Paying close attention to health is for living happily. Recently, research results have been published showing ways to learn how to become happier.

According to a study published in the academic journal "Higher Education," people who learn how to become happier during class and continue practicing it afterward experience a 10-15% improvement in well-being. Researchers from the University of Bristol in the UK analyzed 228 college students who took a course on how to become happier during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic years. In this course, students are first taught eight lessons they need to know to achieve happiness.

 

8 Lessons for Happiness... Optimistic Thinking, Spending Time in Nature, and More

 

△대부분의 사람들은 낯선 사람과의 만남을 피하거나 심지어 두려워하는데 낯선 사람과 대화하는 것은 우리를 더 행복하게 만든다. △소셜 미디어는 항상 모든 사람에게 나쁜 것은 아니지만 자신의 평판에 집중하는 사람들에게는 나쁠 수 있다. △외로움은 면역체계를 손상시켜 건강에 영향을 미친다. △낙관주의는 기대수명을 증가시킨다. △다른 사람에게 선물을 주는 것은 우리 뇌의 보상 센터를 활성화한다. 많은 경우 자신을 위해 돈을 쓰는 것보다 더 많은 행복을 제공한다. △수면 부족은 다른 사람들이 우리를 얼마나 좋아하는지에 영향을 미친다. △자연 속에서 걷는 것은 우울증과 관련된 부정적인 반추와 관련된 뇌의 일부를 비활성화시킨다. △친절과 행복은 상관관계를 보여준다.

Practicing kind actions, talking to strangers, eating delicious food, and writing gratitude journals.

 

Therefore, this class emphasizes eight ways to achieve happiness: △Kind actions △Increasing social connections (starting conversations with strangers) △Enjoyable experiences △Deliberate focus on positive aspects (e.g., writing down three good things that happened today) △Expressing gratitude (e.g., writing thank-you letters to people who were not properly thanked) △Getting enough sleep △Engaging in physical activity △Practicing mindfulness and other meditation exercises.

113 people said that they continued to practice and maintain the happiness methods learned in class up to two years after completing the course. Among them, more than one-third (37%) wrote thank-you letters to others and compiled a list of things they were grateful for. Tips that students continued to follow included mindfulness and meditation (34%), exercise (21%), journaling (18%), and kindness (11%).

The well-being of students who consistently maintain methods to stay happy after the course improved by 10-15%. In particular, only those who continued to apply the methods learned in class maintained their improved well-being for up to two years.

Professor Bruce Hood, a professor of developmental social psychology and co-researcher, said, "It's like going to the gym. You can't become permanently healthy by just taking one class," and added, "Just like physical health, mental health also needs continuous management. Otherwise, improvements will be temporary."