6 Weird Things That Make You Happy
Unexpected ways to boost
your bliss
By
Sari
Harrar
C'mon, get happy already!
There's the "duh" prescription
for feeling good: Exercise more, hug someone, pet your Labrador retriever.
Boring! Better: Positivity researchers are now turning up unexpected happiness
triggers that can turn your frown upside down. Here are six fun ways that we
love:
Published December 2012, Prevention
1. Tearjerker movies
Put Titanic and Atonement on
your feel-good flick list. Sure, a tragic romance makes you cry in the theater,
but after the credits roll, you'll remember what's good about your own main
squeeze—thereby boosting happiness, Ohio State University researchers report.
The sadder the plot, the happier you feel later, they say.
2. Getting older
Brain scans show that at any age, our
little gray cells do a happy dance whenever we notice something good, whether
it's a double-chocolate brownie, a cute baby, or a random act of kindness.
Additionally, as we age, our neurons react less intensely to the negative
things we see and hear. The result: Positivity prevails. Maybe that's why, in a
recent national survey, 42% of those over age 50 said they felt optimistic
about life's next chapters, and 60% thought they looked at least five years
younger than their driver's licenses said they were.
3. A fake smile
"Grin and bear it" isn't such
dumb advice after all. Faking a genuine smile—the kind that crinkles the
corners of your eyes—eased stress and boosted moods in a University of Kansas
study. Researchers used chopsticks placed in the mouths of the volunteers to
create a broad smile, a standard smile, or a neutral face (that was to hide the
reason for the study). Some were also asked to smile. Then all were subjected
to stressful lab tests such as plunging their hands into ice water. Smilers,
even the ones who faked it, had lower heart rates afterward, a sign that they weren't
stressed out.
4. Thursdays
After we survive Blue Monday, Terrible
Tuesday, and Woeful Wednesday, the 4th day of the workweek delivers a little
happiness bounce. So say London School of Economics researchers who tracked the
moods of 45,000 people via a smart-phone app called Mappiness. Thursday is the
new Friday.
5. Doing less for your kids
Back off, Tiger Mama (and you too, Tiger
Grandma). Women who practice "intense mothering"—believing that moms
should always sacrifice their own needs, continually provide stimulating
activities, and derive most of their happiness from their kids—tend to be more
depressed than women who think that "good enough" parenting is, well,
good enough. If you can't lighten up for yourself, do it for the kids. Maternal
depression can interfere with the emotional bond between mother and child and
can lead to increased risk of depression, anxiety, and cognitive, self-esteem,
and school problems in children.
6. Reading a newspaper
If you're among the 19 million Americans
who have canceled their daily paper, it's time to resubscribe or read the
online edition of your local Daily Planet. Perusing a broadsheet instead
of gawking at the TV emerged as a key difference between most-and least-happy
folks in a University of Maryland study that analyzed how more than 30,000
people spend their free time.
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