Everything Under The Sun: How To Have Longer-Term Happiness

Choose to do an activity.

Science indicates that some times of happiness provide an uptick in happiness levels for only a short time. These include such things as winning the lottery or scoring that new job with the pay raise. On the other hand, bad events can decrease your happiness level for only a short time, too. Those events, such as totaling your car, losing that sale with one of your customers, even that one failing quiz grade; they just cause a short blip in your happiness level. That's all information from scientific studies.

However, are there any proven ways to increase happiness for a longer time? Well, some people are just naturally happy; maybe it's something in their genes, they grew up in a family that was naturally happy, or they were just born with a happy disposition. In any case, this is something that is beyond your control. But what about those things that are under your control?

Scientific research has shown there are some things that can produce a longer-term increase in happiness. Some of these include:

Companionship: It's being with people, a sense of belonging. This includes spending time with both family and friends. People who spend time with others are generally happier than those who don't.

Control: Those who have less control over their life circumstances tend to feel more depressed. That means those who are in prisons or in nursing homes tend to feel more depression than those who aren't. These types of institutions have found that the more often they offer choices to inmates/patients, the better the mood of those in those settings. Even when they would offer such choices as the furniture arrangement, whether or not to participate in an activity, or the type of music to listen to, all of these helped to decrease depression.

For the average person, increasing control can mean such things as choosing to work on a hobby, or engage in a marathon movie night, or even using that McDonald's gift card, It doesn't matter what your choice is, as long as you are the one making the decision.

New Things: It's novelty; we all love new things. The benefit comes in two ways, increasing the amount of dopamine in your brain (a neurotransmitter that makes you feel happier) and it makes time seem longer. Part of the effect may actually come from the anticipation of something new, such as that party to which you were invited, or even that new pair of glasses you were getting. When you learn something new, it requires more engagement with active thinking, while that which you have already learned can be completed quickly, with minimal thought.

Exercise: The phenomenon of various forms of exercise increasing brain endorphins was discovered years ago when research was done utilizing patients who were suffering from depression. The mood of patients improved when they engaged in walk groups, and that same effect was found to occur with other forms of exercise, as well.

Sleep: This is rather an important consideration in this hurry-up world that we inhabit. So many people want to skimp on sleep. Yet, the feeling of grogginess, the decrease in alertness, drags people down and decreases energy levels to the point that it becomes very difficult to experience happiness.

Doing good: Selfless acts, giving gifts, volunteering, saying thanks, giving a smile or a compliment, help the giver as much as the recipient. It really feels good to extend yourself to another being. It helps people connect with each other (more of that feeling of belonging, combined with generosity) not only increases happiness, but adds to personal resilience.

Being with family.

So, when you aren't feeling as happy as you would like, doing one of these things can help lead to a sense of longer term happiness. And there is one other important way to add to happiness. Even when you don't feel happy, try putting on a smile and acting like you are happy. Before long, even that suggestion becomes the real thing, and you are really feeling happier.