29 Jun How to Improve Your Mood in 12 Minutes
via TreeHugger by Mary Jo DiLonardo
What do you do when you’re in a bad mood? Maybe you grab a bowl of ice cream or plop down in front of the TV. Or perhaps you do something healthier like go for a walk or write in a journal.
Researchers at Iowa State University found that there’s another simple way to boost your mood and it involves making other people feel better.
“Walking around and offering kindness to others in the world reduces anxiety and increases happiness and feelings of social connection,” said Douglas Gentile, professor of psychology, in a statement. “It’s a simple strategy that doesn’t take a lot of time that you can incorporate into your daily activities.”
For the study, Gentile and his team had college students walk around a building for 12 minutes and practice one of three different techniques designed to lower anxiety and increase happiness.
Loving-kindness — Students were told to look at the people they see and think to themselves, “I wish for this person to be happy.” They were encouraged to try to really mean it when they were thinking positive thoughts.
Interconnectedness — Students in this group looked at the people they saw and thought about how they might be linked to each other. They were encouraged to think about any feelings or hopes that they might have in common or something as simple as they might take similar classes.
Downward social comparison — Here, students were told to think about how they may be better off than each of the people they encountered.
Researchers also included a control group of students in the study. They were told to walk around and just look at what they saw on the outside when they looked at people. They focused on their clothing, accessories and makeup. Students in all groups were surveyed before and after their 12-minute walk to measure their levels of anxiety, happiness, stress, empathy and connectedness. The results of the study were published in the Journal of Happiness Studies…
… keep reading the full & original article HERE
#happiness #positivity #positivepsychology #kindness