Tag Archives: scienceofhappiness

Close your eyes and try to picture what makes you happy.

Most people picture a place, a time, a moment, or a person, but there are millions of things that bring us momentary joy.  Listening to a song can make you smile, watching a movie can bring you to tears of laughter, and binge streaming Netflix shows. If these things make you happy, go enjoy them. But, everything in moderation.

Many people feel like they aren’t in control of their emotions, especially their happiness.

I’m gonna leave you with some really simple tips that people often forget can be really effective, basically a hodgepodge of everything I’ve written so far this year.

Don’t be afraid to look silly. You will miss out on so much if you care about what every single person around you thinks.

Get eight hours of sleep, if you can. You’ll wake up refreshed each morning instead of dreading to get out of bed.

If something made you smile, write it down! Good memories are never a bad thing. I write down good days on pieces of paper and put them in a jar in my room. At the end of the year, my family dumps all of our good memories out and reminisce. It’s the best way to go into a new year.

Compliment people if you think they look good! They’ll feel better, and you’ll feel better for making them give you that bashful grin (But don’t over-compliment).

Savor things that you enjoy. Live in the moment. I’m a prisoner to my iphone as well, but if something’s beautiful and you want to really remember it, it’s harder to remember it when you only saw it through a screen…

It’s ok to ask for help! We are only human. We all need to be picked up when we fall down sometimes. Help is a good thing, it helps us grow.

Drink more water!!! Everyone forgets to hydrate themselves sometimes but on a daily basis you should be having minimum five cups of water a day. It’s important. You’ll have less headaches, feel more awake, and typically feel all around better.

Don’t be afraid to eliminate things that are toxic from your life; whether it be a class, or an activity you do that is no longer compelling for you, or long-time friend, it isn’t selfish of you to decide that you are better off without said toxin. 

And if you think something new will interest you and make your brain light up like a million fireworks, do it!! Don’t be afraid to try new things.

A few friends of mine have given me a couple of apps and websites that [claim they] lead to being happier! I’ve tried a few and really think they have the potential to help anyone struggling with getting a grasp on their emotions.

Websites:

Happify: a website (and an app!) that after an initial quiz, puts you on a track to become happier if you follow their games and activities each day.

Apps:

Stigma (free): Rediscover yourself with the world’s most popular personalized journal.

Owaves (free): a fun, easy and VISUAL way to plan meals, exercise and sleep into your day

Hope you enjoyed my weekly rants and spontaneous research on different aspects of your daily lives that may (or may not) affect how happy you are!! I’ve had such a great time writing these each week and questioning how to better my daily activities. Hope you liked my ridiculous amounts of Parks and Rec gifs (and no I don’t have these all on my computer, use giphy it’ll change your life).

Signing off for the last time, bye bye Passion Posts!

As with all types of personal health, mental health plays a big role in affecting your day to day life and happiness. This will be a fairly serious and explanatory post, so if you’re looking for my usual Parks and Rec Gifs, check last week’s post on sleep deprivation.

For many reasons, people have a difficult time acknowledging that they need to rehabilitate themselves and give themselves time to heal.

There is definitely a stigma around mental health that just doesn’t exist around all other types of personal health; you can tell people with ease that you can’t go for a run because you have a hurt ankle, but you find it harder to say you couldn’t complete an assignment because you had an anxiety attack the night before. Physical therapy as well as regular therapy are both helping you help yourself get better, yet one is viewed as someone enduring through pain and the other is viewed as for crazy people. If you want to take part in a movement to help stop the stigma, sign the StigmaFree Pledge here.

Before we can fix this stigma, I think we need to a better job of teaching about mental health to kids so that they grow up with a better understanding of what having a good mental health means, and can help recognize signs of when others potentially need help.

Being able to identify the characteristics of good mental health is a great way to start. The Mental Health Foundation states the following on their official website:

“Good mental health is characterized by a person’s ability to fulfill a number of key functions and activities, including:

• The ability to learn
• The ability to feel, express and manage a range of positive and negative emotions
• The ability to form and maintain good relationships with others
• The ability to cope with and manage change and uncertainty

Your mental health doesn’t always stay the same. It can change as circumstances change and as you move through different stages of your life.”

It goes without saying that having a healthy body can lead to a healthy mind, and that by eating good foods and working out every once in a while you create positive endorphins (as I’ve talked before and all that jazz), but there are also steps you can take for mental health as well. You can begin to improve your mental health today by trying some of these “connecting” habits, which work on establishing better relationships with friends and family. Psychology Today’s author Nancy S. Buck Ph.D. lists the following as “connecting” habits to try:  Caring, Listening, Supporting, Encouraging, Respecting, Befriending, Trusting and Accepting. You should attempt to stop yourself if you find yourself constantly doing disconnecting habits:  Nagging, Withdrawing, Blaming, Punishing and Complaining.

I know they seem cheesy, but focusing on a goal can be really helpful for those struggling to make meaningful relationships with those around them. If these steps helping you connect with others don’t work for you, there are many other things you can try. College can be very lonely, and if you’re not a fan of yourself, it won’t be a fun time for you.

People are afraid to admit they need help, but I’m far more afraid of what will happen if they don’t go out and actively get the help they need. Your mind can get sick just like your body can, and it needs time to rehabilitate. At Penn State we are lucky to have many programs in place that are available, such as CAPS: Counseling and Psychological Services, but many people won’t use these services because they’re scared of what others will think.

If you need help and don’t have anyone to turn to, please consider therapy because it can be super beneficial to just talk to someone and have someone actively listen! Needing help is completely normal and getting help is brave.

Sources

Mental Health and Happiness: Start today practice a connecting habit and eliminate a disconnecting habit.

Mental Health: How can we help ourselves?

Extra Links:

10 Quick Easy Ways To Improve Your Mental Health

For many people, sleep is an escape from the real world. I know I adore my mid morning, afternoon, or late evening naps. They help me regenerate, and I am much more energized and focused after I take one.

Your body does a very good job at letting you know it needs rest, whether it be the drooping eyes, the unstoppable yawns, or maybe it’s the bags under your eyes. Hey, if you sleep more, you’ll be naturally prettier, which will probably enhance your happiness because who doesn’t want to be attractive?

Unfortunately for some, sleep doesn’t come so easy. If you are stressed, you tend to sleep less because things are constantly on your mind. “Too must stress, be it regarding financial concerns, health problems or relationships, makes it harder to sleep. A lack of sleep, however, only increases the amount of stress that you feel because your sleep-deprived body churns out more stress hormones” says Molly Edmunds, researcher in sleep and health. Because of this, there is a terrible cycle between stress and lack of sleep. There is also a clear connection between insomnia and depression.

Another issue with lack of sleep is that it can cause a dramatic change in behavior. Many people become extremely cranky and annoyed by the littlest things. This can cause problems with friendships, relationships and potentially jobs. All of these things have daily impacts on your personal happiness, and being cranky can definitely negatively affect each one of them. Forbes also has done some research on how sleep deprivation can “fry your brain”. Apparently, those who are sleep deprived cannot stop overthinking things, causing them to not answer questions correctly or to the best of their abilities. It has even been found that lack of sleep can begin to falter your attention, memory and other cognitive functions.

Sleep is one of the most important things to keep you healthy. When you’re sick, you need rest to get better. Not just your physical body benefits from sleep, but also your brain benefits because it needs breaks and time to relax and not think! Lack of sleep can lead to confusion, disorientation and feeling just absolutely miserable.

In a study, it was found that the average well-being score for people who reported getting 8 hours of sleep a night was 65.7 out of 100, compared with 64.2 for those who got 7 hours of sleep and 59.4 for those who got 6 hours of sleep. This shows that well-being is really affected by the amount of sleep you get, and the more you get, the better off you are!

At the end of the day, your health impacts happiness far more than anything else, and sleep is critical in your daily health.  “Making $60,000 more in annual income has less of an effect on your daily happiness than getting one extra hour of sleep a night,” says  Norbert Schwarz, Ph.D., a professor of psychology.  Someone tell that to Leslie Knope.

 I sign this post off sick and exhausted. Hope everyone gets a great night’s sleep tonight!!

Sources:

http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/depression-sleep-disorder

http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/31/brain-psychology-behavior-technology-breakthroughs-sleep-deprivation.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/sleep-challenge-2010-slee_b_436341.html

http://www.livescience.com/50005-happiness-well-being-poll.html

“A study in the American Journal of Epidemiology by researchers at the London School of Economics and Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands found that the secret to sustained happiness lies in participation in religion”

What this actually means is that the study found that people who practice religion also happen to be statistically less depressed.

Originally I was going to cite many more places where I’ve read about how being religious can lead to being happier in general, but my better judgement decided against it. I don’t want to make a long controversial post full of “facts” and “statistics”, but I will continue with what I would consider to be less controversial: my opinion on the “religion” and happiness.

I do not think it’s possible for us to determine whether or not being religious can lead to people being “happier.” I think this for a lot of reasons. How exactly can you judge how religious someone is? How often they go to church, or how often they pray? Or how many sins they’ve committed? Or if they incorporate the Ten Commandments into their daily lives?

There are far far too many potential gray areas, and this goes with “happiness” as well. Both are so subjective and have so many different levels, determining a correlation between the two seems nearly impossible to me.

However!

I do think that people who are more SPIRITUAL (note: not specifically RELIGIOUS) are more likely to be happier. People who consider themselves spiritual typically use this as a way to find meaning in their life and feel like they have a purpose. The main difference to me between someone who considers their self to be spiritual normally has chosen this way of life, rather than religion which is usually instilled since birth or felt forced. I am not generalizing, you can most definitely chose your religion or totally connect with it and all that jazz! Spirituality has more to do with a personal connection with the world around you as well as yourself, where as religion usually insinuates there being a specific service and deity that the religion revolves around.

Spirituality does not have to be organized. It can be a different form for everyone; whether it be practiced in a group or personally, something you are learning about through readings or simply teaching yourself through living and experiencing the world around you. Being spiritual does not mean that you aren’t religious, you can definitely be both spiritual and religious.

It has also been written about that when a person’s mental health is poor, some doctors suggest becoming more spiritual. By turning inward and focusing on yourself, encouraging spirituality can help some depressed patients become more self aware and recognize their place in the world. The doctors often suggest “deep reflection… meditation.. [and] prayer,” all of which are very spiritual practices, not deriving from one specific religion. They even consider “maintaining stable family relationships and friendships” as a part of becoming more spiritual, which I would say definitely can contribute to becoming a happier person, just by following that one simple guideline.

This is sort of a food for thought kind of post. I didn’t want to delve too deep because I’m trying to keep my posts more light and airy than heavy and serious. Thanks for reading, hope you have a great week!

Works Cited:

Click to access Healing%20From%20within.pdf

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/08/14/want-sustained-happiness-get-religion-study-suggests/

According to both PBS.org and Time.com, yes.

But not in the Tom Haverford kind of way. Things may “be forever,” but buying lots of things has not been scientifically proven to make a person happier.

Both organizations have agreed that having more money can lead to happiness if spent wisely. And by wisely, they actually mean on other people.

It’s simple really. John Grohol, author of PBS Article states, “Money can buy you happiness, as long as you give some of the money away, or use it for an experience rather than buying a product.”

I once went to a class on Happiness, and the professor told me nearly the same thing. We get more pleasure out of PLANNING the event rather than actually going to the event that may have cost a lot of money, specifically with vacations. Experiences definitely are more worth your money, in terms of happiness, than things. According to the Times article, 57% of respondents reported greater happiness from an experiential purchase where as only 34% said the same about a material purchase.

The following is a study taken from the PBS Article: “Finally, in a third study of 46 people, researchers discovered that participants who were directed to spend a small amount of money on others (either $5 or $20) reported greater feelings of happiness than those who were directed to spend the same amounts on themselves. Again, the dollar amount didn’t matter.”

This actually suggests that we have no choice but to feel happier when we are giving to others. This would explain why many people volunteer for no reason other than the fact that they love volunteering.

A Huffington Post titled “Here Is The Income Level At Which Money Won’t Make You Any Happier In Each State” acknowledges that once you hit a certain income level, the more bonuses you have afterward are meaningless in regards to your happiness. The article analyzes each state’s average income levels and determines the amount of income you need to be happy averages in our country at $75,000. This means that if you make over $75,000 (on average) the higher your income raises, your happiness will not be affected. I think it’s important to note here that while the article doesn’t mention this, if your income is BELOW this number it is more likely that you will be less likely because it would mean you are not making enough money to pay the average bills and have any money left over. If you do not have enough money to have anything left over or even to cover the bills, then obviously this will cause more stress on your life and most likely lead to unhappiness.

http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/blogs/can-money-really-buy-happiness

http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/blogs/can-money-really-buy-happiness

http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/blogs/can-money-really-buy-happiness

http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/blogs/can-money-really-buy-happiness

http://time.com/3545709/money-can-buy-happiness/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/17/map-happiness-benchmark_n_5592194.html

So, as I’m sure we all heard, Pope Francis hit up my home town Philadelphia this past weekend. All my friends and family back home wanted to talk about was how they had not a 3 day weekend, not a 4 or 5 day weekend, but… wait for it… a SIX DAY WEEKEND. That’s enough to make ANYONE happy.

Along many Pro-Pope Francis articles, I stumbled across this list of “The Pope’s 10 Tips for a Happier Life.”

1. “Live and let live.”

Most people claim that this parallels the Rome saying, “”Move forward and let others do the same.” I take this as a reminder to not get caught up in other people’s lives, and remember that what others chose to do is honestly not your business. Whether it’s jealousy or inserting yourself where you are not needed, live and let live totally applies and will help you focus more inward instead of outward.

2. “Be giving of yourself to others”

“… if you withdraw into yourself, you run the risk of becoming egocentric. And stagnant water becomes putrid.” I whole-heartedly agree that we are happier when giving ourselves to others. It’s very similar to the idea that giving is better than receiving. Extending this argument to emotions, it’s unhealthy to lock yourself away from people and never open up to anyone.

3. “Proceed calmly.”

Anxiety hits everyone eventually, some more hard than others. Finding a way to calm yourself and figure out your happy place is critical in living a “happy” life. I would say it’s more important to make sure you are feeling good and calm than being stressed and frantic over any assignment. It’s just one assignment; nothing is ever worth fretting too much.

4. “A healthy sense of leisure.”

Here, Pope Francis is referring to “the pleasures of art, literature, and playing together with children.” He claims that these pleasures have been lost. Following my previous Passion Post, I would have to agree. It’s super important to find forms of entertainment that are conducive for your mind and entertain you, such as reading or playing an instrument. These serve as an outlet and help you remember to be calm as well!

5. “Sundays should be holidays.”

Now obviously many who read this will disagree, but disregarding the underlying religious tones, I certainly like the concept of having one day as a family day, or a day to take the time and think about what you’re grateful for in your life! Remembering or acknowledging all of the positive things in your life or even in your past week have been proven to make people happier, because they’re highlighting what’s good in their life instead of focusing on the negatives. Taking one day each week to reminisce and potentially even FaceTime your family definitely wouldn’t be a bad thing.

6. “Find innovative ways to create dignified jobs for young people.”

In other words, inspire those younger than you, and instead of simply complimenting them on their brightness, become a mentor to them. Helping the next generation will both make you feel better, and also create a better world. Who wouldn’t be happy about that? I took this as a reminder to volunteer or do community service, at least every once in a while.

7. “Respect and take care of nature.”

Pope Francis talked a bit about how we are harming the earth each day, almost causing the Earth to “commit suicide.” I really enjoyed this quote from one of the pamphlets of a church he spoke at: “The air we breathe out is the air we will re-inhale. This is true spiritually, psychologically and ecologically. We can’t be whole and happy when mother earth is being stripped of her wholeness.” He’s pointing out us that what we give is what we get, and right now, we aren’t doing ourselves any favors by destroying the place we call home.

8. “Stop being negative.”

“Needing to talk badly about others indicates low self-esteem. That means, ‘I feel so low that instead of picking myself up I have to cut others down.’” This one is pretty obvious; hurting others does nothing for you or your happiness. If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t speak and potentially harm other’s happiness.

9. “Don’t proselytize; respect others’ beliefs.”

We can and should cherish our own beliefs, but they are ours and ours alone. We have no right to assert them onto others. This will not result in a friendship, but more likely someone who dislikes you or will avoid talking to you… that won’t make you very happy at all.

10. “Work for Peace”

“ Peace sometimes gives the impression of being quiet, but it is never quiet, peace is always proactive and dynamic.” Pope Francis ended his list with a classic wish: world peace. You can work on this in your personal life by incorporating many of the previous tips into your daily lives: stop being negative, don’t proselytize, and live and let live.

Sorry with the length again guys, but with the Pope being such a hot topic I couldn’t resist writing about his tips on how to be happier!

If you want, give me an idea on what you’d want to hear about and how it affects your everyday happiness! Right now my ideas for next week are money, amount of sleep, or “treating yourself” aka putting yourself first. Hope you enjoyed!

You can read where I got my information from, and other analyses of the Pope’s 10 Tips for Being Happier Below:

http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2014/in-latest-interview-pope-francis-reveals-top-10-secrets-to-happiness.cfm

http://thehigherlearning.com/2014/07/31/the-pope-just-released-a-list-of-10-tips-for-becoming-a-happier-person-and-they-are-spot-on/

Take your pick, or pick your poison?

Because social media is a fairly recent subject, I assumed there wouldn’t be much research done on its possible effects on happiness. Boy was I wrong.

All the different types of social media share an essential common goal: to connect people. No one wants to be “disconnected” or in other words, left out because they “didn’t see that Twitter war.” People naturally fear being alone; we can’t stand the idea of being lonely. We have made it so that you almost cannot participate in a conversation without knowing about what happened on the latest TV show or the most recent Vine trend. This constant need to keep up with social media happenings can cause anxiety for many people because there’s just too much to keep up with, and lead someone to be left out of discussions.

I’m sure everyone reading this has a preferred method of social media, or claims to not prefer any at all. Don’t act high and mighty, some of us truly cannot escape our addiction – that’s right, it is possible to become addicted to social media. When people begin to login and check social medias many times a day due to boredom or wanting a distraction, they form habits that become nearly impossible to break. Along with this, they begin to think they need to be informed, again because of our fear of being left out or alone. Because of the variety of forms of social media, most people feel like their words are private and mean something if they post it in their preferred platform. The positive feedback from other people through the form of “likes” or comments tends to lead to addictive qualities, because we all crave approval. There is even a scale that researchers have made to indicate whether or not you are truly addicted, called the Berge Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS).

In my humble (and potentially totally incorrect) opinion, teenagers convince themselves that it’s normal to have check all of their social medias, and have whichever one is popular. For a while last year at my school, Ask.fm was CRAZY popular. Everyone decided they need to make their own account, despite the fact that the vast majority of the questions people received were not even questions, but just hateful comments directed towards them. Jimmy Kimmel even has a segment where celebrities have to read cruel Tweets directed towards them out loud, to show that this form of online bullying happens to literally everyone.

This, along with many other reasons, is why I believe social media affects people’s happiness, but in a negative way. People can become upset when other’s “unfollow” or “unfriend” them, blocking them from seeing parts of their life that they are willingly sharing with the rest of your friends or classmates. This can make people feel unworthy or inferior, leading to a negative self esteem.

Along with this, it’s easy to forget that people’s online personas are not who they are in real life. They’re exactly that: online personas. We can be whoever we want to be online. Now, I’m not promoting you go and catfish anyone. I’m suggesting that people tend to only post and want people to see things when they are happy, therefore their online page or profile will mainly consist of them doing or saying things that they are proud of or make their life seem grand. We will almost never sit down and willingly share with the world something like

If anything, I think people who are unhappy tend to spend a lot of their time online. People like to think of it the same way as music; it gives you an outlet, an escape. While venting on a private blog or getting out your frustration by watching some funny vines is great, most teens are not doing those things. Instead, they are spending their social media time obsessing over the façade of other’s online lives or avoiding their physical, very real life. While it is an “escape” in a sense, social media tends to be used in the wrong way, making the escape very temporary.

I’m sure we’ve all heard from either our parents or other adults that if we put our phone down and actually looked at the world around us, our lives would be so much different. I heavily encourage you to go one lunch conversation, one study session, one dinner date or one night out with your friends without looking at the updates on your phone. While you may feel disconnected, by the end of the time you will probably feel closer to the person you shared the experience with, because it’s so rare for our generation to do something without feeling the need to document it by either texting others or taking photos of it. I’m sure this all sounds pretentious, but I promise you my best family car rides and most fun dinner dates with my friends are those where we agreed to put our phones aside and on silent, and simply enjoy each other’s company.

Thanks for reading! Sorry this was so long this week. I’ll keep it brief next time.

Research (The TIME Article is really good!!)

TIME: This Is Your Brain on Facebook

Medical News Today: Social media: how does it affect our mental health and well-being?

New York Times: Does Technology Affect Happiness?

Edge: Social Networks and Happiness

Exercise equals endorphins. Endorphins equal happiness!

“Happiness lies, first of all, in health.” -George William Curtis

Today I’m going to talk about the importance of physical health and the role exercising plays in contributing to your happiness as a whole. Your physical health definitely affects your mental health, positively of course, and its effects are more significant than many want to believe. It’s easy to say that TV, lounging around, and eating junk food all “make you happy”, but when it comes down to the science… That just isn’t true.

When your body crosses over from an aerobic state to an anaerobic state, it’s suddenly operating without enough oxygen to satisfy the muscles and cells screaming out for it. This is when the “runner’s high” occurs. I know what you’re all thinking: Ang no! I don’t run. I will never run. Running is disgusting.

Chill, fam, I agree.

There are about a million different ways you can “exercise” without even really realizing you’re working out. Dancing, walking around PSU, biking, swimming, rock climbing, hiking, parkour…

Personally, I don’t love running. I’m super slow, definitely a preacher of the “No matter how slow you’re going, you’re still lapping everyone on the couch” saying, even if it’s just to boost my self esteem for my ten minute mile pace. I became more active freshman year of high school upon joining my school’s volleyball team, and have gotten progressively more into personal fitness each year since. I bought a gym membership here at PSU and I’ve got to say these classes are the brightest part of my day! I highly encourage all of you to get up and try “Power Remix”: a forty five minute class that is mainly dancing but incorporates moves like squats and jumping jacks to remind you that you’re really working your body — not that you’d forget when you wake up the next morning unable to trek the hill from South campus to the Business Building.

If you’re #TeamiPhone, you’ll find a little app with a pink heart (that you are unable to delete so I’m sure you all have it!) that is labeled “Health”. This app can track everything, if you let it, but the most important thing (to me) to track is your steps. Though you may be dying for a Fitbit, there are alternative (free!) ways to track your steps each day! The health app tracks your steps without you doing anything at all, and you can see a chart of your levels of activity for the past week / month / year. I can almost without a doubt promise you that your steps will have SKYROCKETED in August upon arriving to PSU, at least mine definitely have.

Exercise not only leads to physical health but it also makes most people feel proud if done consistently, and generally have a more positive self image. Achieving personal fitness goals as well as improving the way we see ourselves because we know we are working on our appearance as well as our health. I may continue this topic next week because it’s so wonderful. Love yourself love your body be happy! Try something new this week!

PS IF YOU JOIN APOLLO WE ARE HIKING MOUNT NITTANY SUNDAY! FUN so you should join!

Links to Research:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/exercise-happiness2.htm

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33154510

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/09/17/25-ways-to-exercise-without-realizing-it/

The word music is very vague, and honestly gives each person a different thought under the umbrella term of “music.” It might make you think of concerts, or physically playing an instrument, singing, or just your favorite radio station. Music takes many different shapes and form that each requires different levels of action from the person involved. Simply listening to your favorite song requires little to no real concentration on your part.

Over the past four years, I’ve played piano as a personal hobby, been a part of All City Choir (which is a selective group of high school singers from schools all around Philadelphia), and sang in an acapella group. All three of these activities have brought me very different senses of joy. There is a real difference in feeling from when you are creating music from an instrument and when you are solely listening to music, but both evoke good feelings.

There are even significant differences between listening to music on your iPod and being at a concert. In one case, you are alone and not playing an active part in your music, yet most people I’ve asked would say this is what they think of when they are asked if they “like music.” Many people I’ve talked to say that their preferred way of “experiencing” music, they say just listening to their favorite song or playlist. Scientists have found that after just fifteen minutes of listening to music, listeners begin to release dopamine, an endorphin that helps cause happiness.[1] This begins to help us understand why even the effortless act of listening to a special song can evoke chills, tears, or the sudden urge to move your feet!

As I mentioned before, there are various ways a person participates in music. The act of making and creating music stimulates the brain. Time even mentioned it in a recent article:

“When you sing, musical vibrations move through you, altering your physical and emotional landscape. Group singing, for those who have done it, is the most exhilarating and transformative of all. It takes something incredibly intimate, a sound that begins inside you, shares it with a roomful of people and it comes back as something even more thrilling: harmony.”[2]

I can say from personal experiences within both my sixteen people acapella group and being a part of a two hundred person All City Choir that harmonizing is one of the most magical feelings in the world. I hope to join an acapella group here on campus at some point within the next year. Recently, I joined Music Therapy Club, and am really very excited to begin to go on trips where I can watch the effects of music therapy in real life as opposed to just reading about it while doing research. Researchers have even suggested that doctors begin to look at music therapy as a form of medicine for those battling ailments like depression or conditions like ADHD. If it involves the brain, I’m a strong believer that music cannot possibly hurt progress in curing diseases.

Music therapy and music as a way of helping people to become happier is very special to me because I am hoping to either start for or work for a business that uses music to sooth either elderly patients or help develop better learning skills for children with ADD or ADHD. I think that music helps people find a voice who can’t always find the right words and opens doors in the mind that would have had a hard time being opened otherwise. Music helps make connections for kids with math, reading, verbal skills and everyday social skills. Music has always played a special role in my life and I think we as a people just haven’t done enough research regarding it to find out all of its potential.

[1] http://news.discovery.com/human/psychology/music-dopamine-happiness-brain-110110.htm

[2] http://ideas.time.com/2013/08/16/singing-changes-your-brain/

There are a plethora of ways to go about thinking about happiness. Many believe that people consciously decide to be happy or to be unhappy. While I do believe that a person’s decisions and attitude play a significant factor in their general happiness, I don’t believe it’s that simple. Anything that deals with the human brain has to be more complex than that! Feelings and emotions are complicated and difficult to self interpret, so while others may view you as “happy,” you may not view yourself as happy.

Great question Charlie! As with all of my questions, I will take this to google:

“the state of being happy”… hm. That’s not very helpful. Happiness is very subjective, and everyone has their own opinions on how people can become more happy. Psychologists define it in different ways, but in general it’s seen as having more positive moments than negative ones. Most researchers of positive psychology can also agree that genetics play a big part of how happy we are, yet there are also some that would disagree! With the science to prove either side, how will we ever know for sure what will make us happy, or if we can even control the extent of our happiness? I hope to delve further into both sides of this argument in the weeks to come. 🙂

As a high school senior, I did a statistics project attempting to study what makes a teenager consider themselves “happy.” I wanted to know what people who consider themselves to be happy do in their daily lives that could influence them into seeing themselves as happy. I will probably cite back to this project often, because I now have my own personal, but very limited, data on teenager’s activities corresponding to how happy they viewed themselves. 

I have also become increasingly interested in how mental health plays a very under appreciated role in everyone’s lives, especially teenagers. I hope to develop a better understanding of the way mental health can be improved with the average person and how it can help people view themselves as happier. In my opinion, beginning to work on one’s mental health is the first step in achieving happiness.

Over the next few weeks I expect to consider various different aspects of people’s lives, and how it impacts happiness. There are many theories on what is key to making someone “happy.” Some argue relationships make everyone happy because of our desperate need to have companionship, others argue that you cannot truly be happy with someone else until you are happy alone. There are millions of theories on whether or not activities such as playing music, reading, singing, dancing, or playing sports can make you a happier person. The problem is that science can actually prove and disprove many of these theories. Some theorists say you can never truly achieve happiness, that it is forever a destination never reached. Is it as simple as repeating an activity that brings you joy over and over? Or is it like the concept of “tomorrow”: something you can only strive for and never actually reach.

I hope to discuss all of this further in the next ten weeks through my Passion Posts 2-10! I am not at all a science girl, but I truly think each person’s happiness is super important and we don’t spend enough time working on ourselves. See you next week!

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite happiness quotes: