Case Studies, Surveys and Research On Happiness And Mental Health
Everybody likes a success story, a new study or an interesting survey (okay, most people at least).
Now that we've reached the final section of the Learn How To Be Happy blog, it's finally time to show:
- Actual case studies of people who have followed parts of this guide on how to be happy.
- New survey results and interesting data studies
- Interviews with some of the most inspiring people about happiness
Over the years, I've been lucky enough to meet people from all sorts of backgrounds and talked with them about happiness. What did we have in common? We all wanted to understand 100% of our happiness and get happier in the process.
Latest articles
Be part of the (new!) happiness survey that will shed light on some of the happiness “facts” that are most often assumed to be true. By joining, you’ll have a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card!
This is the post I’ve been wanting to write ever since I started this website. My biggest passion is running. I love it and know that it heavily improves my happiness. In this post, I set out to find out how much exactly. This data-driven essay answers how much running really influences my happiness.
I’m extremely happy to share this article with you. Here’s the inspiring story of how Justin gained control over his life by tracking his happiness. He’s been able to create sustainable habits that allow him to be the best version of himself!
A little while ago, I got to know Justin. We started talking when he e-mailed me with some questions about how to track your happiness.
As we got to know each other better, he shared how he was able to find happiness again by working (hard) on creating habits and writing down his thoughts and progress.
This is what he had to say:
I’ve had the pleasure of using Hugo’s happiness tracker for a couple of months now. The happiness tracker changed my life.
I’ve talked about this process to a few friends and family. I hope others can see how even minor entries can lead to huge changes. Start slowly by tracking your weekends or your Mondays. I've found that when you try to document every day, it’ll be difficult to carve out time with the list of other responsibilities you might have.
If you have any questions, I know Hugo is always helpful and responds right away to emails. If I can ever be of any help or simply want me to listen to your story, please feel free to reach out.
If you want to read more about Justin's inspiring story, here's his full case study:
I’m extremely happy to share this article with you. Here’s the inspiring story of how Justin gained control over his life by tracking his happiness. He’s been able to create sustainable habits that allow him to be the best version of himself!
Here's another actual example of how a friend of mine found happiness again. I got to know Sanjay as he started to track his happiness, in addition to writing down his thoughts and journaling. He found happiness once he ended a toxic relationship, which he only realized was the culprit once he wrote down exactly what he was unhappy about.
This is what Sanjay had to say:
Around the time I started tracking my happiness, I was trapped in a toxic relationship. I didn't realise it at the time though, so I kept trying my best to fix things, not realising that my girlfriend didn't want our relationship to improve.
Looking back, there were many warning signs: The verbal abuse, the deception, irresponsibility and lack of mutual respect. I ignored many of these signs because I really wanted the relationship to work.
During this time, I became extremely unhappy and my happiness data indicated that I was at an all time low. Even though it was clearly this relationship that was causing most of it, I couldn't bring myself to leave.
Eventually, I reached my breaking point and left her for good. I had also been living in an extremely pessimistic environment up until then, and I left that too. My happiness levels started shooting upwards and began to stabilise.
Looking back on my journal from that period, it astounds me that I allowed myself to stay in that situation for so long. I could see from the way I was writing about my experiences at the time that I was completely blind to the real issues in my life and wasn't thinking rationally.
If you want to read more about Sanjay's story, here's his full case study:
This is the first community post here on Tracking Happiness. Joining us here is Sanjay, and he is about to share what he has learned from tracking his happiness for the past half year. It began with a simple routine of recording my happiness levels every day. He didn’t think too much of it at the time, but soon enough his life started changing. This first community post shows exactly how he improved his life!
Here's another example that I'm very happy to have witnessed.
As this website has slowly grown over time, it also started getting more exposure. Up untill one day, I received a comment from Alejandro Cencerrado, who turned out to be a happiness expert at the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark.
It turned out that he is just as excited about tracking happiness as I am! Here's why:
I have been tracking my own happiness for 13 years (more specifically, at the time I am writing this, I have been tracking it for 4,920 days).
If I have to give some advice based on my data, it's that feeling “blue” once in a while is an inherent part of life, and that the best thing you can do is just to accept it; you can not be happy forever (neither unhappy).
There were a lot of things that we talked about, which I summarized in this interview below:
A couple of weeks ago, I got in touch with Alex, an analyst at the Happiness Research Institute. Turns out Alex has tracked his happiness for the last 13 years! He lives and breathes like a data analyst, and happens to be passionate about happiness just like all of us! In this interview, he shares how he started, what he has learned from tracking his happiness and explains some of the work he does regarding happiness research!
I'm always looking for more stories!
If you feel like you have a good story to share, or if you want to show others what you've learned on your way to happiness, I'd be honored to talk to you.
Even if you just want to say hi or start a discussion, I'm all ears!
You can either send me an email at [email protected] or alternatively, sign up below for a more structured approach!
You can be happier. Discover how with my free template!
- Track your happiness every day
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All articles
Be part of the (new!) happiness survey that will shed light on some of the happiness “facts” that are most often assumed to be true. By joining, you’ll have a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card!
This is the post I’ve been wanting to write ever since I started this website. My biggest passion is running. I love it and know that it heavily improves my happiness. In this post, I set out to find out how much exactly. This data-driven essay answers how much running really influences my happiness.
I’m extremely happy to share this article with you. Here’s the inspiring story of how Justin gained control over his life by tracking his happiness. He’s been able to create sustainable habits that allow him to be the best version of himself!
This essay covers the question “what is happiness” in great detail. Happiness changes from person to person. There is no universal definition of happiness. You have to find your own definition, and you can do so with the help of this essay!
At the end of 2018, I entered a chaotic period that lasted until January 2019. During this period, I noticed some clear symptoms of burnout. This post is about what I’ve learned from journaling throughout this burnout period.
The Happiness Index is a single measure that indicates the happiness of a country. It sounds simple, but a lot of effort is required to calculate this number. This article is a quick introduction to this Happiness Index, and what you can learn from it.
This is the world’s first happiness prediction model. This essay explains how it’s been built from start to finish, with numerous animations and supporting visualizations. It’s actually the most in-depth happiness essay I’ve ever published.
Today, I’m interviewing Matt Welsh. He made the decision to shift careers entirely after finding his true passion in life. After a stressful career in law, he finally followed his heart and went back to school to study psychology. And it paid off! He is now a happy clinical psychologist, and never regretted his decision for even a moment.
As a follow-up to my first sleep study, I have analyzed 1,272 nights of sleep and happiness tracking data in order to find out if waking up early has any influence on my happiness! This study includes my entire set of data, from my wacky sleep rhythm to my alarm clock times. I embark on a journey to find out if waking up early is beneficial for my happiness.
A couple of weeks ago, I got in touch with Alex, an analyst at the Happiness Research Institute. Turns out Alex has tracked his happiness for the last 13 years! He lives and breathes like a data analyst, and happens to be passionate about happiness just like all of us! In this interview, he shares how he started, what he has learned from tracking his happiness and explains some of the work he does regarding happiness research!