How to Trick Your Brain to Produce Energy Naturally

When you do something that you greatly enjoy, hormones flow throughout your body. Hormones are released that affect your heart, your brain and your nervous system. Glucose stored in your body is released into your blood and flows to your muscles. Oxygen increases in your body and you have more energy. You can be lying on the couch so tired you can hardly move and suddenly this person calls on the cell phone and you talk to them for 6 hours. Laughing, with abundant energy, it’s like you could build a house with this sudden burst of energy. So the trick here is how we tap into this if we don't have someone lighting us up like a Christmas tree. EditSteps 1Spend time with friends that you enjoy. Your best friends from college can stir energy. It does not have to be a sexual interest, just someone you enjoy spending time with. Become happy, this brings high energy to your body. 2Find things that light your fire. Dance classes, art classes any thing that gets you excited about life. 3Change your life and actions. Keep it new and not boring. This keeps the excitement up. For instance, if you are an art student plan an exciting trip to Paris to study the masters. You may never go but keep the dream alive with pictures of what you will do when you go. 4Tell yourself good things. Such as when my ship comes in and I have money I will build my dream house. Plan it all in your head, the rooms, the colors, and where the furniture will go. 5 Motivate others by listening to their dreams. Help them keep their dreams alive. If you have a friend that says one day I will sail across the world, ask him about each city. 6Look for things to invent or improve. Determine how to make a better cookie or how to make a better dog leash. These activities help to keep us interested and alive with energy. It is like a puzzle that motivates our brain. 7Be a social person. An attachment to other people seems to produce this energy. Keep a group of friends that stimulates your brain and those who do not bore you. 8Reward yourself, why wait for others to make you happy. Take yourself out to eat, buy yourself flowers if you want them. Trick your brain and tell yourself, after I do my work I will take myself out for an ice cream cone. To sum this up when you are depressed you do not want to move but like everything else in life, the answer is always, the opposite. You have to have job experience to get a job, you have to have money to borrow some, you have to be a successful agent to sell, and so do what you must do. Fake it until you make it. Tell yourself what you want to hear and dare to dream big.

How to Stay Awake at Work

Whether you partied all night, stayed up with a newborn, or lost sleep while finishing up a project, now you're at work and you're having a difficult time staying awake. You promise yourself that you'll get more sleep, if you can just make it through the day without being discovered by your boss with your eyes closed. Falling asleep on the job can risk your employment, and may signal a larger problem with your sleep habits. EditPart 1 of 3: Quick Tips For Staying Alert

1Listen to music. Perk yourself up by listening to music. Music triggers emotional responses in humans, helping us engage many parts of the brain. Listen to music that's energizing to you. If possible, dance or sing along, even if you just bob your head or hum. Music that's irritating or jarring may keep you awake better than music that's familiar. Just do your co-workers a favor and remember to use headphones! Listen quietly instead of loudly. It's a common misconception that blasting music loud will help keep you awake. Actually, turning the music down to a very low level is more effective. It forces you to try to listen closely in order to hear the instruments, lyrics, and percussion. If you're having difficulty discerning the lyrics, then the volume is just right, because this means your mind's working. 2Get interested! Getting interested can work as a distraction. If you are interested in something, your brain is focusing.You can get interested in your work or something that is happening in your surroundings. 3Expose yourself to bright light. Preferably, natural daylight. Your body's internal clock (its circadian rhythms) are regulated by your exposure to sunlight. This means you can trick your body into believing it should be awake even when it feels tired. Step outside, even just for a bit. If you can step outside (even on a cloudy day) or look out the window for a full minute, you'll be more alert. Work the artificial lights. Even if you're in an environment where there's artificial light, brighter is better. Wherever you work, see if you can replace the light fixture or add a lamp that will brighten your workspace.

4Chew ice. If you chew ice, it's almost impossible to fall asleep. The chilling temperature keeps the brain on its toes, even while you are driving late at night, exhausted, and what you really want to do is fall asleep. Chewing anything, even if it's just your pen or pencil, causes your body to think you are about to eat. Your body will prepare for food intake by releasing insulin, which will make you more alert. 5Splash cold water on your face. If it's a little cold, take off your sweater or jacket so you stay on the chilly side. Open a window or put on a small fan, pointed at your face. The reason your body responds the way it does to cold is that it's prepping itself to work to keep you warm. Your body needs to regulate your internal temperature to keep all of its organs functioning. So if it detects ice or extreme cold, it will work to keep itself awake longer. 6Use your sense of smell. A pungent scent — good or bad — can make you more alert very quickly. Aromatherapists often recommend essential oils of the following plants to stimulate the nervous system and reduce fatigue. Open the bottle and take a big whiff of the following when you're feeling drowsy: Rosemary. Eucalyptus blue gum. Peppermint. Coffee. Beans or brewed, both work: a study has shown that simply smelling coffee can awaken a person.[1] Of course, not all of us have essential oils stored in our file cabinets. Using hand lotions or burning candles with these same scents could help. Herbs like rosemary and peppermint can often be found fresh or dried at a grocery store; for a little pick-me-up, take a pinch and roll it between your fingertips and smell it. 7Eat healthy. Eating can help you stay awake, as long as you avoid a full stomach. As most of us know, eating to excess often makes us sleepy, so don't eat a full pizza or that 12 oz. steak during lunch. Munch on snacks all day rather than having a big meal. The key is to not get a spike of sugar intake (followed by the inevitable crash). Predictably, the same goes for caffeine: break your coffee, soda, or energy drink consumption down into small doses. Avoid breakfast that are high in carbs (muffins, toast, pastries, bagels, etc.). You're giving your body a reason to crash at about 11 AM because it gets a sugar spike early on. Put a small handful of sunflower seeds in your cheek and crack them open one at a time, using only your teeth and tongue; this will require just enough active thought and tongue movement to prevent you from dozing off, and the salt of the sunflower seeds is invigorating and stimulating; spit out the sunflower husks into a paper cup as you go, as quietly as possible so as to not disturb others around you. EditPart 2 of 3: Exercising To Stay Awake

1Try stretching. Stretching and twisting your body can help improve blood circulation, which helps keep you awake. Rolling your head/neck for about 20 seconds can help as well. 2Use acupressure. Massaging any of the following points will improve circulation and ease fatigue[2]: The top of your head. Lightly tap it with your fingertip or use a scalp massager. The back of your neck. Back of your hands. Right between the thumb and index finger is best. Just below the knees. Earlobes. 3Exercise in the office. Just because you're sitting down doesn't mean you can't use your muscles. So exercise at your computer, or get up every once in a while and stimulate some blood flow to keep you alert. Try simple exercises like jumping jacks, push-ups, crunches, and squats. Don't push yourself like you do in the gym; instead, just exercise enough to get your blood flowing and keep your coworkers from noticing your strange behavior! Stay on your feet as much as possible. If you're sitting most of the time, get yourself up every 20-30 minutes. If you need any motivation to stand more of the time, consider this: people who stay seated for less than three hours a day add almost two years to their life expectancy.[3] If you have to sit down, get the most uncomfortable chair you can find. Try not to sit in anything that will make you sore if you stay there. Make sure the back is upright, forcing you to sit up very straight. Don't allow your head to rest on anything — your hands, the desk, the wall. 4Take a short walk. Some people take a short walk to re-energize themselves. It's generally thought to be a good distraction, especially if you're sitting in front of a computer screen all day long. Any paperwork that may be pending which you have to carry to your colleagues or a manager (like signing a cheque or documents), keep aside. When you feel sleepy, take it to the person for actioning. Upon returning to your desk, you'll feel more awake again and you'll have been active. Studies show that taking short breaks from work actually helps your productivity.[4] So if you're worried about missing that deadline, don't stress! Walking breaks will help you. (You can let your boss know.) EditPart 3 of 3: Other Strategies

1Take a power nap. If you have the time, sleeping for just 15-20 minutes can increase your alertness by leaps and bounds if you have a cup of coffee (or any other form of caffeine) right before you fall asleep. The caffeine will take about 20 minutes to begin working, so you shouldn't have any trouble falling asleep right away, and you'll wake up refreshed. Sleeping just 20 minutes helps activate the right hemisphere of the brain[5], which is responsible for processing and storing acquired information. 2Have a regular bedtime and a healthy diet. Brains benefit greatly from schedules. If you go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even the weekends, your brain know when it's time to sleep and fall into a pattern. Getting proper nutrition will also ensure that your body has the proper energy throughout the day without having to resort to naps for extra strength. How much should you sleep to ensure that you're properly rested? Adults need anywhere from 7-9 hours of sleep per night.[6] If you are pregnant or older, you may need even more sleep, anywhere from 10-11 hours. Some recommend[7] going to sleep with your curtains halfway open. The early morning sunlight will send signals to your body to slow production of melatonin and start production of adrenaline, making it easier to wake up. 3Focus your mental powers. It sounds hard, but don't let your mind go into the "fuzzy stage." When your mind starts to go blank, think about something, whether it's a joke, a movie, or anything else to keep your mind working. Even thinking about something that makes you mad can be extremely helpful. Unless they're drinking, you typically don't see an angry person abruptly fall asleep. EditTips Stay hydrated. Being dehydrated can make you sleepy or dizzy and drinking cold water can help wake you up. Distract yourself, instead of focusing on how tired you are, intensify your focus on your work or focus on something entirely different. Realize that you may not be as tired as you think you are. Often times you'll find that throughout the day, you are fantasizing about going to sleep as soon as you get home. Does this actually happen? For many of us, when we're off work and enjoying the rest of the day we are always wide awake even without sleep. Notice this psychological contribution that your mind is making. Run cold water on your wrists. Go to bed early. More time asleep in bed equals less chances of falling asleep at work. Take a nap before driving anywhere if you are sleepy or tired. Go to the bathroom and splash a bit of water on your face. Don't drink too many caffeinated drinks. They will only give you a small burst of awareness, but after a few hours it will wear off. You will be left feeling ten times more tired. You can drink cold water or take a cold shower. What you can do to stay awake is you can eat a little of sugar or salt Show 1 more tip + Plan your day what to do when to do it and you'll be okay plan extra naps EditWarnings No matter how awake you think you are, if you're feeling sleepy while driving, pull over and take a 20 minute nap. Limit caffeine intake to 300 mg or less a day (about 4-8 cups of tea) to avoid counterproductive side effects. Some people may be allergic to essential oils and the smells they produce. Be considerate to your coworkers and make sure they are OK with you having smells emanating from your cubicle/office. Have always 8 hours a sleep during the night. The best time to sleep is from 10pm to 6am. Many of the things that you do to stay awake also interfere with concentrating. What you'll really need, ultimately, is good sleep in order to perform optimally.

Câteva lucruri mai puţin ştiute despre japonezi

Câteva lucruri mai puţin ştiute despre japonezi Vă prezentăm câteva aspecte mai puţin ştiute, ale unui popor care se remarcă printr-o cultură foarte diferită de cea vestică. 1. Ştiaţi că în Japonia copiii fac curat în şcoli în fiecare zi, timp de un sfert de oră, alături de profesori, ceea ce a condus la apariţia unei generaţii caracterizată de modestie şi pasionată de curăţenie? Igiena şi dorinţa lor de a menţine curăţenia, reprezintă o parte a eticii japoneze. 2. Ştiaţi că un angajat japonez din domeniul igienei este numit "inginer de sănătate" şi poate avea un salariu cuprins între 5.000 şi 8.000 de dolari pe lună, iar un om de serviciu este supus unor teste scrise şi orale? 3. Ştiaţi că Japonia nu are resurse naturale şi este expusă la mii de cutremure pe an, dar toate acestea nu au împiedicat-o să devină una dintre cele mai dezvoltate ţări din lume? 4. Ştiaţi că, în doar 10 ani, oraşul Hiroshima a revenit la ceea ce a fost, din punct de vedere economic, înainte de căderea bombei atomice? 5. Ştiaţi că rata de alfabetizare a Japoniei se apropie de 100%? 6. Ştiaţi că în Japonia, elevii de la clasa întâi până la clasa a şasea trebuie să înveţe etica în relaţiile cu ceilalţi oameni? 7. Ştiaţi că japonezii, deşi sunt unii dintre cei mai bogaţi oameni din lume, nu au servitori? Părinţii sunt responsabili pentru casă şi copii. 8. Ştiaţi că nu există nicio examinare de la clasa întâi până la clasa a treia, pentru că, în opinia japonezilor, scopul educaţiei este de a insufla concepte şi formarea caracterului, nu doar de examinare şi îndoctrinare. 9. Ştiaţi că, dacă te duci la un restaurant de tip bufet suedez în Japonia, veţi observa că oamenii mănâncă doar cât au nevoie, fără a lăsa resturi în urma? Ei nu risipesc mâncarea. 10. Ştiaţi că durata de întârziere a trenurilor din Japonia este de câteva secunde pe an? Ei apreciază valoarea timpului şi sunt foarte punctuali. 11. Ştiaţi că elevi au la dispoziţie o jumătate de oră pentru a servi masa, astfel încât să li se asigure o digestie corectă. Când cei responsabili au fost întrebaţi despre această problemă, au răspuns: aceşti elevi sunt viitorul Japoniei. 12. Ştiaţi că în Japonia sunt peste 50.000 de oameni care au peste 100 de ani? 13. Ştiaţi că în Japonia au loc aproximativ 2 crime comise cu arme de foc pe an? 14. Ştiaţi că în Japonia este acceptabil să adormi la serviciu pentru că se consideră că somnul este determinat de munca grea? 15. Ştiaţi că trenurile sunt atât de aglomerate încât a fost angajat personal care se ocupă cu împingerea pasagerilor în interiorul acestora?

10 Simple Things You Can Do Today That Will Make You Happier, Backed By Science

Happiness is so interesting, because we all have different ideas about what it is and how to get it. It’s also no surprise that it’s the Nr.1 value for Buffer’s culture, if you see our slidedeck about it. So naturally we are obsessed with it. I would love to be happier, as I’m sure most people would, so I thought it would be interesting to find some ways to become a happier person that are actually backed up by science. Here are ten of the best ones I found.

1. Exercise more – 7 minutes might be enough You might have seen some talk recently about the scientific 7 minute workout mentioned in The New York Times. So if you thought exercise was something you didn’t have time for, maybe you can fit it in after all. Exercise has such a profound effect on our happiness and well-being that it’s actually been proven to be an effective strategy for overcoming depression. In a study cited in Shawn Achor’s book, The Happiness Advantage, three groups of patients treated their depression with either medication, exercise, or a combination of the two. The results of this study really surprised me. Although all three groups experienced similar improvements in their happiness levels to begin with, the follow up assessments proved to be radically different: The groups were then tested six months later to assess their relapse rate. Of those who had taken the medication alone, 38 percent had slipped back into depression. Those in the combination group were doing only slightly better, with a 31 percent relapse rate. The biggest shock, though, came from the exercise group: Their relapse rate was only 9 percent! You don’t have to be depressed to gain benefit from exercise, though. It can help you to relax, increase your brain power and even improve your body image, even if you don’t lose any weight. A study in the Journal of Health Psychology found that people who exercised felt better about their bodies, even when they saw no physical changes: Body weight, shape and body image were assessed in 16 males and 18 females before and after both 6 × 40 mins exercise and 6 × 40 mins reading. Over both conditions, body weight and shape did not change. Various aspects of body image, however, improved after exercise compared to before. We’ve explored exercise in depth before, and looked at what it does to our brains, such as releasing proteins and endorphins that make us feel happier, as you can see in the image below. make yourself happier - exercise

2. Sleep more – you’ll be less sensitive to negative emotions We know that sleep helps our bodies to recover from the day and repair themselves, and that it helps us focus and be more productive. It turns out, it’s also important for our happiness. In NutureShock, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman explain how sleep affects our positivity: Negative stimuli get processed by the amygdala; positive or neutral memories gets processed by the hippocampus. Sleep deprivation hits the hippocampus harder than the amygdala. The result is that sleep-deprived people fail to recall pleasant memories, yet recall gloomy memories just fine. In one experiment by Walker, sleep-deprived college students tried to memorize a list of words. They could remember 81% of the words with a negative connotation, like “cancer.” But they could remember only 31% of the words with a positive or neutral connotation, like “sunshine” or “basket.” The BPS Research Digest explores another study that proves sleep affects our sensitivity to negative emotions. Using a facial recognition task over the course of a day, the researchers studied how sensitive participants were to positive and negative emotions. Those who worked through the afternoon without taking a nap became more sensitive late in the day to negative emotions like fear and anger. Using a face recognition task, here we demonstrate an amplified reactivity to anger and fear emotions across the day, without sleep. However, an intervening nap blocked and even reversed this negative emotional reactivity to anger and fear while conversely enhancing ratings of positive (happy) expressions. Of course, how well (and how long) you sleep will probably affect how you feel when you wake up, which can make a difference to your whole day. Especially this graph showing how your brain activity decreases is a great insight about how important enough sleep is for productivity and happiness: make yourself happier

Another study tested how employees’ moods when they started work in the morning affected their work day. Researchers found that employees’ moods when they clocked in tended to affect how they felt the rest of the day. Early mood was linked to their perceptions of customers and to how they reacted to customers’ moods. And most importantly to managers, employee mood had a clear impact on performance, including both how much work employees did and how well they did it. Sleep is another topic we’ve looked into before, exploring how much sleep we really need to be productive. 3. Move closer to work – a short commute is worth more than a big house Our commute to the office can have a surprisingly powerful impact on our happiness. The fact that we tend to do this twice a day, five days a week, makes it unsurprising that its effect would build up over time and make us less and less happy. According to The Art of Manliness, having a long commute is something we often fail to realize will affect us so dramatically: … while many voluntary conditions don’t affect our happiness in the long term because we acclimate to them, people never get accustomed to their daily slog to work because sometimes the traffic is awful and sometimes it’s not. Or as Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert put it, “Driving in traffic is a different kind of hell every day.” We tend to try to compensate for this by having a bigger house or a better job, but these compensations just don’t work: Two Swiss economists who studied the effect of commuting on happiness found that such factors could not make up for the misery created by a long commute. 4. Spend time with friends and family – don’t regret it on your deathbed Staying in touch with friends and family is one of the top five regrets of the dying. If you want more evidence that it’s beneficial for you, I’ve found some research that proves it can make you happier right now. Social time is highly valuable when it comes to improving our happiness, even for introverts. Several studies have found that time spent with friends and family makes a big difference to how happy we feel, generally. I love the way Harvard happiness expert Daniel Gilbert explains it: We are happy when we have family, we are happy when we have friends and almost all the other things we think make us happy are actually just ways of getting more family and friends. George Vaillant is the director of a 72-year study of the lives of 268 men. In an interview in the March 2008 newsletter to the Grant Study subjects, Vaillant was asked, “What have you learned from the Grant Study men?” Vaillant’s response: “That the only thing that really matters in life are your relationships to other people.” He shared insights of the study with Joshua Wolf Shenk at The Atlantic on how the men’s social connections made a difference to their overall happiness: The men’s relationships at age 47, he found, predicted late-life adjustment better than any other variable, except defenses. Good sibling relationships seem especially powerful: 93 percent of the men who were thriving at age 65 had been close to a brother or sister when younger. In fact, a study published in the Journal of Socio-Economics states than your relationships are worth more than $100,000: Using the British Household Panel Survey, I find that an increase in the level of social involvements is worth up to an extra £85,000 a year in terms of life satisfaction. Actual changes in income, on the other hand, buy very little happiness. I think that last line is especially fascinating: Actual changes in income, on the other hand, buy very little happiness. So we could increase our annual income by hundreds of thousands of dollars and still not be as happy as if we increased the strength of our social relationships. The Terman study, which is covered in The Longevity Project, found that relationships and how we help others were important factors in living long, happy lives: We figured that if a Terman participant sincerely felt that he or she had friends and relatives to count on when having a hard time then that person would be healthier. Those who felt very loved and cared for, we predicted, would live the longest. Surprise: our prediction was wrong… Beyond social network size, the clearest benefit of social relationships came from helping others. Those who helped their friends and neighbors, advising and caring for others, tended to live to old age. 5. Go outside – happiness is maximized at 13.9°C In The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor recommends spending time in the fresh air to improve your happiness: Making time to go outside on a nice day also delivers a huge advantage; one study found that spending 20 minutes outside in good weather not only boosted positive mood, but broadened thinking and improved working memory… This is pretty good news for those of us who are worried about fitting new habits into our already-busy schedules. Twenty minutes is a short enough time to spend outside that you could fit it into your commute or even your lunch break. A UK study from the University of Sussex also found that being outdoors made people happier: Being outdoors, near the sea, on a warm, sunny weekend afternoon is the perfect spot for most. In fact, participants were found to be substantially happier outdoors in all natural environments than they were in urban environments. The American Meteorological Society published research in 2011 that found current temperature has a bigger effect on our happiness than variables like wind speed and humidity, or even the average temperature over the course of a day. It also found that happiness is maximized at 13.9°C, so keep an eye on the weather forecast before heading outside for your 20 minutes of fresh air. The connection between productivity and temperature is another topic we’ve talked about more here. It’s fascinating what a small change in temperature can do. 6. Help others – 100 hours a year is the magical number One of the most counterintuitive pieces of advice I found is that to make yourself feel happier, you should help others. In fact, 100 hours per year (or two hours per week) is the optimal time we should dedicate to helping others in order to enrich our lives. If we go back to Shawn Achor’s book again, he says this about helping others: …when researchers interviewed more than 150 people about their recent purchases, they found that money spent on activities—such as concerts and group dinners out—brought far more pleasure than material purchases like shoes, televisions, or expensive watches. Spending money on other people, called “prosocial spending,” also boosts happiness. The Journal of Happiness Studies published a study that explored this very topic: Participants recalled a previous purchase made for either themselves or someone else and then reported their happiness. Afterward, participants chose whether to spend a monetary windfall on themselves or someone else. Participants assigned to recall a purchase made for someone else reported feeling significantly happier immediately after this recollection; most importantly, the happier participants felt, the more likely they were to choose to spend a windfall on someone else in the near future. So spending money on other people makes us happier than buying stuff for ourselves. What about spending our time on other people? A study of volunteering in Germany explored how volunteers were affected when their opportunities to help others were taken away: Shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall but before the German reunion, the first wave of data of the GSOEP was collected in East Germany. Volunteering was still widespread. Due to the shock of the reunion, a large portion of the infrastructure of volunteering (e.g. sports clubs associated with firms) collapsed and people randomly lost their opportunities for volunteering. Based on a comparison of the change in subjective well-being of these people and of people from the control group who had no change in their volunteer status, the hypothesis is supported that volunteering is rewarding in terms of higher life satisfaction. In his book Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being, University of Pennsylvania professor Martin Seligman explains that helping others can improve our own lives: …we scientists have found that doing a kindness produces the single most reliable momentary increase in well-being of any exercise we have tested. 7. Practice smiling – it can alleviate pain Smiling itself can make us feel better, but it’s more effective when we back it up with positive thoughts, according to this study: A new study led by a Michigan State University business scholar suggests customer-service workers who fake smile throughout the day worsen their mood and withdraw from work, affecting productivity. But workers who smile as a result of cultivating positive thoughts – such as a tropical vacation or a child’s recital – improve their mood and withdraw less. Of course it’s important to practice “real smiles” where you use your eye sockets. It’s very easy to spot the difference: make yourself happier smiling

According to PsyBlog, smiling can improve our attention and help us perform better on cognitive tasks: Smiling makes us feel good which also increases our attentional flexibility and our ability to think holistically. When this idea was tested by Johnson et al. (2010), the results showed that participants who smiled performed better on attentional tasks which required seeing the whole forest rather than just the trees. A smile is also a good way to alleviate some of the pain we feel in troubling circumstances: Smiling is one way to reduce the distress caused by an upsetting situation. Psychologists call this the facial feedback hypothesis. Even forcing a smile when we don’t feel like it is enough to lift our mood slightly (this is one example of embodied cognition). One of our previous posts goes into even more detail about the science of smiling. 8. Plan a trip – but don’t take one As opposed to actually taking a holiday, it seems that planning a vacation or just a break from work can improve our happiness. A study published in the journal, Applied Research in Quality of Life showed that the highest spike in happiness came during the planning stage of a vacation as employees enjoyed the sense of anticipation: 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. Shawn Achor has some info for us on this point, as well: One study found that people who just thought about watching their favorite movie actually raised their endorphin levels by 27 percent. If you can’t take the time for a vacation right now, or even a night out with friends, put something on the calendar—even if it’s a month or a year down the road. Then whenever you need a boost of happiness, remind yourself about it. 9. Meditate – rewire your brain for happiness Meditation is often touted as an important habit for improving focus, clarity and attention span, as well as helping to keep you calm. It turns out it’s also useful for improving your happiness: In one study, a research team from Massachusetts General Hospital looked at the brain scans of 16 people before and after they participated in an eight-week course in mindfulness meditation. The study, published in the January issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, concluded that after completing the course, parts of the participants’ brains associated with compassion and self-awareness grew, and parts associated with stress shrank. Meditation literally clears your mind and calms you down, it’s been often proven to be the single most effective way to live a happier life. I believe that this graphic explains it the best:

calming-mind-brain-waves make yourself happier According to Shawn Achor, meditation can actually make you happier long-term: Studies show that in the minutes right after meditating, we experience feelings of calm and contentment, as well as heightened awareness and empathy. And, research even shows that regular meditation can permanently rewire the brain to raise levels of happiness. The fact that we can actually alter our brain structure through mediation is most surprising to me and somewhat reassuring that however we feel and think today isn’t permanent. We’ve explored the topic of meditation and it’s effects on the brain in-depth before. It’s definitely mind-blowing what this can do to us. 10. Practice gratitude – increase both happiness and life satisfaction This is a seemingly simple strategy, but I’ve personally found it to make a huge difference to my outlook. There are lots of ways to practice gratitude, from keeping a journal of things you’re grateful for, sharing three good things that happen each day with a friend or your partner, and going out of your way to show gratitude when others help you. In an experiment where some participants took note of things they were grateful for each day, their moods were improved just from this simple practice: The gratitude-outlook groups exhibited heightened well-being across several, though not all, of the outcome measures across the 3 studies, relative to the comparison groups. The effect on positive affect appeared to be the most robust finding. Results suggest that a conscious focus on blessings may have emotional and interpersonal benefits. The Journal of Happiness studies published a study that used letters of gratitude to test how being grateful can affect our levels of happiness: Participants included 219 men and women who wrote three letters of gratitude over a 3 week period. Results indicated that writing letters of gratitude increased participants’ happiness and life satisfaction, while decreasing depressive symptoms. For further reading, check out 7 Simple productivity tips you can apply today, backed by science, which goes even deeper into what we can do to be more grateful. Quick last fact: Getting older will make yourself happier As a final point, it’s interesting to note that as we get older, particularly past middle age, we tend to grow happier naturally. There’s still some debate over why this happens, but scientists have got a few ideas: Researchers, including the authors, have found that older people shown pictures of faces or situations tend to focus on and remember the happier ones more and the negative ones less. Other studies have discovered that as people age, they seek out situations that will lift their moods — for instance, pruning social circles of friends or acquaintances who might bring them down. Still other work finds that older adults learn to let go of loss and disappointment over unachieved goals, and hew their goals toward greater wellbeing. So if you thought being old would make you miserable, rest assured that it’s likely you’ll develop a more positive outlook than you probably have now.