ISLAMABAD, March 18 (Online): Tools for promoting one\u2019s sense of well-being can deliver a long lasting benefit if one continues to use them, according to a new study.
\nYears after learning about such \u201cscience hacks\u201d at the University of Bristol, roughly half of students continued to feel happier.
\nThe school\u2019s \u201cScience of Happiness\u201d course helps students to see problems in a less self-centered context that tends to make difficulties seem less monumental and worrying.<\/p>\n
It seems the simplest of tasks: Be happy. It is not a directive to be hedonistic or shallow. Rather, it is about living our years on Earth wisely, calmly, and at best, joyfully. Yet, many people have trouble reaching the feeling or sustaining it in the face of life\u2019s complications.<\/p>\n
A new study from the University of Bristol, in the U.K., discusses outcomes from their \u201cScience of Happiness\u201d program that has been endeavoring since 2018 to help students achieve a sense of well-being.<\/p>\n
The study finds that personal happiness can be achieved through evidence-informed habits. The effect can be long lasting as well if one continues to practice what they have learned.<\/p>\n
Other educational institutions have similar curricula, but this study is the first to track the long-term success of such practices<\/p>\n
The study questioned 228 undergraduates who had taken one of the university\u2019s positive psychology courses a year or two earlier. The students reported a 10% to 15% improvement in their well-being immediately after taking the course.<\/p>\n
However, the researchers found that 51% of the group \u2014 115 students \u2014 had maintained their positive attitude by continuing to practice during the following years tools they had been taught in class.<\/p>\n
The study is published in the journal Higher Education.<\/p>\n
How to be happy
\nDr. Bruce Hood, senior author of the study, and author of \u201cThe Science of Happiness: Seven Lessons for Living Well,\u201d listed what he called \u201chappiness hacks\u201d taught in the \u201cScience of Happiness\u201d coursework:<\/p>\n
Performing acts of kindness,
\nIncreasing social connections, including initiating conversations with people you don\u2019t know,
\nSavoring one\u2019s experiences,
\nDeliberately drawing our attention to the positive events and aspects of one\u2019s day,
\nPracticing feeling grateful, and endeavoring to thank people they have never sufficiently thanked as they would have liked to,
\nBeing physically active,
\nExploring mindfulness and other meditation techniques.
\n\u201cThe course content involves information on misconceptions about happiness and understanding our cognitive biases. The intention was that by the end of the course, students have a well-rounded understanding of various factors that can contribute toward their own well-being, rather than a \u2018to-do\u2019 list of activities,\u201d Dr. Hood told Medical News Today.<\/p>\n
Some students continued to practice happiness every day, while others did so periodically, \u201cto avoid it feeling too repetitive,\u201d said Dr. Hood.<\/p>\n
The value of shifting focus for happiness
\nThe hacks have largely to do with shifting one\u2019s perspective, said Dr. Hood.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey alter the sense of self from one that is overly egocentric, focusing and ruminating on our problems and position in life, to one that is more allocentric \u2014 as part of a connected, interrelated network of others and the world at large,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
He said making this shift puts our problems into perspective, making them seem less overwhelming. Second, \u201cwe enjoy the benefits of support and connection with others.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy book is not a self-help book for those who want to indulge in self-care \u2014 which has gone too far in my opinion,\u201d said Dr. Hood, \u201cbut rather a self-destruct book!\u201d<\/p>\n
Neurobiologist Dr. Tobias Esch, who was not involved in the study, and has researched the neurological aspects of happiness, agreed: \u201cI strongly believe that happiness, in general, is neither private nor egoistic, or solely hedonic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Happiness in the brain
\nDr. Esch described some of what occurs in the brain when a feeling of happiness rises: \u201cThe brain\u2019s reward system kicks in. Reward and motivation go up, as does happiness\/well-being. Also: Stress reduction!Trusted Source\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMany positive psychology activities, including psychedelics, which I briefly cover in my book, appear to dampen down the activity of the default mode network,\u201d said Dr. Hood. The default mode network is circuitry in the brain that constructs images of ourselves and others.<\/p>\n
The default circuit \u201cbecomes overly active when we are not task-focused and is associated with negative rumination,\u201d added Dr. Hood.<\/p>\n
The school\u2019s course materials claimed that being in nature shuts down the default node circuit.<\/p>\n
\u201cHappiness is a biological necessity. It is hardware and software, and has been conserved in evolution through millions (!) of years, as even simple organisms have it, ie, possess the biological principle\/apparatus,\u201d said Dr. Esch.<\/p>\n
He suggested that if it only served the single individual and not entire species, it is unlikely it would have been conserved through eons of evolution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD, March 18 (Online): Tools for promoting one\u2019s sense of well-being can deliver a long lasting benefit if one continues to use them, according to a new study. Years after learning about such \u201cscience hacks\u201d at the University of Bristol, roughly half of students continued […]<\/p>\n
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