首頁資訊 Happiness: Definition, Health Benefits, and How to Be Happier

Happiness: Definition, Health Benefits, and How to Be Happier

來源：泰然健康網(wǎng) 時間：2025年07月15日 11:33

Many books, blogs, articles, and motivational speakers have attempted to answer this question. The list of things you could do to boost your happiness and well-being is long, and the specifics are in large part determined by your individual preferences and goals. But here are some do's and don’ts supported by both experts and newer research.

1. Prioritize Relationships and Experiences, Not Stuff

Recent research (PDF) suggests that “psychological richness” may be a major component of well-being. “We define psychological richness as a life full of interesting and perspective-changing experiences,” says Shigehiro Oishi, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago and coauthor of that research.

“Novel activities, games, sports, and arts help us deal with boredom inherent in life,” he adds.

New experiences also foster curiosity, which research shows is a major contributor to well-being. Likewise, a lot of research has linked strong social relationships to improved happiness and well-being.

“Close relationships and warm connections with other people are one of the biggest elements of happiness,” Stern says. “If work or personal achievement or improvement are the only things in your life, you may be missing a big piece of what makes us humans happy or content.”

She says that when most people recall their happiest moments, most of those memories are centered around social connections and relationships, not solitary pursuits.

2. Cultivate Gratitude

According to a review published in 2021, there’s strong evidence linking feelings of gratitude to higher levels of happiness and well-being. Studies have also found that cultivating gratitude can actually boost happiness.

“Gratitude is our best weapon — an ally to counter these internal and external threats that rob us of sustainable joy,” says Robert Emmons, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of California in Davis.

He says that making an effort to tell the people in your life that you’re grateful for them — and why — is one way to cultivate gratitude. Another is taking time each day to think about the things you are grateful for.

Some of Dr. Emmons' work has found that keeping a daily journal in which you write what you’re grateful for can also lead to greater levels of positivity (Stern was a coauthor).

3. Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness comes up so often these days that it almost feels like a cliche. But research continues to find that practicing mindfulness really can improve well-being. “Mindfulness-based practices have broadly been found to have several benefits including, but not limited to, reducing stress, anxiety, and depression, as well as enhancing attentional focus, working memory capacity, cognitive flexibility, positive mood, resilience, immune functioning, interpersonal relationships, and well-being,” per the authors of a study published in 2020 in Frontiers in Psychology. Their work found that just three minutes of daily practice may be enough to improve measures of well-being.

Another important point: For these changes to work, your heart has to be in it. “There are no shoulds with emotions,” Stern says. “It’s all about if you want to.”

She has helped develop an app called Mood Meter that encourages users to regularly note how they’re feeling by marking their emotion on a color-coded axis. “If you are using the app regularly, you will start to notice patterns,” she says. “That information is useful and, for many, surprising.” It may help you identify times or activities that sour your mood, as well as those that tend to make you happier.

Happiness is a wonderful thing. We all deserve plenty of it in our lives. But there’s a lot more to it than feeling positive emotions like joy or elation.

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