Excess stress causes higher levels of cortisol – the stress hormone – which can lead to a number of health conditions. Multiple studies have found that individuals who are happier have consistently lower cortisol levels in their blood (Smyth et al, 1998, Davydov et al, 2005, Steptoe et al 2008). 3. A Stronger Immune System Alden, L. E., & Trew, J. L. (2013). If it makes you happy: Engaging in kind acts increases positive affect in socially anxious individuals. Emotion, 13(1), 64–75. Davydov, D. M., Shapiro, D., Goldstein, I. B., & Chicz-DeMet, A. (2005). Moods in everyday situations: effects of menstrual cycle, work, and stress hormones. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15992570 One reason that prosocial behavior could be more robustly associated with meaning is the effort and costliness implicit within many prosocial acts. Performing prosocial behaviors to benefit others usually involves some level of sacrifice for the actor, be it of time, money, effort, or other resources. This element of cost may be experienced as hedonically-negative, given that happiness is generally associated with being the recipient of resources (Baumeister et al., 2013) or good deeds (Hofmann et al., 2014). Costliness and effort, however, may contribute more to perception of meaning (Dakin et al., 2021; Olivola & Shafir, 2013). Therefore, the implicit element of cost within prosocial behaviors may partially explain why prosocial acts are more linked with the experience of meaning compared to happiness. However, we cannot infer from the present data that prosocial acts share a significantly stronger relationship with meaning compared to happiness, or that costliness of prosocial acts is the mechanism that determines the differing relationships. 10.1 Limitations and Future Directions

Happiness is often known by another name in positive psychology research: subjective wellbeing, or SWB. Who are you thankful to have in your life? What people, experiences and things make life rich? You can do this anywhere—while on your walk or a workout or while on the bus. Your call. I love doing it while on my morning run.Newman, K. M. (2015, July 28). Six ways happiness is good for your health. Greater Good Magazine . Retrieved from https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/six_ways_happiness_is_good_for_your_health Costanzo ES, Lutgendorf SK, Kohut ML, et al. Mood and cytokine response to influenza virus in older adults. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2004;59(12):1328‐1333. doi:10.1093/gerona/59.12.1328 Kubzansky, L. D. & Thurston, R. C. (2007). Emotional vitality and incident coronary heart disease: benefits of healthy psychological functioning. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18056547 Using Veenhoven’s Four Qualities it is possible to assess the happiness of any country. Liveability of environment Kern ML, Waters LE, Adler A, White MA. A multidimensional approach to measuring well-being in students: Application of the PERMA framework. J Posit Psychol. 2015;10(3):262-271. doi:10.1080/17439760.2014.936962

Shapiro, S. L., Carlson, L. E., Astin, J. A., & Freedman, B. (2006). Mechanisms of mindfulness. Journal of clinical psychology, 62(3), 373-386. Feeling frustrated after an argument with a friend? Skip your workout and have an extra scoop of ice cream. Sheldon, K. M., & Lyubomirsky, (2006). Achieving Sustainable Gains in Happiness: Change your actions, not your circumstances . Journal of Happiness Studies (2006) 7:55-86. Tang (2006) found that feelings in life satisfaction were linked to higher salaries, however, this wasn’t consistent, and varied between genders. It’s also difficult to determine whether having a higher salary led to greater life satisfaction due to having fewer financial stressors.Tsai, J. L., Knutson, B., & Fung, H. H. (2006). Cultural variation in affect valuation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90(2), 288–307. Schwartz, S. H. (2012). An overview of the Schwartz theory of basic values. Online Readings in Psychology and Culture, 2(1), 1–20.