How to make yourself happier in just a few seconds

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2746912/

by bumbledraven • 16 years ago

75 41 16 years ago

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

jrockway4• 16 years ago

Personally, I just go for something containing sugar and caffeine.

pavs4• 16 years ago

I completely gave up caffeine two weeks ago, I have never felt better. I was one of those guys who relied on coffee everyday, a day without coffee was unimaginable. But it also used to make me cranky, lazy (when the caffeine wore off), screw up my sleep pattern; high anxiety and sometimes depressed.

I figured if I could stop drinking coffee and try to find alternatives of the benefits of coffee (alertness), I could get rid of the disadvantages. The first few days were tough, I had intense headaches without coffee. But after I fixed my sleep pattern, started doing more workouts and replaced coffee with mint (decafienated) tea in the morning to help me wake up. I felt more alert and overall my mood has been better. I can say that I am happier because I stopped drinking coffee. :)

YMMV.

bugs2• 16 years ago

I'm curious to how you got into the using coffee for energy (especially in the early mornings) it seems that this has become the norm in peoples lives: waking up to two or three cups of coffee and then drinking even more at work.

I like coffee enough to have it regularly once a week on Saturday mornings but the rest of my caffeine consumption is sitting down to a cup of tea at around 5 o'clock which seems to make me happy more than energizing me. But the headaches because you did not have your coffee seem rather scary that it had gotten to that point.

deltaqueue2• 16 years ago

Coffee is not bad for you, as long as it is consumed in moderation. I have one cup a day, usually mid-morning, and experience no adverse symptoms. Granted, consuming any caffeine after 3-4PM can disrupt your sleep cycle (even if you easily fall asleep, it can cause you not to sleep well), but there is nothing harmful about 1-3 cups a day in the AM. There are several studies indicating coffee is even a preventative for a few diseases (diabetes and heart disease, among others), and it is a well-known fact coffee contains high levels of antioxidants.

radu_floricica• 16 years ago

Timing and quantity matter. I get the best results (better then no caffeine at all) with a cup of black tea at my lowest point of the day, which for me is around mid-afternoon.

corruption• 16 years ago

Think about what would happen if you didn't have the sugar and caffeine for an extra boost :)

ardit33• 16 years ago

I thought this article would be about hookers and blow... nevermind.

Basically: When imagining about a happy event it is better to imagine what would have been if you didn't have something you have right now (eg. gf/bf, school education, good job, food on the table, nice pad), rather then thinking about "what if x" happened, where x is something that you wish it happens to you; like winning the lottery, getting a gf., a job, whatever.

So, I guess this study plays on two things: 1. You have to have something nice in your life that you cherish about. 2. The "loss aversion" feelings in humans, makes you think it would really suck if you lost it, and you are happy to have that thing (as it puts a larger value to something you already have).

Works for some people I guess. If your life really sucks, then you could say "well, it could get worse, look at those kids in haiti. I should be happy for what I have, and hey, my life doesn't suck that much in comparison. "

_delirium• 16 years ago

If I'm reading it correctly, it looks like it also makes a difference how you approach the things you do have. They found that thinking about what it'd be like if you'd never met your significant other, for example, made you more happy than reminiscing about how you did meet him/her.

bad_user• 16 years ago

> If your life really sucks, then you could say "well, it could get worse, look at those kids in haiti. I should be happy for what I have, and hey, my life doesn't suck that much in comparison. "

You're saying it like that's a bad thing ... I know people that have everything they ever wanted, and are still unhappy (including my parents).

dylanz• 16 years ago

I thought this article was going to make me happy within a few seconds of clicking this link. It didn't :)

greenlblue• 16 years ago

That's because you didn't think about how much worse your life would have been if you hadn't clicked the link.

teej• 16 years ago

Just think about how your life would have been if you hadn't read that link!

klipt• 16 years ago

10 minutes longer!

Devilboy• 16 years ago

Try this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bmhjf0rKe8

sangaya• 16 years ago

By applying the concepts of the main article to this video I can certainly say that the thought of my day without having seen this video makes me much happier than simply recalling that I have seen it. Thanks!

awa• 16 years ago

Actual headline: It’s a Wonderful Life: Mentally Subtracting Positive Events Improves People’s Affective States, Contrary to Their Affective Forecasts

mortenjorck• 16 years ago

The study results certainly seem to point to the neurological reasons for the success of Frank Capra's classic referenced in the headline.

natrius• 16 years ago

The original headline was a bit opaque. Rewriting journal article titles to read more like newspaper article titles sounds like a good practice to me.

ams6110• 16 years ago

What's weird is that you can think back and realize how random almost everything in your life is. For example, if I had gotten the job I applied for at Arby's when I was 16, in 1982, I would very likely never have met my wife, though I didn't meet her until I was 21.

JacobAldridge• 16 years ago

My entire career came about because the Australian Government banned Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. It was finally released in 2000 - I was a journalism student at the time, and the university cinema was playing it. In the time between my final class and the film beginning, I was killing time in the student union building.

They had a jobs board in the building, and I read one asking for a 'casual sales administrator' ('saturday girl') in a real estate office. Figuring real estate was a practical life skill to learn through a part time uni job, I noted the details and applied.

Being brilliant, I got the job, fell in love with the property industry and on graduation decide to pursue it rather than journalism. That led to a few promotions, and directly into the field of training business owners in the real estate industry, which then led me to my current career (business coaching).

If it weren't for the ban and subsequent delayed release, I might be a working journalist! And to think I've been railing against the Australian government's draconian view of censorship.

Edit: Feeling happier already.

arethuza• 16 years ago

Perhaps we are in a multiverse and in many other universes you did get that job and you didn't meet her.

dschobel• 16 years ago

I see that Daniel Gilbert is one of the authors of this study, author of http://www.amazon.com/Stumbling-Happiness-Daniel-Gilbert/dp/... .

If you have yet to read it and have any interest in the psychology of happiness (and I can't imagine a sentient human who wouldn't have such an interest), do so post-haste.

known• 16 years ago

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.-- Leo Tolstoy

grumpyfart• 16 years ago

Simply put: Happy Thanksgiving

DLWormwood• 16 years ago

Obligatory TL;DR - "Count your blessings."

Really, the article conclusion seems that simple. (Though I'm not one to talk; I'm the brooding type.)

InclinedPlane• 16 years ago

The article's conclusion is not that simple. It compares a simple "count your blessings" approach to a "think about not having your blessings" approach. Their research shows the latter method works much better than the former.

imd• 16 years ago

Imagine there's no Youtube.

sophacles• 16 years ago

Oh god! it burns! I'd have to work! =P

speek• 16 years ago

This seems close to Solution Focused Brief Therapy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_focused_brief_therapy). It's interesting though.

Estragon• 16 years ago

I'm sitting here eating my oatmeal and honey, thinking "Imagine a world without oatmeal and honey!" Seems to be working.

How to make yourself happier in just a few seconds

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