What do we do with our leisure time: what truly makes us happy or what’s easy?
do what's easy. Via The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work: Studies have found that American teenagers are two and half times more likely to experience elevated enjoyment when engaged in a hobby than when watching TV, and three times more likely when playing a sport. And yet here’s the paradox: These same teenagers spend four times as many hours watching TV as they do engaging in sports or hobbies.…
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This Will Keep You Calm When The Stakes Are High
nie Murphy Paul's great piece in Time Magazine answers the question: Reminding yourself of the high stakes makes intuitive sense as a motivational strategy—but it will actually impede your performance. Instead of spurring you to new heights, it’s likely to increase anxiety and undermine your confidence. Research shows that reminding yourself how unimportant the event is in the big scheme of things is a better tactic... A number of studies she mentions have shown that exercises like writing about our most cherished…
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10 ways a little bit of writing can solve all your problems:
iting has been shown to help people: Feel happier. Lose weight. Get over a break-up. Improve memory and increase learning. Get a job. Speed healing. Strengthen relationships. Follow through with their goals. Get over the past. Reduce worrying and increase performance. Don't like writing? How about a little more reading? It can: Treat loneliness. Make you a nicer person. Join over 135,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email here.
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Orgasms Make You Live Longer
a Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex: Are there other nonsexual health benefits to be derived from orgasm? Affirmative, say Rutgers University sex researchers Barry Komisaruk and Beverly Whipple. Their readable and comprehensive The Science of Orgasm says that people who have regular orgasms seem to have less stress and enjoy lower rates of heart disease, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and endometriosis. They also appear to live longer. British researcher G. Davey Smith and two colleagues calculated that…
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8 Powerful Things That Will Inspire You To A Better Life
ght ways to inspire yourself to get to the next level in life, with links to the research behind them: To have meaning in your life you need a story. You need to reflect on how things could have been and why they turned out the way they did. Seeing that things had a direction and a purpose provides meaning. Can't figure out what your long term goals are? Imagine your funeral. To make radical changes in your life you…
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Does pride make us selfish?
. Via The Science of Sin: The Psychology of the Seven Deadlies (and Why They Are So Good For You): If the proud are the selfish, conceited, arrogant jerks that some believe them to be, then we would expect pride to be linked with lower volunteerism rates. In fact, the exact opposite was the case: The more pride people took in the work they did for their communities, the more hours of volunteer work they reported doing. Impressively, this was…
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5 Things You Need To Know About Habits
tips with links to the research that backs them up: You spend 40% of every day on autopilot, just performing habits. The secret to breaking bad habits is to not try to eliminate them but to replace them. You can resist bad habits by avoiding the triggers that make you want to do them. Context is key. The key to new good habits is to do the minimum and be consistent. To make good habits stick, create "if-then" plans…
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How To Relieve Pain Using Psychology: 10 Tips From Research
me insights on how to relieve pain using psychology, with links to the studies: Clutch some money. Don't curl up in a ball. Sit up straight. Swear. Laugh. Listen to good music. Have a healthy relationship. Look at your body. Don't close your eyes when you get that injection. Look at a photo of a loved one. Better yet, get a massage from a loved one. Try being nice, overall. Pain hurts more if the person hurting you means it and doctors…
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