Happiness may not be the only goal in life, but for many people, it is the most important one. In most nations, people choose a happy life over a meaningful life or a psychologically rich life, filled with novelty and variety. 

So, naturally, scientists have wondered whether we have the potential to increase our happiness. So, let’s look at some science-backed ways to increase happiness.

Definition Of Happiness

Happiness is an emotion of joy, gladness, satisfaction, and well-being. It encompasses high positive feelings and less negative emotions.

Behaviors To Add To Become Happier

Practice Gratitude

Researchers have put forth that experiencing gratitude causes a shift in our perspectives and our lives as a whole. In the short term, this leads us to see our experiences and circumstances through a more positive lens.

Practicing gratitude may also lead to long-term changes in mindsets that further increase well-being.

In many studies, it was found that participants who expressed gratitude in any form (text messages, social media, or through messages) reported feeling more positive and having greater life satisfaction.

Be More Sociable

Two of the most influential theories of human motivation suggest that people have a core need to feel deeply connected with others. These connections are important from an evolutionary perspective (for survival) and hence, humans evolved to find social interactions emotionally fulfilling.

The best way to satisfy our need to belong is through close relationships, but even brief social interactions with strangers may provide emotional benefits.

Studies support the idea that behaving in a more sociable manner may boost positive feelings and mood.

Act Happy

Although we generally assume that people act happy when they feel happy, the converse may also be true. Studies have found that simply smiling could make people feel better. This is because our facial expressions can influence our mood. It is found that smiling induces immediate mood benefits.

Inject Novelty into Familiar Experiences

Once we get accustomed to an experience, it does not make us happy anymore. Due to this, adding an element of novelty to these experiences may renew our ability to appreciate them.

A study found that compared to participants who behaved like they would on a typical weekend, those who treated their weekend like a vacation reported better moods and greater satisfaction when they returned to work on Monday. Researchers say that this was because they became more immersed in the present moment.

Change Your Diet

Some studies have found that eating more fruits and vegetables might promote happiness. However, these effects were not significant.

Related: Does the Mediterranean Diet Help with Depression?

Help Others

Throughout human evolution, the ability to help one another may have been critical for survival. Thus, our species may have evolved to experience pleasure from helping others.

However, studies found that people are more likely to feel happy when they have some freedom to choose whether or how to spend on others. And also find more joy in giving when they can directly observe or vividly imagine how their gift will benefit the recipients.

Also, there is no clear evidence that engaging in volunteer work or practicing acts of kindness can promote happiness.

Habits To Eliminate To Promote Happiness

Avoid Thinking About Better Futures

Sometimes remaining in the dark about exciting future technologies may help us enjoy the present versions more.

A study showed that participants enjoyed playing a game significantly more when they were not made aware of the newer, better version of the game.

Reduce Unpleasant Time Use

Subtracting unpleasant tasks from one’s day may be an effective, and underutilized, strategy for enhancing happiness.

For example, household chores (such as cleaning or mowing the lawn) tend to rank among the least happy activities of the day in descriptive studies of time use. One way to reduce the time devoted to such tasks would be to simply give up on doing them (or on doing them well), but a more practical strategy may lie in paying for time-saving services.

This route might be effective for busy working adults in wealthy countries, but this insight may not generalize well to more financially constrained populations.

Reduce Social Media and Smartphone Use

The world was introduced to Facebook in 2006 and to the iPhone in 2007, ushering in a new era of technology. By 2021, adults spent nearly a third of their waking hours using mobile apps, according to an observational study of consumers across ten countries.

These rapid technological changes have spurred intense debate about the potentially detrimental consequences of smartphones and social media for well-being. This is because smartphones may distract people from engaging in social interactions.

Studies have found that reducing smartphone use may increase enjoyment of social situations, such as dining out with friends. Also, longer-term abstinence from social media (e.g., 1 month) may ultimately enhance life satisfaction.

How Governments And Organizations Can Promote Happiness

Providing Financial Support

According to some studies conducted in low- and middle-income countries, cash transfers lead to a small but significant increase in well-being. While small cash transfers—equivalent to 1 week or month of income—do not necessarily produce benefits, people who receive a large influx of cash exhibit lasting improvements in well-being.

Moreover, cash seems to be as good or better than other interventions that carry similar costs, including psychotherapy and job training.

Workplace Interventions

Studies have shown that simple interventions in the workplace, such as offering a place to nap, can potentially enhance happiness and life satisfaction among workers.

Summary

Happiness may not be the only goal in life, but for many people, it is the most important one.

Some science-backed ways to be happy include expressing gratitude, being more sociable, acting happy, and spending money on others.

References

1. American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Apa Dictionary of Psychology. American Psychological Association. https://dictionary.apa.org/happiness 
2. How Can People Become Happier? A Systematic Review of Preregistered Experiments Dunigan Folk and Elizabeth Dunn. Annual Review of Psychology 2024 75:1, 467-493 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-022423-030818