The Science of Happiness

Read a very interesting article online today about Happiness and thought of sharing it with you. It is a very long article and hence I'll summarise some of the main points here for easy reading.


Research and evidence has shown that happy people live longer than depressed people.

In one study, the difference was nine years between the happiest group and the unhappiest group, so that's a huge effect.

However, cigarette smoking can knock a few years off your life, three years. If you really smoke a lot, six years. So please quit smoking if you are.

"There is a lot of evidence that being richer... isn't making us happier"

Scientists think they know the reason why we do not feel happier despite all the extra money and material things we can buy.

The things we go for give us short bursts of pleasure whether it is a chocolate bar or buying a new car but it quickly wears off.

Try not to compare against others. Richer people do get happier when they compare themselves against poorer people, but poorer people are less happy if they compare up.


So what makes us happy?

According to psychologist Professor Ed Diener, a set of ingredients are vital.

First, family and friends are crucial - the wider and deeper the relationships with those around you the better.

Just as stress can trigger ill health, it is thought that friendship and happiness can have a protective effect.

One economist, Professor Oswald at Warwick University, has a formula to work out how much extra cash we would need to make up for not having friends.

The answer is £50,000.

Marriage also seems to be very important. According to research the effect of marriage adds an average seven years to the life of a man and something like four for a woman.

The second vital ingredient is having meaning in life, a belief in something bigger than yourself - from religion, spirituality or a philosophy of life.

The third element is having goals embedded in your long term values that you're working for, but also that you find enjoyable.

Psychologists argue that we need to find fulfilment through having goals that are interesting to work on and which use our strengths and abilities.


Unhappiness

There are also many things we experience in life that can produce lasting unhappiness.

Professor Ed Diener identifies two key events which can have lasting effects.

After the loss of a spouse it can take several years to regain the previous level of well-being.

The loss of a job can affect a person for years even they are back to work.


But if you are born grumpy are you always going to be grumpy?

The answer is NO! We can actually use our knowledge of what makes us happy to lift our levels of happiness permanently.

So what are you waiting now? Get up from your seat and start getting your friends out or spend some quality time with your family.

If you're interested to read more, you can get it from here