The Science Behind the Smile

‘How are you?’is maybe the world’s most common greeting question and we all ask it as a way to see how happy or unhappy the other person is.

The nature of human happiness has gained traction in the last few decades with psychologists, economists and neuroscientists now interested in studying emotions, specifically happiness. Even many countries are now looking at measuring the ‘happiness index’ of their population.

Measuring happiness, which is a highly subjective emotion, is akin to getting your eye tested through the various lenses for your correct eye prescription number.

Measuring something as subjective as happiness can still provide usable results through the process of asking a critical mass of people so that any subjective inaccuracies cancel themselves out.

• People are always pushing towards finding happiness in whatever circumstances that are thrust upon them.
• Happiness and unhappiness both promote creativity, though of a different quality.
• Employees who have challenging but not impossible goals appear to be happy and productive, with high engagement levels and a sense of purpose.
• Contented employees which are too much into their comfort zones aren’t as creative as those who are a bit uncomfortable and have healthy levels of stress.

• People in good romantic relationships are happier than loners.
• Healthy people are happier than those who are sick.
• Religious people are happier than atheists.
• Rich people are happier than the poor.
• A new house, a new car, or even a new spouse only provides temporary happiness.
• People are extremely poor in predicting what will make them happy or unhappy.
• Many events like winning or losing a contest, exam, or promotion have the opposite impact on the individual.
• Most good or bad experiences subside within three months or less.
• Most people are resilient and have a natural tendency to bounce back after a setback.

• Social beings with a great network are exponentially happier than lonely people.
• The intensity of one’s positive experience is not as important as their frequency.
• Small things of joy, like wearing comfortable shoes, giving a lovely kiss to your wife, sneakingly eating something desirable contributes to our overall happiness.

Simple behaviours like meditating, sleeping well, helping others, practicing minimalism, journaling and being grateful for what you have, can increase our happiness significantly.