On what criteria is this conclusion based? The survey included six dimensions:
1) Life evaluation
2) Emotional health
3) Physical health
4) Healthy behavior
5) Work environment
6) Basic access
And while you're probably not going to back up the jalopy, ala the Beverly Hillbillies, and head to Sunnyvale, there is quite a bit we can learn from the results of this survey. So, let's walk through the dimensions one by one.
1) Life evaluation. This dimension is fairly simple. Researchers asked participants to rate their life on a 1-10 scale with 10 being the best possible life and 1 being sheer hell. They were then asked to rate what they expect their life to be like five years from now on the same scale. As we've noticed time and time again in the happiness research literature, much of our happiness is based on our own subjective beliefs and feelings about how good our life is. That's why personal habits like choice, focus and gratitude are so important -- they raise our overall evaluation of the quality of our life.
2) Emotional health in this survey was measured by asking respondents about their experience yesterday --- who they were with, what they did, and how they felt. Specifically they were asked whether they experienced:
* Smiling and laughter
* Being treated with respect
* Enjoyment
* Happiness
* Worry
* Sadness
* Anger
* Stress
* Learning or doing something interesting
There was also one question about whether they had ever received a diagnosis of depression. If you look at the nine items listed above it's easy to see which items would help produce greater levels of well being, and which would tend to reduce it. Perhaps the two "sleeper" dimensions are "being treated with respect" and "learning or doing something interesting." As you do an emotional health scan of your own day-to-day life, you might do well to keep those two hidden dimensions in mind.
3) Physical health is an element that we all know has a huge influence on happiness. The components of physical health discussed in this survey were:
* Body Mass Index (BMI)
* Disease burden
* Sick days
* Physical pain
* Daily energy
* History of disease
* Daily health experiences
Obviously some aspects of your physical health are under your control and some are not. As a rule of thumb, though, the physically healthier you are, the happier you are. And that's where the next dimension comes in.
4) Healthy Behaviors. No, there are not 1001 things you have to do to be healthier. In fact, the survey only looked at three major categories of healthy behaviors
* Smoking
* Healthy diet
* Exercise
If you still smoke, you know you're putting your health at risk, and nothing I can say is going to make you quit. It's as simple as can be -- quit smoking, improve your health! And, long term, your happiness. While there are a bunch of conflicting claims out there surrounding diet, the basics are fairly well agreed upon. Michael Pollan pretty well sums it up in his book In Defense of Food when he says "Eat food. Not much. Mostly plants." Exercise comes in all types and varieties. The only really important thing is that you find a style, or styles, of exercise that you like, or can at least tolerate, and do it regularly. Bottom line -- healthier behaviors lead to a happier life.
5) Work Environment is extremely important in terms of your happiness because you spend more time working than doing any other single activity (other than sleeping) throughout the majority of your life. The three components of work life measured by the survey were:
* Satisfaction with the work itself
* Being able to use your strengths in your work
* Working in an organization that has a culture of partnership and trust
To do a personal survey ask yourself: Do you find your work intrinsically satisfying? In other words, irrespective of rewards, pay, feedback, etc. do you just really like what you do? Second, do you get to do the types of things your best at, exhibit your finest qualities and use your most cherished skills? Three, do you feel that you are trusted by your supervisor and co-workers? Do you feel that the organization and its management foster partnership rather than hierarchy? These three factors are the ones that promote the most workplace satisfaction and thus contribute most to your work-related happiness.
6) Basic access. The survey asked participants to respond to 13 questions about access to:
* Food
* Shelter
* Healthcare
* Satisfying place to live
Access to food includes being able to get fresh fruits and vegetables and the distance one has to go to obtain groceries. Shelter with the quality, affordability and general satisfaction with one's housing. Healthcare includes whether or not one has insurance, availability of doctors, dentists, emergency services, etc. And finally, the overall dimension of "satisfying place to live" includes things like parks, recreational opportunities, neighborhood amenities, city resources, etc. And while a place does not have to be perfect for you to be happy, you can improve the overall quality of your city or town by putting energy into improving basic access to these important components of life.
As I've said before, your happiness isn't based on geography. What surveys like this one provide us, though, is a way to improve our own lives and our own communities by looking at the external elements that contribute to happiness and how we can maximize them both individually and collectively. Focus on these six dimensions in your own life, and happier days await you!
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