Increasing Happiness With Evidence-Based Techniques

According to The Guardian, lockdown measures significantly increased levels of stress, anxiety, and depression in the UK. And according to the American Psychological Society, Americans across the pond also felt the stress of living in lockdown. It has been a stressful year for many of us. In light of this, we want to dedicate this episode to happiness and explore what makes us happy, along with actions we can take to improve our levels of happiness in our everyday lives, based on psychological research. Today we are joined by Dr. Alan Chu, an Assistant Professor and Chair of the Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology Program at the University of Wisconsin. He joins us on the show to discuss research relating to happiness based on positive psychology, the PERMA model (Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment), and how to implement practices based on this model in our everyday lives. In this episode, you will learn Dr. Chu's four steps and how to incorporate these happiness practices in your daily life. In addition to Dr. Chu, we are joined by Dr. Mike Rucker, Chief Digital Officer for Active Wellness, a company that delivers wellness services to inspire people toward a healthy, active life. He is also the author of The Fun Habit that will be coming out next year. He joins us to discuss why he believes traditional psychological research into happiness is inaccurate, and what we should aim to achieve in order to obtain a greater level of happiness in our everyday lives.