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Scientifically Proven Things That Will Make You Happier

2011-02-01T08:26:00.000-08:00

Get in touch with your inner animal

Different things make men and women happy. Think of a keg for men and a manicure for women.

Evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa says realizing this difference is one of the keys to happiness. "One of the best ways to improve happiness is to recognize and accept that we are animals," she writes. "We are all designed by evolution to be a certain way, and no amount of denial or fighting will change our evolutionary legacy and its implications. One of the ways that men and women are different is in what makes them happy."

A global Nielsen study of 28,153 people from 51 nations found what makes each sex tick: "Men are happier with money, while women find greater joy in friendships and relationships with their children, co-workers and bosses."

Attempt to break a bad habit

A recent study tracked the symptoms of depression in people who were trying to quit smoking. It was found that subjects were happiest whenever they were successful -- even if they were only successful for one day.

Simply trying to quit was enough to boost the subjects' moods.

Make up to $75,000 and not one penny more

Money doesn't buy happiness; countless studies have proven that.

Why? Because wealthy people usually make money by doing stressful work; they don't spend much time relaxing and enjoying life.

But a new study found that money can make you happy -- if your salary doesn't exceed $75,000.

Shorten your commute to 20 minutes

“Commuting to work was way down there [on the happiness chart]—people are in a terrible mood when they commute,”

But a twenty minute commute should improve moods tremendously, another group of researchers found. They observed 4,000 subjects and asked each to rate their happiness level on a scale of one to five. One of the highest measurements of happiness, they determined, was the shortened commute, and people rated their happiness highest when they had a twenty minute maximum travel time.

Make a gratitude adjustment

People who say thank you are generally happier people. So are those who frequently discuss and write about what they're thankful for. And if you can cherish the small things in life, scientists say you'll be even happier.

Christopher Peterson, a psychologist at the University of Michigan, says the ability to forgive is also at trait strongly linked to positive people.

Grow up

A paper in Psychological Science shows that older people are happier than their younger counterparts. Researchers believe this is either because their brains change chemically, or because older people are better at controlling their emotions.

"People may shift how they regulate their emotions over the course of their lifetime, perhaps by shifting to strategies that [enhance happiness]."

Find a mate (and a happy one at that)

It's a known fact that people who find a life partner are happier overall. And the saying, "happy wife, happy life" -- it's really true.

“What we saw over a long period of time is that if one spouse changed in terms of increasing happiness, the other spouse’s happiness would go up,” researcher Christiane Hoppmann tells MSNBC. “And if there was a dip in happiness, this dip would also affect the respective spouse."

Speed up your thinking

thinking quickly can cause feelings of elation. The researchers had subjects watch television in fast forward, quickly come up with solutions to problems, and read ideas that moved quickly on computer screens.

The results showed that participants experienced a feeling of elation, felt more creative and, in some instances, more powerful and energetic,"

Buy plane tickets instead of iPads

When it comes to happiness, experiences trump tangible items.

"It appears that prioritizing success and material goals is actually harmful to life satisfaction,"

Why?

Materials are more comparable. People get upset if they buy something and then realize they could have gotten a better deal, or if they feel their item is trumped by someone else's.

Rachael Rettner of LiveScience explains the reasons to take a trip abroad instead of a trip to the store:

"People are more likely to mull over their material purchases than they are experiential ones, second-guessing themselves about whether they really made the best choice.

"We tend to think of experiences more on their own terms, rather than in comparison with other things.

"It's easier for us to decide on an experiential purchase than a material one.

"We're more upset if we learn that someone else got a better deal, or that a better option exists, for a material purchase than for an experience-related one."

Have morning sex

It's a well-known fact that a healthy sex life increases happiness, but morning sessions give people an extra boost.

"Having sex in the morning releases the feel-good chemical oxytocin, which makes couples feel loving and bonded all day long,"

"Research suggests that adults who begin their day [with sex] are healthier and happier than those who simply opt for a cup of tea and some toast before heading out of the door,"

Get six hours and twenty minutes of sleep

The magic recipe for happiness is approximately six hours and twenty minutes of sleep every night,

Drink four libations per week

people who drink four libations per week reported feeling happier.

Eat four servings of fruits and veggies every day

Researchers found that healthy eaters who ate four servings of fruits and vegetables every day felt the best emotionally

Hit the gym and keep thin

"Exercise is no sure-fire happy pill, and some say it has to be intense, or anaerobic (involving short energy bursts that cause the body to run out temporarily of oxygen), to bring on the psychological boost, but experts say it is a part of the feel-good equation."

Exercise effects two primary happiness chemicals - endorphins and cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone produced when people feel stressed. Exercising burns it away while increasing the release of endorphins, a hormone that is said to cause more euphoric feelings than opiate drugs.

Get religious and meditate

The Quality Of Life Research Study at Harvard University shows people who believe in a higher power and are active in their religious communities are happier.

In addition, the study found that Loving-Kindness Meditation decreases stress, increases confidence, and makes people focused, peaceful and positive.

How Do Horses View The World

2011-02-01T07:41:00.001-08:00

Understanding how a horse sees the world can help a great deal when we’d like to know why horses act the way they do.Horses perceive their environment differently than humans because of the way their eyes are structured.

There is some controversy surrounding the eyes structure of horses. Horses were thought to have ramped retinas, meaning their eyes don’t form a true arc making the retina closer to the lens, but now it is believed that this may not be the case. A horse’s eyesight is optimized for grazing and watching for predators at the same time, but as such, it becomes a handicap when judging distance and height and this is why you’ll notice that horses lower their heads when approaching a jump. On approaching a jump, you may notice that horses lower their heads then raise them in an effort to appraise the height of the obstacle. When approaching an obstacle, the horse will lose sight of the jump right before takeoff; experienced riders take this into account and allow their horses to raise their heads before jumping.

As horses are color blind they can’t see colors as we do, they see the world as a mosaic of varying light reflections. They do however notice movement instantly and can react accordingly, much to the dismay of the inexperienced rider! An inexperienced horse may shy violently at any sudden movement, especially when in an unfamiliar situation. If something moves suddenly into their peripheral field of vision this will usually cause horses to bolt.

Horses, with their wide field of vision, have only two blind spots: that which is directly in front or behind them. When approaching a horse from the rear you should talk to him to avoid startling him. When tackling difficult terrain it’s a good idea to allow your horse free rein to enable him to find his footing easily.

Your horse’s eyes are very sensitive to light and this is why young or inexperienced horses seem nervous when you are trying to load them into a horsebox. Horses need time for their eyes to adjust to a darker environment such as a horsebox. Entering a horsebox is akin to entering a dark cave and your horse’s reluctance to do so is what saved its ancestors – caves housed dangerous predators!

Understanding your horse’s vision can help you understand why your horse reacts in various situations; a lot of the time inexperienced horse owners mistakenly believe their horse is intentionally acting up when the real reason for their horse’s behavior is related to the his vision and way of seeing the world.

Wedding Traditions Around The World

2011-02-01T07:06:00.000-08:00

All over the world each country celebrates the wedding day with some special and characteristic rituals that others may find strange and peculiar. Here are photos of some interesting wedding traditions from different cultures around the world.

A Pakistani bride’s hand are adorned with henna during the mehndi ceremony a few days before her wedding. The henna is meant to bring good luck to the marriage.

A Korean bride and groom wear traditional wedding clothes. The custom of the bride wearing a hanbok and groom wearing gwanbok dates back 2,000 years.

Moroccan brides wear an elaborate kaftan and heavy jewelry. The bride and female guests decorate their hands with henna.

Male guests wear traditional Highland outfits of kilts, jackets, and hose to weddings in Scotland.

In a Yoruba wedding in Nigeria, the groom and his friends prostrate themselves to the bride’s family before the bride is presented under a veil.

In Bolivia, a wedding party enjoys a meal next to Lake Titicaca. The bride and groom’s heads are doused with confetti and flower petals after the wedding ceremony.

In the United States, unmarried female wedding guests participate in the tradition of bouquet toss. Catching the bouquet is believed to bring good luck in getting engaged soon.

A Japanese couple perform the ritual of drinking 9 cups of sake during their wedding at a Shinto shrine.

A Chinese bride is presented to the groom’s family in a traditional red wedding carriage.

Mass weddings in India relieve families of financial strain associated with a traditional dowry and large wedding. These brides wear white instead of the traditional Indian red wedding dress as they belong to the Christian minority population in Punjab.

In France, the traditional wedding cake is croquembeuche, a majestic tower of cream puffs.

A bride and her parents assemble for their street wedding procession in a small town in Mexico.

Uigher brides often wear two different dresses, a white, western-style dress for the first day’s “cafe event” and a traditional Uigher dress on the second day when she greets the guests as a married woman.

Men in Afghanistan dance to the beat of the dhol during a wedding celebration in downtown Jalalabad. Afghan women often celebrate separately in the home of the bridal party.

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the bride and groom offer tea to family elders in a traditional tea ceremony.

We couldn’t resist including this picture of a wedding party at the Wynn Hotel and Casino in Macau, the new gambling capital of the world. Hardly typical for this former Portuguese colony in China, it features French maid wedding attendants. Is it the start of a new tradition?

Animal-10 of the most dedicated workers around.

2011-02-01T06:50:00.000-08:00

This may surprise you, but ants have more of a purpose than putting a damper on your picnic. These industrious animals have workloads that may put your own to shame. In fact, many creatures work long days and nights just to survive in the wild, and if you think your 9-to-5 job is rough, a lot of these animals perform tasks that are very similar to jobs people do — though they may have completely different reasons for doing them and unique tools for getting the jobs done. Why do some birds, for example, work as interior

decorators? And how do beavers construct giant lodges by chewing on tree bark? Find out what a regular workday is like in the animal kingdom for 10 of the most dedicated workers around.

1. Corporate Employees: Honey Bees

These little dark brown- and yellow-striped insects are responsible for a multi-million dollar business. According to the University of Rhode Island’s horticulture program, between honey, beeswax and cross-pollination of other agricultural crops, honeybees produce more than $100 million dollars in profits each year in the U.S. alone. Much like any large company, there are a variety of roles that help the business inside the beehive run smoothly. The CEO is the queen bee, and her main responsibility is to reproduce more bees so the hive continuously has new workers. Field bees are responsible for leaving the hive to collect necessary supplies, like nectar, which they pass on to the worker bees at the hive. The worker bees are all female and are responsible for creating the honey. They regurgitate the nectar over and over to remove most of the water, which produces honey. Worker bees also provide heating and air-conditioning for the hive, warming it in the winter by waving their wings and cooling it by sprinkling water on the honeycomb. There are no vacations or happy hours at the end of a long day — like the rest of the animals in our countdown, their business runs around the clock with no overtime pay.

2. The Parents: Emperor Penguins

People all over the world have been enamored with the plight of emperor penguins ever since the documentary film “March of the Penguins” debuted in 2005. The film told the story of the epic voyage emperor penguins make every year in April, all for the purpose of breeding their young. The male emperor penguin could be considered Father of the Year when you consider the lengths this Antarctic animal goes to for his hatchling. After traveling an average of 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the ocean to a hatching ground, penguins mate and the mother produces an egg that she passes to the father. While the mother returns to the sea for food, the father sits on the egg for around 64 days until it hatches. Once the baby penguin emerges, the father keeps it warm and even feeds it nutrients secreted from his own esophagus until the mother returns. Upon the mother’s return, parental duties are exchanged so the male penguin can return to sea for his first meal in over four months. By December, which is summer in Antarctica, the pack ice begins to melt, revealing the ocean underneath. This happens just in time for the young emperor penguins, which are finally able to swim and collect food on their own.

3. The Farmers: Earthworms

The earthworm may seem like a simple animal, but Charles Darwin spent decades studying the slimy crawlers and once said they played a vital part in our world’s history. Darwin isn’t the only person to recognize their value. Most people who are into composting already know the benefit of earthworms. They are nature’s farmers, plowing the soil as they tunnel through it. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that it takes earthworms 10 to 20 years on average to turn over the top 6 inches (15 centimeters) of soil. The tunnels they leave behind also serve a purpose by circulating air and water into the soil, keeping it fresh and nutrient-rich. Earthworm droppings, called castings, are also essential, as they are rich in nitrogen, calcium and other nutrients that are indispensable for a healthy ecosystem. According to the USDA, one square yard of soil can contain up to 300 earthworms, and while not all soil contains earthworms, their presence is usually a good sign of healthy dirt.

4. Demolition Experts: Termites

When most people hear termites, they immediately think of destruction, but these tiny wood eaters actually serve a purpose beyond being a homeowner’s worst nightmare. Termites appear to operate within a social system very similar to that of ants. The worker termites are white, or often appear transparent, and are first on the scene when a new wood source is found. They are responsible for locating food resources, excavating the wood, and caring for young termites. Soldier termites are physically mature and can be identified by their yellow to brown heads and black mouths. Their main responsibility is to protect the colony from enemies like ants or termites from competing colonies. The only winged termites in a colony are called alates, or swarmers, and they are in charge of starting new colonies. While billions of dollars are spent every year trying to control termite infestations, these little demolishers are an important part of forests’ ecosystems, since they break down cellulose in wood for consumption by plants and animals.

5. The Beauticians: Cleaner Wrasse

The many species of fish living in coral reefs have the cleaner wrasse to thank for living parasite-free. Similar to an aesthetician who scrubs the dead skin cells off a client’s feet, the cleaner wrasse offers a similar scrub-down to its fellow aquatic creatures. These tiny fish average only 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7 centimeters) in length, but they spend all day, every day working to rid other reef fish of unwanted parasites and dead scales. They really get into the nitty-gritty of their job, cleaning fins, tails and even mouths. Surprisingly, they even clean much larger fish that might normally be considered predators. But the cleaner wrasse’s job is deemed so important that, according to the Indianapolis Zoo, large fish are willing to forgo a snack in order to get a good cleaning. Of course, it’s not completely selfless work for the cleaner wrasse, since all of those parasites are like a buffet for them. Reef fish get clean and the cleaners get a full belly, making this work arrangement a win-win.

6. Interior Decorators: Bowerbirds

The male bowerbird is the Nate Berkus of the animal kingdom, with an eye for decorating that may make even the most talented interior designer look like an amateur. This hopeful bachelor doesn’t just build a nest for his potential mate; he lavishly adorns it, too — all in hopes of catching a female bowerbird’s attention. When designing, he arranges pebbles, shells, flowers and other objects to stage the nest. And according to recent studies published in the journal Current Biology, he even takes it one step further. Researcher John Endler explains that male bowerbirds actually stage the nest so that, when viewed from a specific spot, the arrangement makes objects — including the bowerbird — look bigger than they really are. Since competition is steep, with several male bowerbirds vying for the same females, this feathered friend can use all the help he can get.

7. The Butchers: African Wild Dogs

Long considered the butcher of the African desert, this dog takes the meat no one else wants. In fact, this species plays an essential role in the ecosystem by removing sick or injured animals, which helps keep balance and improves prey species. The hunters of the pack work together like a relay team when targeting prey. When they’ve locked in on their target, some dogs will begin running close to it, with other dogs in the pack running behind. Once the lead dogs begin to tire, those from the back of the pack take over. Thanks to teamwork, prey rarely escapes a chase. According to the San Diego Zoo, African wild dogs hunt twice daily and are successful 70 to 90 percent of the time, unlike lions, which have a much lower success rate at 30 to 40 percent. They also seem to believe it takes a village to raise their young, since the entire pack — which usually consists of 6 to 20 members — takes part in raising the pups.

8. The Hunters: Female Lions

Female lions are the working mothers of the animal kingdom. These big cats not only bring dinner to the table, they also nurture their young and often care for the cubs of other lionesses, too. While male lions are considered the kings of prides and protect their families from predators, the females do the majority of the hunting. Without manes to tip off potential prey, female lions are able to stalk their victims silently within 100 feet (30 meters) before they attack. These divas of the African desert hunt mostly at night and prove there’s something to the phrase “girl power” by working together to stalk and kill their prey.

9. The Builders: Beavers

The saying “busy as a beaver” might take on an entirely new meaning when you consider how active beavers truly are. Considered nature’s engineers, these long-toothed mammals are very adept at and diligent about building dams in rivers or streams to create ponds suitable for their lodging needs. Beginning in late summer and into the fall, beavers begin preparing their homes for winter. They gather wood by using their tails to prop them up while they chip away at tree trunks with their teeth. Once a tree has broken off from the trunk, the beaver breaks it down into smaller pieces that are more manageable to carry back to the location they plan to build on. Laying the sticks into the mud, they stack layers of wood until the dam is built. But a beaver’s job isn’t done once the dam is complete. It also works to dig out its living quarters, called a lodge, and stockpiles wood to eat during the long winter months. Although beaver dams are a headache for property owners that don’t want running streams blocked, the beaver does provide a useful service to other creatures like ducks and moose, which use the ponds as a water source.

10. Factory Workers: Ants

If you’ve ever had an ant farm, then you know an ant colony runs like a factory with well-defined roles and responsibilities. The queen ant’s only role is to reproduce, making her the sole producer of all ants born in a colony. A male ant’s only job is to mate with the queen, and unlike the queen, who lives for 15 to 20 years, males die shortly after mating. All of the other ants in the colony have specific jobs to keep it running smoothly. Worker ants are responsible for feeding and caring for the larvae produced by the queen, as well as keeping the colony clean, digging new tunnels and a variety of other tasks. Foraging ants are responsible for finding food and bringing their finds back to the colony. In addition to these roles, some ants act as security guards, scouting locations for the foragers and guarding the colony. While ants might appear to be nature’s nuisance, these tiny bugs eat dead insects and their underground tunnels help aerate soil, making them a vital part of any ecosystem.