Happiness fact 50: Keys to a happier, healthier life (a Hardward study)

Research suggests that certain personal attributes—whether inborn or shaped by positive life circumstances—help some people avoid or healthfully manage diseases such as heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, and depression. These include:

* Emotional vitality: a sense of enthusiasm, hopefulness, engagement

* Optimism: the perspective that good things will happen, and that one’s actions account for the good things that occur in life

* Supportive networks of family and friends

* Being good at “self-regulation” i.e. bouncing back from stressful challenges and knowing that things will eventually look up again; choosing healthy behaviors such as physical activity and eating well; and avoiding risky behaviors such as unsafe sex, drinking alcohol to excess, and regular overeating...

Let's think about these four life happiness boosters as we look ahead into a new year.

Source: Sara Rimer, Madeline Drexler, Harvard School of Public Health, https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/magazine/happiness-stress-heart-disease/
 
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Happiness fact 49: happiness = think daily of 3 things you are grateful for

Think of three things you are grateful for before you go to sleep, everyday, for 21 days. A study revealed that participants were significantly more optimistic, and further, the change wasn't temporary -- the positive mindset lasted even six months later. An added effect: Increasing your optimism can improve your productive energy by 31 percent!

Source: Shawn Achor Shawn, Author, "The Happiness Advantage", USA (2012)

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Happiness fact 48: emotional well-being rises by 15% on weekends

Happiness spikes on the weekend and drops when the work week begins. Call it ‘weekend bliss’ or the ‘Monday blues,'” said Cristobal Young, an assistant professor in sociology who co-authored the study with Chaeyoon Lim from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Emotional well-being rises by about 15% on weekends, the study shows. This reflects both more positive emotions like happiness and enjoyment, and fewer negative emotions like stress, anger and sadness. The findings are based on a study of 500,000 Americans in the Gallup Daily Poll and eight years of data from the American Time Use Survey.

Source: Cristobal Young, and Gallup Study (2014)

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Happiness fact 47: 66% of respondents said they’d prefer a 4-day workweek

In recent research led by LearnVest, a full two-thirds of respondents said they’d prefer a four-day workweek. Spending less time at work means having more time to devote to the activities and passions that really make you happy. You can hang out more with your family and friends, participate in your hobbies, get more exercise and good sleep.

Source: The American Dream, 2.0 How Americans Define Success and Making It in the U.S. Today learnvest.com, 2.000 participants

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Happiness fact 46: 86% of employees prefer to work alone to hit maximum productivity

Harris Interactive HPOL conducted a nation-wide survey on behalf of Ask.com. They interviewed and canvassed more than 2,060 professionals ages 18 and up between March 26 and March 28 2014, to unearth the preferences and habits of U.S. office workers when it comes to an optimally productive environment.

They found that 86% of respondents prefer to work alone to hit maximum productivity. This suggests that while group-oriented workplace perks like football and bean bag lounges that have become popular tools for unlocking creativity and boosting morale, don’t always drive efficiency.

Source: Harris Interactive HPOL (2014)

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Happiness fact 45: teens 'flow' 44% of the time when involved in sports, games

"Flow" is a state of intense concentration and productivity when time flies. Also known as "the zone" or "the groove", flow is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.

U.S. teenagers experience flow about 13 percent of the time that they spend watching television, 34 percent of the time they do hobbies, and 44 percent of the time they are involved in sports and games.
Source: Finding Flow,' by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, US (1997)

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Happiness fact 44: work flexibility is the biggest perk ahead of cash & benefits

20% of Workers 
A recent EY external study of more than 1,200 American cross-company professionals found that nearly one in five workers rank flexibility as the most important workplace perk, ahead of cash and benefits such as health care and retirement. Workplace flexibility drives employee satisfaction and create a more productive environment.

Source: Ernst & Young (2014)

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