(Photo by Erce on Shutterstock)
BRISTOL, United Kingdom — Can happiness be obtained — by learning about it in school? The University of Bristol’s Science of Happiness course, which launched in 2018, is helping answer that question. Not your typical college class, the innovative course features absolutely no tests or work. Instead it focuses on teaching students what the latest peer-reviewed studies in psychology and neuroscience suggest really makes people happy. Now, the research team behind that class has released a new study reporting it really is possible to learn how to be happy.
Of course, there is a catch. Happiness is far from a “one and done” endeavor. Long-term joy in life requires ongoing practice and dedication.
Thanks to their course, researchers had already established that teaching students about the latest scientific studies focusing on happiness results in a notable improvement in well-being. During this latest project, they took things a step further. Their work shows that increases in well-being among enrolled students are ultimately short-lived — unless individuals keep up with the evidence-informed habits taught during the course (gratitude, exercise, meditation, or journaling) over the long haul.
“It’s like going to the gym – we can’t expect to do one class and be fit forever. Just as with physical health, we have to continuously work on our mental health, otherwise the improvements are temporary,” explains senior study author Professor Bruce Hood.
Happiness Education Works
Students who took the happiness course reported a 10 to 15 percent improvement in well-being. However, only those who continued implementing what they learned during the course reported sustained improved well-being upon being surveyed again two years later.
This project is the first ever to track the well-being of students who had enrolled in a happiness course long after the class ended.
“This study shows that just doing a course – be that at the gym, a meditation retreat or on an evidence-based happiness course like ours – is just the start: you must commit to using what you learn on a regular basis,” Prof. Hood says in a media release. “Much of what we teach revolves around positive psychology interventions that divert your attention away from yourself, by helping others, being with friends, gratitude or meditating. “This is the opposite of the current ‘selfcare’ doctrine, but countless studies have shown that getting out of our own heads helps gets us away from negative ruminations which can be the basis of so many mental health problems.”
Prof Hood recently condensed the Science of Happiness course into a new book, released earlier this month. ‘The Science of Happiness: Seven Lessons for Living Well’ details an evidence-informed roadmap to better wellbeing.
Meanwhile, here are a few more surprising tidbits from the Science of Happiness course:
- Talking to strangers makes us happier, despite most people shying away or even dreading such encounters.
- Social media is not bad for everyone all the time, but it can be bad for those who focus on their reputation.
- Loneliness impacts our health by impairing the immune system.
- Optimism increases life expectancy.
- Giving gifts to others activates the reward centers in our brain – in many cases providing more happiness than spending money on oneself.
- Sleep deprivation impacts how well others like us.
- Walking in nature deactivates part of the brain related to negative rumination, associated with depression.
- Kindness and happiness show a correlation.
The study is published in Higher Education.
