Six Great Tips Proved By Science That Will Help You Stay Happy
In our endeavor to win the rat race, we are always trying to be productive. But did you know that being productive is highly influenced by your happiness level as well? We can see it every day in our lives — happy people tend to be more productive, consequently accomplishing much more. But pursuing happiness can be quite a task. However, here are some scientifically proved, research-based tips that can help you be happier and more peaceful in life. Read on!
Sleep More
We already know how important sleep is to make our day more productive. Sleeping for 7 hours every day gives us the proper rest we need after a day’s work, giving us ample energy to face the next day. In terms of our mental health, research has found that sleeping more helps us be less sensitive to negative emotions. In a study, scientists found out that sleep-deprived people remember sad memories more than cheerful ones. When they were asked to memorize a list of words, they remembered negative words more than positive ones. These are clear indications that sleeping more has a lot to do with being indifferent to negativity in life. Also, how your mood is in the morning tends to decide the rest of the day.
Exercise For At Least Seven Minutes Daily
Exercising daily and being consistent about it can be quite a challenge for most of us. But imagine this: a 7-minute workout every day. Does it still sound like a difficult thing to do? No, right? That’s all you need to stay happy! Exercise has a deep impact on our mental health. Most of us know that exercising helps us stay physically fit, and it also creates the happy hormone, endorphins, which uplifts our mood and makes us happy. Aside from that, the physical changes we see the more we exercise gives us a feeling of fulfillment and improves brain functionality. Thankfully, science has come up with a minimum amount of time we need to spend exercising. Seven minutes is totally doable!
Volunteer For 100 Hours A Year
Giving back to the community or society means making others happy and feeling a sense of contentment. And now science has also provided the magic number of hours that will make you feel happy regarding volunteer work. A hundred hours in a year might sound like a lot but it is only 2 hours a week. So giving 2 hours of your life every week to help others will actually make you feel happy and content. Scientists also found out that spending money on group dinners or concert tickets give us more happiness than buying cars, houses, or clothes. This is called prosocial spending and it effectively boosts happiness.
Move Closer To Work
Sounds weird? Well then, tell us how you feel about driving in traffic twice a day, 5 days a week? Not too great, right. This feeling builds up over days and months and contributes largely to your unhappiness factor — compensating by having a bigger house or a better job do not help. Two Swiss economists found out that those things do not make up the issues created by a long commute. It has been found that staying in a smaller house closer to work can make people happier than staying in a big house but farther away from the office.
Spend More Time With Friends And Family
Your relationships will matter at the end of your life. A survey found that among the top 5 regrets of the dying, not spending enough time with friends and family made it to the top of the list. Having more social time will give you more happiness, even for those who identify themselves as introverts. Apparently, Harvard has a happiness expert, Daniel Gilbert, and this is what he says, ” We are happy when we have family, we are happy when we have friends and almost all the other things we think make us happy are actually just ways of getting more family and friends.”
Plan A Trip
Planning a trip can make us immensely happy. Even if we do not go on a real trip, just planning it will make all the happy hormones start flowing. The anticipation of visiting a new place or of taking a break from work is all we need to spike our happiness level. If you can go on a trip then that would be even better, but if not now, why not plan one for the future? Or if a trip is something you can’t afford yet, plan a night out with friends instead!
Whatever you do, being thankful for everything you have got, staying healthy, practicing mindfulness, and spreading kindness are some other factors that will help you in your pursuit for happiness.