Happiness can be learned, but you have to work to achieve it: says study carried out at the University of Bristol

It is possible for us to learn to be happy. However, we only obtain lasting benefits if we continue to practice, revealed a new, unprecedented study, carried out by scientists at the University of Bristol.

happiness course
Those who take this course, provided by the University of Bristol, and maintain their learning over time experience a significant improvement in their well-being.

The team responsible for the "Science of Happiness" course at University of Bristol, no Reino Unido, had already discovered that teaching students the latest scientific studies on happiness created a marked improvement in their well-being.

However, their latest study found that these well-being boosts are short-lived unless the habits learned on the course - such as gratitude, exercise, meditation or journaling - are maintained over the long term.

"It's like going to the gym - we can't expect to do one class and stay in shape forever. As with physical health, we have to continually work on our mental health, otherwise improvements are temporary." Professor Bruce Hood, one of the authors of this study.

Launched in 2018, the University of Bristol's Science of Happiness course was the first of its kind in the UK. It involves no exams or coursework, and teaches students what the latest peer-reviewed studies in psychology and neuroscience say is what really makes us happy.

Happiness Course: does it really work?

Students who attended the course recorded a 10 to 15% improvement in their well-being. However, only those who continued to apply the course learning maintained this improvement in well-being when they were surveyed again two years later.

This study, published in the journal Higher Education, is the first to track the well-being of students in a happiness course long after they have dropped out of the course.

Professor Hood says this study shows that simply attending a course - whether at the gym, a meditation retreat or an evidence-based happiness course, like this one - is just the beginning: you need to commit to to regularly use what is learned.

Hood also emphasises that much of what they teach in this course revolves around positive psychology interventions that divert our attention from ourselves, helping others, being with friends, giving thanks or meditating.

This is the opposite of the current doctrine of "self-care," but countless studies have shown that getting out of our own heads helps us to dispel the negative thoughts that can be the cause of so many mental health problems.

Professor Hood described the course of the Science of Happiness in a new book, released on March 10th of this year. "Science of Happiness: Seven Lessons for Living Well" reveals an evidence-based roadmap for improving well-being.
The book's other authors are colleagues Catherine Hobbs and Sarah Jelbert, academics at the University of Bristol, and Laurie R. Santos, an academic in Yale whose course inspired Bristol's Science of Happiness course.

Reference of the news:
Hobbs C., Jelbert S., Santos L., et al. Long-term analysis of a psychoeducational course on university students’ mental well-being. Higher Education (2024).