When this idea was tested by Johnson et al , the results showed that participants who smiled performed better on attentional tasks which required seeing the whole forest rather than just the trees. Psychologists call this the facial feedback hypothesis. Even forcing a smile when we don't feel like it is enough to lift our mood slightly this is one example of embodied cognition. Think exercise is something you don't have time for? Think again. Check out this seven-minute workout from The New York Times.
That's a workout any of us can fit into our schedules. Exercise has such a profound effect on our happiness and well-being that it is an effective strategy for overcoming depression. In a study cited in Shawn Achor's book The Happiness Advantage , three groups of patients treated their depression with medication, exercise, or a combination of the two. The results of this study are surprising: Although all three groups experienced similar improvements in their happiness levels early on, the follow-up assessments proved to be radically different:.
Of those who had taken the medication alone, 38 percent had slipped back into depression. Those in the combination group were doing only slightly better, with a 31 percent relapse rate.
The biggest shock, though, came from the exercise group: Their relapse rate was only 9 percent. You don't have to be depressed to benefit from exercise, though. Exercise can help you relax, increase your brainpower, and even improve your body image, even if you don't lose any weight. We've explored exercise in depth before , and looked at what it does to our brains, such as releasing proteins and endorphins that make us feel happier.
A study in the Journal of Health Psychology found that people who exercised felt better about their bodies even when they saw no physical changes:. Over both conditions, body weight and shape did not change. Various aspects of body image, however, improved after exercise compared to before. Yep: Even if your actual appearance doesn't change, how you feel about your body does change.
We know that sleep helps our body recover from the day and repair itself and that it helps us focus and be more productive. It turns out sleep is also important for happiness. Sleep deprivation hits the hippocampus harder than the amygdala. The result is that sleep-deprived people fail to recall pleasant memories yet recall gloomy memories just fine.
They could remember 81 percent of the words with a negative connotation, like cancer. But they could remember only 31 percent of the words with a positive or neutral connotation, like sunshine or basket.
The BPS Research Digest explores another study that proves sleep affects our sensitivity to negative emotions. Using a facial recognition task throughout the course of a day, researchers studied how sensitive participants were to positive and negative emotions.
Those who worked through the afternoon without taking a nap became more sensitive to negative emotions like fear and anger. However, an intervening nap blocked and even reversed this negative emotional reactivity to anger and fear while conversely enhancing ratings of positive happy expressions.
Of course, how well and how long you sleep will probably affect how you feel when you wake up, which can make a difference to your whole day. Another study tested how employees' moods when they started work in the morning affected their entire workday.
Early mood was linked to their perceptions of customers and to how they reacted to customers' moods. And, most important to managers, employee mood had a clear impact on performance, including both how much work employees performed and how well they performed it. Not staying in touch with friends and family is one of the top five regrets of the dying. If you want more evidence that time with friends is beneficial for you, research proves it can make you happier right now, too.
Social time is highly valuable when it comes to improving our happiness, even for introverts. Several studies have found that time spent with friends and family makes a big difference in how happy we feel. I love the way Harvard happiness expert Daniel Gilbert explains it:. You can find flow at work if you have a job that interests and challenges you and that gives you ample control over your daily assignments. Not long ago, most researchers thought you had a happiness set point that you were largely stuck with for life.
Exceptionally happy people seem to have a set of skills—ones that you too can learn. They tend to interpret ambiguous events in positive ways. Try counting your blessings. The act of shopping unleashes primal hunter-gatherer urges. Before giving in to your lust, give yourself a time-out. Over the next month, keep track of how many times you tell yourself: I wish I had a camera!
If in the course of your life you almost never find yourself wanting a camera, forget about it and move on, happily. David Futrelle. Happiness Guide. All rights reserved. TIME may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.
Sign In. TIME Health. TIME Labs. The Goods. TIME Shop. Press Room. The Most Influential People. American Voices. The Breakdown. Finding Home. The Influencers. Longevity Next Generation Leaders. Person of the Year. Space Make a conscious effort to stay connected. But losing touch with friends is one of the most common end-of-life regrets. Make an effort to stay connected to the people who make your life brighter.
Take the time to call, write, or see each other in person. Invest in quality time with the people you care about. People who are in happy relationships talk a lot. Offer sincere compliments. Think of the things you admire and appreciate about the other person and then tell them. This will not only make the other person happier, it will encourage him or her to be an even better friend or partner.
As a practice of gratitude, it will also make you value the relationship more and feel happier. Seek out happy people. Research shows that happiness is contagious. You can literally catch a good mood you can also catch a bad mood, but thankfully, sadness is less contagious than happiness.
So, make an effort to seek out and spend time with happy people. Take delight in the good fortune of others. Do you show genuine enthusiasm and interest when your friend or family member experiences something good? Ask questions, relive the experience with the other person, and express your excitement for him or her. Remember, happiness is contagious, so as you share the experience, their joy will become yours. Think about a time when you were depressed or anxious.
Chances are, you were either dwelling on something negative from the past or worrying about something in the future. In contrast, when you focus on the present moment, you are much more likely to feel centered, happy, and at peace. So how do you start to live more in the moment and savor the good things life has to offer? Mindfulness meditation is a powerful technique for learning to live in and enjoy the moment. No pan flutes, chanting, or yoga pants required. Simply speaking, meditation is exercise for your brain.
When practiced regularly, meditation appears to decrease activity in the areas of the brain associated with negative thoughts, anxiety, and depression. At the same time, it increases activity in the areas associated with joy, contentment, and peace. It also strengthens areas of the brain in charge of managing emotions and controlling attention.
Body scan — Body scanning cultivates mindfulness by focusing your attention on various parts of your body. Like progressive muscle relaxation, you start with your feet and work your way up. In walking meditation, mindfulness involves being focused on the physicality of each step — the sensation of your feet touching the ground, the rhythm of your breath while moving, and the feeling of the wind against your face. Sit down at the table and focus your full attention on the meal no TV, newspapers, or eating on the run.
Eat slowly, taking the time to fully enjoy and concentrate on each bite. But there are other things you can do to increase your awareness and enjoyment. Adopt enjoyable daily rituals. Build moments of enjoyment into your day with pleasurable rituals. These can be very simple things like lingering over a cup of coffee in the morning, taking a short stroll in the sunshine during your lunch hour, or playing with your dog when you get home. Minimize multi-tasking. Focus on one thing at a time in order to truly maximize your enjoyment.
Stop to smell the roses. It will enhance your pleasure, even if you can only spare a few seconds. Shared pleasure is powerful. Replay happy memories. Remembering and reminiscing about happy memories and experiences from your past leads to more positive emotions in the present.
There is something truly fulfilling in helping others and feeling like your actions are making a difference for the better in the world. In addition, they also tend to have higher self-esteem and general psychological well-being. Happiness is just one of the many benefits of volunteering. Practice kindness.
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