"Why not try these science-backed tips to get more happiness in your life?
So, here are our top tips for a happier 2025.
Enthusiastically supporting a friend's good news – and asking questions about it – is a basis of being a good friend. Respond too passively – or actively underplay your friend's success – and you run the risk of damaging the relationship.
It's almost a cliché to say that doing something for someone else makes you feel better than rewarding yourself, but the more learned about altruism, the more it seems to ring true.
There is another way the past could help you in the present. Research suggests that engaging with our ancestry can have profound psychological benefits. Family stories about overcoming adversity, for example, can be empowering when passed down to new generation.
It can also give you an affirming sense of perspective and gratitude – knowing your life today has been made possible by the struggles and fortitude of your predecessors on behalf of those who come after them.
Counting your blessings is an age-old piece of advice, but it underpins a simple but well-evidenced intervention. It turns out that writing a list of three good things that have happened to us can help to boost our mood. Whether that is a life-changing event like passing an important exam or having a baby, or something seemingly inconsequential, like bumping into an old friend, or enjoying some beautiful early evening light while out for a walk – there is a growing body of research that suggests it can improve our wellbeing.
There's nothing quite like a scenic drive – the wind in your hair, some tunes on the stereo, the freedom of the open road ahead. Well, now rats can enjoy a slice of this vehicular heaven, after researchers at the University of Richmond, Virginia, taught their furry, wriggly-nosed subjects to drive small Perspex automobiles in the laboratory.
This led to a whole new avenue of research. Could the expectation of fun be as rewarding as the activity itself? In another experiment, the scientists trained some rats to wait for rewards – while others were given them immediately. Later, they assessed the rats for optimism and found that those who had been trained to wait for rewards were more optimistic.
The researchers speculated that this could work for humans too – by routinely anticipating pleasurable activities or events we could reprogram our brains to be more optimistic.
If you have made it this far down the list, this one might come as something of a surprise. But research suggests that worrying too much about being happy can actually be a block to feeling it.
You might have experienced this yourself during a big event or party you have been looking forward to that doesn't quite live up to those expectations.
During the cold, dark winter days, a cup of coffee might give your brain and body a much-needed boost. Consuming caffeine can make us feel alert as it is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream where it outcompetes adenosine, a chemical that makes us feel tired.
by Melissa Hogenboom
Often we only look for interventions once we are already feeling stressed or burnt out – or if anxiety hits it can feel overwhelming to seek an intervention, but it's clear that there are ways to help prevent ourselves getting to that state in the first place. Whilst mindfulness is not for me every day, having it in my toolkit is certainly reassuring should I ever need it.
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