10 Ways to Increase Happiness with Science-Based Tools

Light

In the morning and throughout the day, get as much bright light into your eyes as possible. In the evening, make it as dark as possible. This improves your sleep, health, and happiness.

Aim for bright light, ideally sunlight, in the first hour after waking. If the sun isn’t up, use bright artificial lights. Then, go outside when the sun rises. Throughout the day, stay near windows or outside, and keep artificial lights on. ^{1 2 3}

Avoid blue light from screens at night (10pm – 4am). They lower dopamine and give feelings of depression and anxiety. For evening lighting, use candles, moonlight, or orange/red lights. These do not affect melatonin. Additionally, apply blue light filters on devices. Watching the sunset can reduce evening light’s negative effects. ^{1 2 3 4}

 

Results of the Longest Happiness Study

1.     Social interaction = It’s very important for your mental & physical health. Therefore, spend lots of time with people who give you energy, and limit the number of social interactions that drain your energy or cause stress. 

2.      Income = Total income doesn’t directly relate to happiness. However, money can contribute to happiness once it’s taking away stress, or if you’re now able to join social interactions while you weren’t able before. This also means that when you buy things that give you a lot of stress, it can actually be bad for your happiness. 

3.     Work = Work doesn’t directly relate to happiness. However, working less can be beneficial if it allows more time for social interactions, provided you have enough for your cost of living. Additionally, enjoying and finding meaning in work leads to greater happiness. 

4.     Children = Parents are often less happy than non-parents. Several reasons could explain this. Parents might have less money for social activities, sleep less, view happiness differently, have less time for exercise, and so on. 

5.     Lifespan = People often feel happy in their 20s. Then, happiness dips until the 40s, due to more responsibilities. After that, it usually rises again. This is often linked to retirement and a greater appreciation for small joys. 

6.     Alcohol and nicotine = Chronic use of alcohol and nicotine, especially alcohol, strongly correlates with lower happiness. The partners of these users, especially when they’re not chronic users themselves, often report lower levels as well. 

8.     Trauma = People often don’t report lower happiness levels one year after experiencing trauma. However, some exceptions exist.

Lottery winner vs paraplegic accident

A popular lecture suggests that winning the lottery or becoming paraplegic doesn’t affect happiness a year later. Meaning, you’d be as happy as before. However, this isn’t entirely true. Some people find it hard to deal with becoming paraplegic later in life. So, lottery winners tend to be happier than those who experienced a paraplegic accident. ^{1 2}

 

Spending money on others

Study = Beyond meeting basic needs, extra income adds little to happiness. Personal spending is unrelated to improving happiness. However, when people donate a part of their income, their happiness increases significantly, especially if the donation is adjusted to their income level.

Experiment = Employees who spent more of their bonuses on others felt happier. How they spent the bonus mattered more than its size.

Giving time and effort also boosts happiness. For example, help with community gardening, pick up trash, train kids at your local sports team, or assist an older neighbor.

 

Quality Social Connection

Talking to people boosts happiness. This applies to romantic partners, friends, coworkers, or even casual chats. Deep talks aren’t necessary. Simply talking about your day is beneficial.

 

Presence and eye contact

Study = A lot of eye contact is not critical for a sense of connection. It seems that the best way to feel that one had a real connection, requires a viewing of each other’s faces and eye contact that repeatedly builds up and breaks across the interaction.

When listening closely, people often close their eyes. This doesn’t mean they’re not paying attention. It’s actually a way to focus better. Since 40% of your brain is for vision, closing our eyes helps us remember what others say.

 

Physical contact

Study = Animal-assisted activities greatly increase people’s feelings of well-being. Just having unfamiliar dogs around can reduce anxiety and increase happiness.

Allogrooming, which involves non-sexual physical touch, like grooming or styling hair, triggers certain skin neurons to release oxytocin. This creates a feeling of well-being in the person being touched. When humans stroke or brush their pets, it’s a form of allogrooming where both benefit.

 

Freedom & choice

People had to choose between two paintings. One group had the ability later in life to swap it for the other one. The other group was stuck with their choice.

The results show that freedom of choice makes people happier. However, being forced to stick with a decision makes people happier than having the option to change. So, after choosing, it’s better to stick with your decision and focus on the choice as a good one. ^{1 2}

 

Environment

You’re happier in a cheerful environment. Therefore, add plants, pictures, music, or extra lights. ^{1 2 3}

 

Anticipation

Article = “We tend to experience more intense emotions about future events than those in the past. We have an expectation that future events will make us feel more emotional than ones that have passed.“

 

 

As promised, 10 Scientific Ways to Increase your Happiness. 
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