Latest news with #Epel
Jordan News
10-07-2025
- Health
- Jordan News
Boost Your Happiness: Simple Daily Habits That Work, According to Science - Jordan News
Boost Your Happiness: Simple Daily Habits That Work, According to Science A new scientific study has revealed that spending just five minutes a day on simple activities can significantly boost positive emotions and increase happiness — offering an easy remedy for coping with daily stress. اضافة اعلان Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco conducted a study involving participants from around the world as part of the 'Big Joy Project.' The findings were published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research in early June. The study concluded that dedicating just five minutes per day to what researchers call 'micro-acts of joy' — small, intentional actions designed to spark positive feelings — can lower stress levels, improve overall health, and enhance sleep quality. According to Dr. Elissa Epel, a leading expert in stress and aging sciences and the study's lead researcher, simple actions like listening to spontaneous laughter, pausing to admire a flower during a walk, or doing a small favor for a friend can have a measurable impact on mental well-being. 'We were surprised by just how much emotional health improved among participants,' she said. The study involved a large sample of 18,000 participants from the U.S., the UK, and Canada and ran for two years through 2024. It is considered the first of its kind to examine the lasting impact of short, low-effort happiness-boosting practices. Interestingly, the study found that participants who engaged in these activities for just one week experienced improvements comparable to those achieved through months-long therapy or training programs. The study introduced seven happiness-boosting activities, one for each day of the week. These included: Sharing joyful moments with others Performing acts of kindness Writing a gratitude list Watching awe-inspiring nature videos Professor Epel explained that the activities were designed to enhance three core emotional states: Hope and optimism Awe and admiration Playfulness and amusement Each task was crafted to take less than ten minutes, including answering a few short pre- and post-activity questions. To measure impact, participants completed psychological and physical health assessments at the beginning and end of the trial week. These evaluations covered indicators such as: Emotional well-being Positive feelings 'Happiness-making ability' Stress levels Sleep quality 'Emotional well-being' here refers to how satisfied a person feels with life and whether they experience a sense of purpose, while 'happiness-making ability' reflects one's sense of control over their emotional state. The results showed improvements across all indicators, with higher commitment levels directly linked to better outcomes. Participants who completed the full seven days saw greater benefits than those who participated for only two or three. Remarkably, the study also noted that ethnic minority groups experienced greater improvements than white participants, and younger individuals responded more positively than older adults. Despite the strong results, the exact mechanism by which these simple actions influence mood remains under investigation. Professor Epel theorizes that these small activities may interrupt negative thought patterns — such as chronic worry or self-criticism — and redirect mental energy toward more positive pathways. — Daily Mail
Extra.ie
06-07-2025
- Health
- Extra.ie
Could micro-acts of joy be the key to happiness?
It's often said that happiness is finding joy in the little things in life – now, scientists appear to have found the proof. Just five minutes a day performing 'micro-acts of joy' that foster positive emotions is enough to banish stress, boost health and improve sleep quality, psychologists discovered. Listening to laughter, admiring a flower or doing a nice thing for a friend can measurably improve people's emotional well-being and attitudes toward life, according to Dr Elissa Epel. It's often said that happiness is finding joy in the little things in life – now, scientists appear to have found the proof. Pic: Getty Images The professor, an expert on stress and ageing who oversaw the new research, said: 'We were quite taken aback by the size of the improvements to people's emotional wellbeing.' Her team at the University of California, San Francisco, studied nearly 18,000 people, mainly from the US, Britain, and Canada, for the web-based Big Joy Project over a two-year period, up to 2024. The study, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, asked participants to perform seven brief acts of joy over a seven-day period. Professor Epel said the thousands of people who took part matched the positive results achieved by programmes that required months of classes for hours at a time. Ethnic minority participants saw even greater benefits than white participants, while younger people reported more benefits than older people.
San Francisco Chronicle
14-06-2025
- Health
- San Francisco Chronicle
These daily habits can bring outsize happiness — and it only takes 5 minutes, UCSF study finds
The simplest tasks of joy and awe — listening to laughter, admiring a flower on a neighborhood walk, doing a nice thing for a friend — can measurably improve people's emotional well-being and attitudes toward life, according to a new UCSF study. So-called micro-acts of joy can have remarkably outsize effects on people's moods, and in particular on their belief that they can control their own happiness, said Elissa Epel, a UCSF professor who has long studied the effects of stress on aging and overall health. Epel is lead author of a paper published last week on the (ironically named) Big Joy Project, a program run out of UC Berkeley that has participants practice five- to 10-minute acts of joy every day for a week. Epel's team at UCSF studied nearly 18,000 participants in the Big Joy Project over a two-year period, from 2022 to 2024. Their study was the first to look at whether small, easily accessible interventions — the Big Joy Project is a web-based program — that don't take much time could have measurable and lasting effects on people's attitudes. The results were surprisingly robust, Epel said, though she noted that the study needs to be repeated under more controlled conditions to prove that it works, and to demonstrate whether the effects are long-lasting. Still, she said, 'we were quite taken aback by the size of the improvements to people's emotional well being. She said that participating in the Big Joy Project for a week provided positive results equivalent to programs that require months of classes for hours at a time. 'And it wasn't just people who were already well off' whose moods improved, Epel said. 'We actually saw greater benefits in people who came into the study with challenges, either they felt financially strained or they felt in a low social status,' she said. 'This is not just an intervention for the privileged.' The UCSF study, published in the Journal for Medical Internet Research on June 4, had participants practice seven acts over seven days. The acts included sharing a moment of celebration with someone else, doing something kind for another person, making a gratitude list and watching an awe-inspiring video about Yosemite. Epel said her team picked tasks that were focused on promoting feelings of hope and optimism, wonder and awe, or fun and silliness. Each task took less than 10 minutes, including answering short questions before and after. At the start and end of the seven-day program, participants completed a series of questions on their emotional and physical health. The scientists measured participants' emotional well being, positive emotions and happiness agency, along with their stress and sleep quality, and compared their answers from the start to those at the finish. Emotional well being includes how satisfied people are with their life and whether they have purpose and meaning; happiness agency is how much control they feel they have over their emotion. The team found improvements in all areas, and the benefits increased depending on how much people participated in the program — meaning, those who participated in all seven days saw greater benefits than those who only did two or three days. Black and Latino participants saw greater benefits than white participants, and younger people saw more benefits than older people. Epel said she wants to be careful to not overstate the benefits of the intervention, which isn't going to solve people's greater mental health issues or the uncertainty and anxiety blanketing much of western society at this time. 'We don't want to deny what's going on or act like everything's fine,' Epel said. And it's not clear yet why these micro-acts appear to be having such a profound impact, she said. On a biological level, there may be complicated hormonal activations at play. Or it's possible that even these small acts are able to break up negative thought cycles — excessive worrying, for example, or self-criticism — and redirect mental energy in a more positive way. One important takeaway from the study is that people probably have more agency over their own happiness than they think, Epel said. And even in these trying times, a daily dose of joy could have intense impacts. In fact, she said, these micro-acts may be more powerful now, in the current political and social climate, than ever. 'All of this well being stuff, it's not a luxury,' Epel said. 'We often say that we'll let ourselves be happy once we've reached some point or finished some task. Well, we want to flip that — we need the energy of joy to get through the hard parts. When we can focus on well being and connecting with others, that's the fuel that will help us cope with adversity. So these are really necessary skills.'
