SubooNews Your Trusted News Source
The five most cited strategies in the media as ways to increase happiness are expressing gratitude, improving sociability, exercise, meditation or mindfulness, and being more connected to nature. However, according to a systematic review published this week in the journal Nature Human Behavior, significant research is still needed before its effectiveness can be accurately confirmed, as most of the studies analyzed in this regard lack strong scientific evidence according to current criteria.
This, the authors defend, does not necessarily mean that these strategies do not promote well-being, but it does mean that the area of happiness needs more scrutiny. So far from everything has been said about how to be happy.
Dunigan Faulk and Elizabeth Dunn of the University of British Columbia, Canada, were the first to identify the most common tips in the press for improving well-being using the Internet. After five major strategies were discovered, they analyzed the literature published on the subject and identified 49 articles and 532 studies. In nearly 95% of experiments with exposure to nature, exercise, or mindfulness and meditation, they found that there was not enough statistical power to detect measurable benefits. Only 57 of these studies were pre-registered (thus following specific methodologies) or included well-designed experiments testing the effects of these strategies on self-reported well-being in a sufficient number of healthy subjects.
Daily gratitude in the form of a diary is a very popular self-help method.
Research standards in psychology have changed a lot over the past decade: scientific practices that were not common before, such as previous registration, have become commonplace.
In nearly 95% of their experiments with environmental exposure, exercise, or meditation, they found that there was not enough statistical power.
Peter Malinowski, professor of health psychology at Liverpool John Moores University (UK), said of the article that it is “a reflection of how research practice has changed. It is becoming more and more common to pre-register empirical studies, and more and more attention is paid to force analysis (research).
The authors’ conclusion is that, when judged by modern standards of empirical rigor, few studies are true. So, based on these studies, there aren’t many conclusions that can be drawn about whether different “happiness strategies” work.
“We cannot conclude that all other empirical work, often published before these new standards have been established, is useless. In fact, for many research questions, there are meta-analyses that suggest the effectiveness of such approaches and that, at least to some extent, they can mitigate the effects due to lack of prior reporting or low power,” he adds.
We cannot conclude that all other empirical work, often published before these new standards have been established, is useless.
In the forest baths, it is recommended to lie on the ground in order to connect with the natural space.
The authors of the study note that there may be an erroneous opinion that everything has already been said about happiness. “If we stick to the current norm, then they are not. But if the scientific effort continues, it will always be so: norms will continue to change. It is useful to remember this and not fall into extremism, “casting aside” everything that was before, ”says a professor at John Moores University.
Bruce Hood, professor of developmental psychology at the University of Bristol (UK), author of the book The Science of Happiness, which will be published next year, agrees. “Despite the large number of studies reviewed, almost all of them were poorly conducted, making them vulnerable to publication. This is not to say that there is no evidence to support these interventions, but until we have a significant body of well-designed research, we should consider these recommendations as tentative rather than firmly established.”
read also
