill, a researcher from the University of Calgary, Alberta.
In human studies, mild doses of negative experiences seemed to build resilience, with moderately stressful events increasing our ability to bounce back from unpleasant emotions. This mild stress helps us strengthen our happiness muscles for defense against future emotional beatdowns.
Major adversity, including traumatic experiences, has the opposite effect. It makes us more vulnerable.
Does sex make us happier?
Countless studies agree: Overall, sex makes us very happy. And Canadian university students are quite satisfied with their sex lives, according to a 2013 study by the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada (SIECCAN) and Trojan. Eighty percent of female students and 67 percent of male students said they were “happy” or “very happy” with the quality of their sexual interactions.
People who had sex at least two to three times a month were 33 percent more likely to report happiness levels greater than those who had no sex in the past 12 months, according to a study by sociologists. A happy bonus: Orgasms release hormones that temporarily aid sleep, alleviate pain, and reduce depression.
Happy sex stuff
- Sex ranks among the top happiness-inducers in multiple happiness studies.
- Having multiple sex partners doesn’t necessarily make us happier. “Evidence suggests that human beings are happiest when they have a single, continuous sexual partner,” says Andrew Oswald, Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick in the UK.
- Married people have more sex than singles.
Which of these statements are true or false?
1 |
Religious people are happier than atheists |
2 |
Expressing our anger makes us feel better |
3 |
Playing sports makes us as happy as a $1,500 pay raise |
4 |
Our happiness has a lot to do with our commute |
5 |
Drinking coffee is the best way to stay energized all day |
6 |
Making our bed improves our mood |
7 |
Frequent splurging increases happiness |
8 |
A massive payday feels better than smaller pay raises |
Scores and explanations
1. True: Religion makes us happier
In a Student Health 101 survey, more than a third of students connected happiness with a belief in God. Research backs them up. Religious beliefs offer social support, a sense of purpose, a sense of safety (a deity is looking out for us), and the concept that things happen for a reason, which can help us bounce back after difficult experiences.
2. False: Venting doesn’t work
Contrary to popular belief, yelling, punching things, and slamming doors often make us feel worse. In studies, fake smiles and the forced facial neutrality of Botox were more effective in relieving bad moods, as Gretchen Rubin points out in the Happiness Project. But only 4 percent of students in our survey said “faking the emotions I want to feel” made them happier.
3. True: Participating in sports is worth $2,000
Participating in sports is associated with higher levels of wellbeing — valued at approximately $2,000 per person, according to a British study this year (meaning a $2,000 pay increase would result in the same wellness boost). Physical activity is strongly linked to better health and increased life satisfaction. In a recent Student Health 101 survey, 62 percent of respondents said exercising made them happier.
4. True: Commuting can make us seriously unhappy
Remember this for when you’re job-hunting: Live close to your work. A pay raise might seem worth a longer commute, but studies show otherwise. Commuting involves gas costs, stress, and less time with friends and family. Research consistently links longer commutes with lower happiness levels.
5. False: Sleep makes us happier, and caffeine sabotages sleep
We’ve confirmed: naps do in fact rule. People who stay awake become increasingly sensitive through the day to negative emotions, research shows. Those who take a nap feel more upbeat. Be careful with your caffeine.
6. True: Making the bed makes us happier
Making the bed can be the “number one most impactful change” in boosting your happiness—potentially leading to a peaceful environment, inner calm, and the beginning of a more efficient and productive day, according to Gretchen Rubin of the Happiness Project. Only 17 percent of respondents in our survey got this right.
7. False: Moderation makes us happier than splurging
Money allows us to enjoy the finer things in life, like expensive hotels and the coolest gadgets. And in doing so, it actually decreases our ability to experience the joy of everyday life, according to psychologists from the University of Liege in Liege, Belgium. Extravagance spoils us.
8. False: Losing what we have is harder than gaining something new
We struggle more with losing something we have than with not gaining something we don’t have. So although Scenario B in the chart below results in far greater earnings, it’s likely to leave us less happy than Scenario A, which carries the message of sustained progress.
Year |
A: 5% raise each year |
B: 100% raise |
1 |
50k |
50k |
2 |
52.5 |
100k |
3 |
55.125 |
75k |
4 |
57,881.25 |
75k |
5 |
60,775.31 |
75k |
Total earnings |
$276,281.56 |
$375,000.00 |
studentvoice
