Get Happy in the Next 30 Minutes

By Dr. Mercola

When you’re in the midst of your daily grind — to-do lists, work deadlines, cooking, cleaning, children’s activities and the like — you’re probably not thinking about what you could do to feel happier.

There’s no time for that, and your mind is probably occupied with more important, or at least more pressing, matters.

But if you do stop to think about it, few things are more important than happiness. If you’re living day to day simply by going through the motions, you’re missing out on living — you’re missing out on life. The good news is that it’s relatively easy to feel happier.

It’s a choice virtually everyone can make, and you can work toward it just like you would any other goal. The first step is making this choice — go ahead, do it now. Next, try some of the simple happiness-boosting tips that follow.¹

It’s even been scientifically shown that happiness can alter your genes! A team of researchers at UCLA showed that people with a deep sense of happiness and well-being had lower levels of inflammatory gene expression and stronger antiviral and antibody responses.²⁰

Interestingly, if you’re wondering how to maintain a state of happiness, in the long run, self-acceptance appears to be one of the most important factors that can produce a more consistent sense of happiness.

In a survey of 5,000 people by the charity Action for Happiness, people were asked to rate themselves between 1 and 10 on 10 habits that are scientifically linked to happiness.²¹ While all 10 habits were strongly linked to overall life satisfaction, acceptance was the strongest predictor. In all, the survey resulted in the following “10 Keys to Happier Living,” which together spell out the acronym GREAT DREAM:

• Giving: do things for others
• Relating: connect with people
• Exercising: take care of your body
• Appreciating: notice the world around you
• Trying out: keep learning new things
• Direction: have goals to look forward to
• Resilience: find ways to bounce back
• Emotion: take a positive approach
• Acceptance: be comfortable with who you are
• Meaning: be part of something bigger

Sources and References

• Real Simple

• ¹ Real Simple
• ² American Journal of Preventive Medicine September 2013
• ³ Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Oct 20;112(42):13105-8.
• ⁴ DermatoEndocrinology April/May/June 2012; 4(2): 109-117
• ⁵ The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging 1999, 3(1):5-7
• ⁶ Clinical Rheumatology April 2007: 26(4); 551-554
• ⁷ Wea. Climate Soc., 5, 70–82.
• ^8, 12 EurekAlert February 22, 2011
• ⁹ Brain Cogn. 2004 Jun;55(1):11-29.
• ¹⁰ Soc Sci Med. 2003 Jan;56(2):259-69
• ¹¹ J Health Soc Behav. 2007 Dec;48(4):450-64.
• ¹³ Journal of Affective Disorders, May 2012, Volume 138, Issue 3, Pages 473-478
• ¹⁴ Br J Health Psychol. 2013 Nov;18(4):782-98.
• ¹⁶ Journal of Psychopharmacology May 2013
• ¹⁷ Arch Intern Med. 2011 Sep 26;171(17):1571-8.
• ¹⁸ Tea Association of the USA, Tea Fact Sheet 2014
• ¹⁹ Psychol Bull. 2012 Jul;138(4):655-91
• ²⁰ PNAS July 25, 2013
• ²¹ Action for Happiness

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