According to happiness researcher Jessica Weiss, that saying “money can’t buy happiness” isn’t really true. Science backs her up, as it’s found money actually can absolutely buy happiness, but only some purchases trigger it. Being strategic about splurging is the key.
Weiss says you shouldn’t feel guilty about spending money on these eight things because they’ll boost your happiness in the long-run.⠀
- Live music - Going to a concert and belting out your favorite songs with thousands of strangers can be a true mood-boosting experience. Singing together releases oxytocin, the “bonding hormone,” and endorphins that create a “buzzy feeling of connection” in the crowd that’s known as “collective effervescence.” Research also shows that group singing lowers cortisol levels and creates a feeling of belonging that can last long after the end of the show.
- Novel experiences - Our brains love new experiences, which trigger the release of dopamine, and when we do them with friends, neuroscience shows it “supercharges the happiness effect”
- Time-saving purchases - Treating yourself to a meal delivery service or house cleaner is more of a mental health investment than a luxury. According to research, time-saving purchases ease stress more than buying material things.
- Activities that boost your relationships - Harvard researchers have spent more than 80 years studying people and found close relationships predict happiness better than money, fame or genetics. So going to dinner with friends or buying a plane ticket to visit your sister is like a “deposit into your emotional retirement account.”
- Being generous to others - Our brain’s reward system activates more intensely when we spend on others rather than ourselves. Known as the “helper’s high,” it’s that warm rush you feel when you treat a bestie to lunch or donate to a cause you care about.
- Small joys - Our brains’ pleasure systems like several small hits more than one big one, so buying a $4 coffee twice a week brings more total joy than one $400 splurge.
- Counterintuitive challenges - Things like cold water plunges and mastering difficult skills - known as “earned pleasures” - can create long-term satisfaction.
- Making plans in advance - Having something fun to look forward to creates what Weiss calls a “happiness triple play” - anticipation joy, experience joy and memory joy. Planning a vacation boosts happiness as soon as you book it, long before you head to the airport.⠀
Source: CNBC