10 unnecessary stupid facts about happiness

Het lijkt misschien gek wat ik ga zeggen. Zonneschijn, ze is heeeeeer, je kunt even pauzeren. A combination of satisfaction, fulfillment, and meaning, you can call it happiness. Did you know this already?

1. Your genes and upbringing only determine 50 percent of your happiness level. 40 percent is caused by your outlook on life and the choices you make (think about friendships, work) and 10 percent by external circumstances.

2. Does money make you happy? Only up to about 65,000 euros per year according to research by Princeton professors Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton. Above that amount, it all depends on how you define happiness. Aha.

3. For the wisest people on earth know: happiness is a lifelong pursuit. A kind of ritual that must be created, identified, and maintained. Yep: prizes, achievements, and parties are temporary moments when you feel happiness, but true sustainable happiness is a never-ending pursuit.

4. Just 20 minutes of moderate to intense exercise three days a week will increase your happiness by 10 to 20 percent.

5. Success does not make you happy; according to researchers, it is exactly the other way around. Happy people are more successful. They are more confident, optimistic, energetic, and social, and that leads to success.

6. It's also nice to know: smiling stimulates the feel-good areas in your brain even more than chocolate and money. Yes, even if you fake that smile. So even fake laughing works on a bad day.

7. Strange but true: happiness has its own scent. Your scent changes when you are stressed or happy.

8. Super score: happiness increases as you get older. It's a fact: the older you get, the happier you are. Why? Older people remember the good times more than the sadder times.

9. Or to be even more concrete: people between the ages of 20-24 feel sad for 3 to 4 months a year (quite a lot!), while people between 65-74 only feel a little down for 2 to 3 days a month.

10. The more you hug your children, the happier they will become as adults.

P.S.: Okay, a little bonus happiness then, just for the taking. You rock. No really, you are a beautiful person. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Image: Kirsten van Santen