Happiness fact 28: anticipating vacation boosts happiness for 8 weeks

Researchers from the Netherlands set out to measure the effect that vacations have on overall happiness and how long it lasts. They studied happiness levels among 1,530 Dutch adults, 974 of whom took a vacation during the 32-week study period.

The study, published in the journal Applied Research in Quality of Life, showed that the largest boost in happiness comes from the simple act of planning a vacation. In the study, the effect of vacation anticipation boosted happiness for eight weeks.

After the vacation, happiness quickly dropped back to baseline levels for most people. How much stress or relaxation a traveler experienced on the trip appeared to influence post-vacation happiness. There was no post-trip happiness benefit for travelers who said the vacation was "neutral" or stressful."

Source: Jeroen Nawijn, Miquelle A. Marchand, Ruut Veenhoven, Ad J. Vingerhoets, Applied Research in Quality of Life, Netherlands (2010)

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Happiness fact 27: 2 main reasons kis are happy: family and friends

Part of the reason kids' happiness is so strong is because they fare well on two major drivers of happiness: family and friends.
Most kids feel very close to their family (99% agree; 82% strongly agree) and have very good friends (98% agree; 65% strongly agree).

Source: THE GLOBAL KIDS HAPPINESS INDEX (2013)

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Happiness fact 26: 0.7: the correlation between happiness and social connection

Studies from Harvard show that there is actually a correlation between happiness and social connection of 0.7, which is significantly higher than the correlation between smoking and cancer. Social connection can be as predictive of your longevity as high blood pressure, obesity and smoking.

Source: Harvard Study, Shawn Achor Shawn AchorAuthor, "The Happiness Advantage" (2012)

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