Despite rising income-per-capita and life expectancy, the world remains unhappy. The 2018 World Happiness Report revealed that the average person rates their life a mediocre 5/10 on the happiness scale.
Susie Ellis, the chairwoman and CEO of Global Wellness Institute, the newest member of the Well+Good Council, and a woman who is up to date with trends and tips for finding happiness in your life. She is putting happiness at the very center of wellness.
Researches show that while money and physical health are important factors in happiness, it’s social connections and community that plays the major role. Spending quality time with actual people is important, and cannot be substituted by virtual connections. Studies also show that the technology and constant digital connection is making us unhappy. Helping people unplug will be a defining aspect of the future wellness movement. “Silence” is named a top 2017 trend, noting the rise of completely silent spas, silent meals at wellness resorts, and totally silent retreats. Studies of the gut-brain-happiness axis is an exciting field called psychobiotics, the researches are warning that ecosystem of bacteria, fungi, viruses, and yeasts in our intestinal tract—plays a powerful role in determining our happiness. More people are now eating for a healthier microbiome, consuming more of the vital food filled with serotonine, the happy hormone. Also important for a happier life is to shift our everyday life practices. The issue is that people confuse pleasure or short-term reward with happiness, putting too much emphasis on hedonic wellbeing instead of the eudaimonic variety, which is about a meaningful life, contentment, and a sense of purpose. Which in the vocabulary of hormones means shifting from dopamine to serotonin.
The current culture of wellness itself may be making us unhappy as well. The trend of “making yourself better” is passé. It is now perceived as an ego-driven pressure, which should be changed for a serotonin-driven concept of wellbeing: less focus on self, and more focus on others and community.
The fact is that happiness became a science, happiness can be measured, the findings of the researches can give us tips and teach us tricks to reach the goal of being happy.
Read more: www.wellandgood.com