Is it possible to go beyond the philosophical, and beyond discussing the research results themselves? I'd like to brainstorm ideas for "long term happiness bang for the buck" if such a thing makes any sense. The goal is to devote more time "to family and friends, to exercise, sleep, travel, and other restorative activities" with the result of "healthier, longer– and happier–lives" (to quote the original article).

The things already mentioned in the research are the obvious (save money instead of wasting it, so you can ultimately work fewer hours. Find a job and/or house that enables shorter commute times. Do not move towards isolation - i.e. no neighbors).

Some other ideas:

Category - exercise

Join some amateur sports team or activity. Not only is it great exercise, but it can make for good comradery with friends. A friend of mine just got really into road biking - he does this with coworkers several times a week. My brother races "quads" with his father in law. I joined an indoor soccer league last winter (hadn't played soccer in over 15 years, and there were people there of all ages). I also took up kayaking a couple years ago, which ties in well with camping vacations (which are also cheap by the way!). To me, hiking & camping, going out in nature, are very "restorative".

Category - family

I'm a big believer in "the family vacation", which is typically a week out of the year, but if you can get away with it, do it more often. Anyway, one of the most memorable vacations I've taken was actually a trip my wife and I took with my in-laws. We rented a house (cheaper than hotels and more amenities!) in a tropical island, and had a blast. One thing we do is take "crazy pictures" (funny pictures) which just seems to make the whole experience all the more fun and memorable. Anyway, even though its been a couple years, every time I think about that vacation I can't help but smile. I think another thing that contributes to happiness is trying new things, and perhaps just as worthwhile - being with people you love when they try new things (which incidentally, I think is where the major joy of raising your own kids probably comes from - even though I don't have kids of my own yet). For example, being with my in-laws as they experienced snorkeling and deep sea fishing for the first time was immensely entertaining.

Another in this category: You would not believe how many strange reactions I get when I tell people every Wednesday night is "date night" with my wife. "Why do you still date, aren't you already married?" or "Every week?". Yes, once a week "date night" with the spouse definitely fills the "happy" meter, plus its something to look forward to in the middle of the week. And no, we aren't newlyweds. In fact, we didn't invent date night until after several years of marriage. Throwing something crazy into the mix is always good for creating memories that will last a lifetime, but they don't always have to be elaborate either. Making a meal together, or just going for a walk while discussing something interesting all qualify.

Finally - an idea I think my wife and I invented that may sound strange but you should try it. This could just as easily be in the friends category by the way... Rent a comedy movie, and decide ahead of time that you are going to laugh at everything, even if it isn't really funny. The mere fact that other people are laughing will force you to laugh anyway, this is SO MUCH fun. Just make sure everyone in the room is fully on board with the concept before the movie starts or you won't get the desired effect. The thing is, you won't know at the end of the movie if it was actually a great comedy, or if you just made it feel like one. Either way - you will have a great time and feel great afterwards. I think laughter is probably one of the best things you can do for your physical & mental health. One thing I've heard of is "laughter groups" which seems almost a little TOO odd but I wouldn't mind trying it ONCE maybe. These groups of people just get together and start laughing - at absolutely nothing. At first its forced, but after a few seconds, you can't control it and you are just laughing because everyone else is. It's supposedly very therapeutic, but I don't know how you find these groups or where they exist (I'll probably stick to the movie idea).


Category - friends

I think just spending more time with friends and neighbors is key. I know its almost cliche now, but since the whole poker craze began, I've been playing cards with neighbors once a month (about 10 guys). I definitely enjoy this a lot and would consider it "restorative". Assuming your skills are as good as everyone else's this shouldn't cost you any money over time. That's what they keep telling me anyway

Inviting groups of people over for "game night" also falls in this category. These can be some of the most entertaining nights of the year. Also a good way to get to know new people. Some games that are good for this: Cranium, Scatergories, Mad Gab, I know there are many others... with smaller groups, yahtzee, dominos, card games, etc. millions of great choices.

Vacations, cookouts, camping, hiking, etc. can all apply to the "friends" category.


Category - sleep

OK - it might seem odd to even include this category. But I have a couple of thoughts on this. First - I am a much happier person when I get 8 hours of sleep. I've actually done a LOT of "sleep research". Not everyone has the same sleep requirements, some only need 7 hours, others need 9. If you find yourself "sleeping in" on weekends (or sleeping longer), its actually a sure sign that you aren't getting enough sleep during the week. Your health suffers when you don't get enough sleep.

Dreaming - somewhat unrelated to the above, but another hobby of mine that falls into the "sleep" category is Lucid Dreaming. I don't want to divert the thread into something off-topic - so if you are interested - just follow my link and/or see if your library has the book "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming" by Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D. and Howard Rheingold. There are many books on the subject, but this is the best (and incidentally, the only book on the subject I've found to be worth reading!). Anyway, most people don't realize that you can even increase your happiness WHILE YOU SLEEP!

Category - Giving

This is the only category not mentioned in the original article. Anyway, I think giving to charity is another way to "buy happiness" so to speak. Things like habitat for humanity (helping to build a house for someone in a desperate situation), or the million other service organizations out there. I'm involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters where I mentor a boy - we basically just get together a couple times a month - play baseball, watch movies, hang out. There are millions of kids growing up with no father present - while you might not think you can do anything to make a difference - you can. Similarly I give financially to causes that help underprivileged children in 3rd world countries. Note: I don't give either time or money because I expect "happiness" out of it, I just think that the more people in general who give, the better off society is - which leads to higher overall "happiness". I also think everyone's quality of life improves when there are fewer people living in desperation or involved in crime, etc. I'm also motivated because I am a Christian, and I just know inside it's the right thing to do.


Well - I've rambled for way to long... I would really love to see others' ideas as I've never really come across a discussion like this before.

I know some people are wondering, "What's this have to do with finances?" And my response is: "EVERYTHING".

-VViz

happiness does not come from money .. . It come from seeing former rich people and celebs in misery and losing their ill gotten money

Although I need to press Control and + to enlarge the text for reading in Mozilla, it was worthwhile reading.

What do you do with happiness? You can't sell it to buy food.

Folks, is HAPPINESS related to MARRIAGE inversely or directly? Any research on this topic? I did not read the full thread, so this could have been discussed earlier as well. I frankly think that if there is too much COMPROMISE on either side, it could be related inversely (lose-lose versus win-win)

deepakaaa said:Folks, is HAPPINESS related to MARRIAGE inversely or directly? Any research on this topic? I did not read the full thread, so this could have been discussed earlier as well. I frankly think that if there is too much COMPROMISE on either side, it could be related inversely (lose-lose versus win-win)

I'm pretty sure there have been studies showing that married people live longer than unmarried people. If you backtrack, Darwin would say that married people are the "fittest". If you equate "fittest" with a positive trait, you would have to associate it with happiness over discontent. For this reason, I conclude that happiness and marriage are positively correlated (although from personal experience I'm not always sure ).

There is a great article in the Harvard Business Review called "One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?" by Frederick Herzberg which is now considered a classic that is very relavant to this discussion.

Summary: Perks/compensation/things of value fall into one of two categores: (1) hygenic OR (2) motavators. The difference is that for hygenic factors, having not enough de-motivates or makes you sad and having more of a hygenic item doesn't actually make you happier. For the motivators getting more of it makes you happier. As it is a business article the point is that companies shouldn't waste money by giving extra of the hygenic items, and should focus on motivating items to improve morale.

So what? According to the article money is hygenic. Not having enough money for basics is depressing. (OK so "basics" is up to interpretation, and the article refers to employees that think they are getting "less than fair".) But, once you have enough money to cover your needs (or a "fair" salary), additional money doesn't have the same "return" as money that covers your needs. Other items referred to by other posters, friends/family/vacations/free time/etc. etc. etc. could all be considered motavators. More of is always better, and has a higher "return" than just getting more money.

So, the moral of the storey is to "invest" in things that will provide the most happiness for your time and money.

Happiness and long life are highly correlated. Many of the ideas for achieving both involve reducing stress. This recent article on aging covers many of the categories mentioned in the Robert Frank article.


One thing I find fascinating that is mentioned not only in the above aging article, but has been mentioned in a bunch of recent articles lately including this recent article from the Wall Street Journal is that "Scientists estimate that the maximum potential life span of the human body is about 120 years". And from the aging article:

Scientists estimate that the maximum potential life span of the human body is about 120 years, give or take. They came to this conclusion after observing the oldest ages achieved by a variety of organisms, noting that aging, no matter what the species, seemed to follow a consistent mathematical formula. The maximum age achieved by any species appears to equal about six times the number of years from birth to biological maturity. So humans, who take about 20 years to reach maturity, have the potential to live six times as long as that -- or about 120 years. Notably, the oldest well-documented human age is 122.

The thing I find so fascinating is that this exact "120 years" figure given for the approximate maximum age for a human being that keeps coming up from scientists today was mentioned thousands of years ago - it comes directly out of the first book of the Bible (or Torah). See Genesis 6:3 (any translation!).

But back on topic. RE:Researchers would like you to believe that marriage makes you happier, but it's the opposite: happy people are more attractive as mates

I'm not sure these are mutually exclusive. You are right that happy people are more "desirable" as a mate, but I also believe that "marriage done right" leads directly to increased happiness for just about any two people. By "done right" I mean people that have a lifelong commitment to making the marriage successful. Its a little off topic, but anyone who believes the Hollywood myth that love is something you "fall in and out of" is very UNlikely to have a successful marriage or to increase long term happiness through marriage.

New article, from CNN:
Money and happiness: How tight the bond?
There's a couple interesting new insights in this research:

Much depends on your means, your attitude and who you're hanging with.
July 5, 2005: 1:51 PM EDT
By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN/Money senior writer

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – If you think financial success is important but you haven't quite achieved it – at least not relative to those you know - here's something you might not want to think about on your summer vacation: Your desire for more money and your conviction that your life would be so much better if you had it.

It's true that those with more money (as a group anyway) register higher levels of satisfaction with life than those with less, but not by nearly as much as you might think.

For example, if you make twice what you used to make, your level of satisfaction likely would be somewhat higher, but not twice as high.


What's more, one study shows that setting financial success as a goal can itself make you somewhat less happy.

An article in Psychological Science called "Zeroing in on the Dark Side of the American Dream" looked at results from a study done on more than 12,000 people from their freshman year in college through their late 30s.

With the exception of adults making over $290,000, those who said financial success was important were less happy than those in their income groups who thought it wasn't important.

The lower a respondent's household income, the more negatively his or her happiness was affected by valuing financial success. (The negative effect became negligible for those making over $87,500.)

"If you're not making money, it's much better to be convinced it's not important," said Norbert Schwarz, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan who coauthored the study.

It's not all about the money
Of course, few if any of us would ever say money alone is the be-all and end-all of happiness.

The Economist's 2005 quality-of-life index, which covers 111 countries, links subjective life-satisfaction surveys to objective quality-of-life measures such as material well-being, family life, political stability and job security.

By that methodology, the United States ranks No. 13 in terms of overall quality of life, even though it is No. 2 in terms of GDP per capita, just behind Luxembourg.

Ireland, which ranked fourth in the GDP-per-capita contest, tops the quality-of-life index. The research team reasoned that Ireland "successfully combines the most desirable elements of the new – material well-being, low unemployment rates, political liberties – with the preservation of certain ... modernity-cushioning elements of the old, such as stable family life and the avoidance of the breakdown of community."

Is it really all relative?
There's also a school of thought that says how much money you have in absolute terms isn't as important for happiness as how much you have compared to everyone else. So getting more money may make you a little happier, but getting more money than others will make you a lot happier.

When a group of MBAs were asked whether they'd rather make $100,000 when everyone around them made $120,000, or make $90,000 when everyone around them made $70,000, a majority opted for the lesser salary if everyone at the company knew about the discrepancy, Schwarz said. But if the salary discrepancies were kept confidential, about half said they'd opt for the $100,000 job.

Not to be contrarian, but I'd prefer the $100,000 job either way. And when I informally surveyed a group of people, the majority said that they also would prefer the $100,000 job, even if the salary discrepancy were known -- and yes, some even had MBAs.

Their reasons ranged from the practical (it's more money) to the philosophical (more money is better than power) to the strategic (I have a better chance of not being laid off if I'm not the highest paid; I'm more likely to get a raise; and it's a higher base from which to negotiate pay at my next job).

The few who opted for the $90,000 post -- at least if the salary discrepancy was known -- offered fewer reasons: "Cuz I'm an egomaniac;" "I believe relative wealth is a greater determinant of happiness;" and "I assume that living costs around me would reflect the prevailing lower wage."

Of course, I'd hazard an unscientific guess that whatever happiness money brought you would be curtailed if you didn't actually like your job.

I asked Schwarz, whose career has been spent in academia, how important it is for him to have money. His answer: "somewhat important."

More important, he said, is intellectual freedom. His job allows him to explore his interests. "I don't want to think about something I don't want to think about just to make more money," he said.

As for the pay, he added, "it's fine for a pleasurable life."

Qzic said:juniorjam mused: I'm pretty sure there have been studies showing that married people live longer than unmarried people.

Actually, I think the research shows that married men live longer than single men, and that married women have shorter life expectancies than single women.

The explination I read related to stress and diet for men (married men eat much better than single men) and resource use for women (married women tend to live for their families rather than themselves).

Actually, marriage benefits both men/women & children:
Marriage and Public Health
A wide body of social science literature confirms that marriage is a powerful protector of public
health. Children raised by their own two married parents live longer, have fewer illnesses and accidents,
and enjoy better health than children raised outside of intact marriages. Both men and women who get
and stay married enjoy similar powerful health advantages: they live longer, enjoy better health,manage
chronic illness better, are less likely to require extensive (and expensive) hospitalization and nursing
home care, and become disabled less often than do people who are single or divorced.