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Five tricks to make yourself happier in less than an hour, according to science

Picture Rex
Picture Rex

There are a lot of well-known (and fairly predictable) ways to make yourself happier over the long term: sleep more, drink less booze, eat more fruit and veg.

But what about when you need a quicker boost?

Several studies offer ideas for things which you can do near-instantly – and which have been proven to make people happier.

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Don’t despair if you don’t feel ecstatic instantly, of course – and if you find yourself feeling unhappy over the longer term, talk to a medical professional.

Take a selfie

Pouting selfies might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but taking them – and sending them to friends – actually makes people happier, according to new research.

Researchers asked student volunteers to take selfies every day – and contrasted them with groups who took pictures of objects they believed would make others happy.

The group who took the selfies were happier, the researchers say.

‘Our research showed that practicing exercises that can promote happiness via smartphone picture taking and sharing can lead to increased positive feelings for those who engage in it,’ said lead author Yu Chen of the University of California, Irvine.

Go outdoors (ideally in the sun)

A study in the United Arab Emirates linked going outdoors in the sun (easy if you live in the United Arab Emirates) with improved mood.

Researchers believe that Vitamin D might be the key.

Dr. Fatme Al Anouti of Zayed University said ‘This is just a pilot study and we need larger sample size but we found that behavioral change is associated with mood change and vitamin D status.

‘So participants who adopted a more outdoor lifestyle got better in terms of mood and vitamin D status.’

Write down all the things you are grateful for

Picture Rex
Picture Rex

Some researchers believe that the emotion of gratitude is key to happiness – and writing down things you are thankful for in a ‘gratitude journal’ helps to focus this.

Robert A Emmons of the University of California, Davis says, ‘In an experimental comparison, those who kept gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercised more regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms, felt better about their lives as a whole, and were more optimistic about the upcoming week compared to those who recorded hassles or neutral life event.’

Stop looking at Facebook

Looking at Facebook – in particular when you sit browsing Facebook posts and looking at other people’s profiles, rather than posting yourself – can you make you miserable.

This is how most people use the site, University of Michigan researchers warn.

‘Facebook undermines how people feel,’ lead researcher Ethan Kross said.

Do something impulsive

Making decisions – even big ones – at random can have long-term benefits in terms of your happiness.

In fact, leaving life’s ‘big’ decisions up to the toss of a coin might not be such a bad idea, argues Freakonomics author Steven D Levitt.

Levitt’s study – shared as an unfinished ‘working paper – let thousands of volunteers flip a coin to decide on questions such as whether to leave a job, or whether to leave a significant other.

The volunteers weren’t forced to follow the coin’s ‘decision’ – but up to 63% did – and Levitt found that those who did were happier.

Levitt says, ‘Those who were instructed by the coin toss to make a change were both more likely to make the change…and, on average, report greater happiness on the follow-up surveys.’

In fact, making a change – as opposed to sticking with the status quo – made people, ‘substantially happier than those who do not make a change,’ Levitt said.