Happiness: Confirmed by Science (#3)

He we are. Almost complete. 11 new ways updated with confirmation by science of what our gut knew all along. Ancient knowledge. Know you know. Enjoy these last three and we'll wrap it up for 2019 on the 15th!

Move closer to work -We tend to try to compensate for this by having a bigger house or a better job, but these compensations just don't work:"Two Swiss economists who studied the effect of commuting on happiness found that such factors could not make up for the misery created by a long commute."

Gratitude - In an experiment where participants took note of things they were grateful for each day, their moods were improved just from this simple practice:

"The gratitude-outlook groups exhibited heightened well-being across several, though not all, of the outcome measures across the three studies, relative to the comparison groups. The effect on positive affect appeared to be the most robust finding. Results suggest that a conscious focus on blessings may have emotional and interpersonal benefits."
The Journal of Happiness Studies published a study that used letters of gratitude to test how being grateful can affect our levels of happiness:

"Participants included 219 men and women who wrote three letters of gratitude over a three-week period. Results indicated that writing letters of gratitude increased participants' happiness and life satisfaction while decreasing depressive symptoms."

Grow old - As we get older, particularly past middle age, we tend to naturally grow happier. There's still some debate over why this happens, but scientists have a few ideas:

"Researchers, including the authors, have found that older people shown pictures of faces or situations tend to focus on and remember the happier ones more and the negative ones less."
Other studies have discovered that as people age, they seek out situations that will lift their moods--for instance, pruning social circles of friends or acquaintances who might bring them down. Still other work finds that older adults learn to let go of loss and disappointment over unachieved goals, and focus their goals on greater well-being.
So if you thought getting old will make you miserable, it's likely you'll develop a more positive outlook than you probably have now.
How cool is that?
                                                                              From "Want to be Happier?...", Jeff Haden 6/16/16