It’s no longer enough to whistle in the jungle to feel good. Happiness, this coveted and yet elusive state, is the subject of serious studies and, against all expectations, science affirms that it can be learned. A British study has shaken up our certainties: happiness is neither a gift nor a chance, but the fruit of daily training.
These are the researchers at the University of Bristol who say this, the very people behind the program Science of Happinesslaunched in 2018. Their observation is simple: our well-being is worked like a muscle. And if there is good news in this tense world, it is that everyone can access it, provided they play the game, day after day.
How Science Define Happiness as Regular Effort
Before even discussing the advice, researchers want to remember one essential thing: happiness does not come suddenly, nor from a miracle application. “It’s like going to the gym: you can’t expect one class to be enough to get in shape“, insists Professor Bruce Hood, lead author of the study and the book The Science of Happiness: Seven Lessons for Living Well.
The program delivered in Bristol and evaluated in the journal
Higher Education followed hundreds of students. Result ? An increase in their well-being of 10 to 15%, but only among those who continued to apply the lessons once the program ended. Others saw the benefits disappear.
Among the pillars highlighted: regularity, repetition, and sincere involvement in positive psychology practices. But also a distancing from the obsession with the self to better turn towards others.
These concrete habits that make you happier, according to research
Far from ready-made phrases or Pinterest quotes, the British study specifies the precise actions to integrate into daily life:
- Maintain strong social ties, including with strangers;
- Give a gift (even a modest one) rather than buying it yourself;
- Practice gratitude, written or spoken;
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Meditate regularly, without performance pressure;
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Get enough sleep, because lack of sleep fuels unhappiness;
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Take a walk in nature to deactivate negative thoughts.
These interventions may seem simple, even trivial, but their effectiveness relies on their repetition and sincerity. And they have one thing in common: they divert attention from oneself, to place it elsewhere, on others, on the living, on the moment.
Why helping others is one of the most powerful keys
“Kindness makes you happy“, insists Bruce Hood on his X account. He goes even further by pointing out the cult of self-care taken to the extreme, which can paradoxically isolate. “Why are the streets full of tattoo parlors and botox clinics? This level of vanity fuels negative social comparisons“.
Countering this logic, research shows that an altruistic act, such as helping a stranger or doing a favor for a friend, activates the brain’s reward circuits, sometimes more effectively than selfish pleasure.
In other words, happiness is not hidden in what we consume, but in what we share. A truth that many are rediscovering in a hyperconnected, but often dehumanized, world.