Dr. Mark D. Holder University of British Columbia CATCH: Community Action Toward Children’s Health 11-February-2014 The Science of Happiness in Children

Medical Model Psychology, Medicine, Psychiatry, and Neuroscience have traditionally focused on what’s wrong with you and how do we fix it.

Alice in Wonderland Syndrome

Research Bias -Search for “Depression” - 334,581 references -Search for “Happiness” -23,571 references 7% -Academic Articles

Last 15 months only 7% → 6%

Positive Psychology After a century of studying human weaknesses and dysfunction, positive psychology is about the habits and motivations that underlie human flourishing

Happy People -Exercise -Have relationships -Enjoy nature -Help others -Have hobbies -Express gratitude -Are spiritual

Isn’t this all just common sense? 1)Very Cheerful Children 2)Imaginary Friends 3)Rewards 4)Math Scores and Happiness at School 5)Parent’s Marital Status

The Faces Scale “Overall, how do you usually feel?” Very Unhappy Very Happy very happy

MeasureCanadaZambia UN Human Development Index6 th 164th Life expectancy80.7 yrs42.4 yrs GDP per capita$50,496$1,414 Adult literacy rate99%80.6% HIV/AIDS prevalence (15-49 yrs)0.30 %15.20%

Happiness & Having Children

Daily Activities and Happiness Housework Being with your Children Grocery shopping Eating Friends

Choices and Happiness More choices = better results (more customized) More choices = more freedom Success: 285 varieties of cookies, 75 iced teas, and 175 salad dressings 6.5 million stereo combinations

More Choices = Less Happiness Increased choice can lead to: 1)Paralysis 2)Easier to imagine better choices 3)Increased expectation 4)Self blame

More Choices = Less Happiness Buying jam: 6 vs 20 choices Children’s coloring: 3 crayons vs 24 crayons

Maximizers vs Satisficers Channel surfing Hotel choices Maximizers make better decisions –Get better deals on hotels –Get higher paying jobs

Maximizers vs Satisficers But maximizers are less happy with their choices Online Dating Good news is that this can be changed

Choose Optimism

Optimism is positively correlated with: 1)Self esteem 2)Health 3)Happiness 4)High morale And negatively correlated with: 1)Depression 2)Anxiety 3)Loneliness 4)Stress

Pessimism is linked with: 1)Increased risk of accidental death 2)Increased risk of violent death

Hope and Academics Hope at start of semester predicts: –Anticipated grade –Actual grade But hope is not correlated with IQ

Cultivate Optimism Write about your ideal/best future self (2 times in one week for 20 minutes using multiple domains)

The Downside of Optimism - With too much optimism, you may not take smart and cautionary steps

Choose to Laugh Choose to Smile

Debbie-Downers of laughing Plato thought laughter was ugly and could lead to undermining authority and lead people to overthrow the state

Debbie-Downers of laughing Lord Chesterfield advised his son to be like him and never laugh in public

George Vasey (1875) wrote “The philosophy of laughter and smiling”. He concluded that smiling should replace all laughter. Laughter was unnatural and drove its adherence to violent acts to promote more laughter. It distorts the face and leads to children’s death. Victorian fear of laughter perhaps contributed to the evil laugh

Babies begin laughing at 2-4 months of age This seems true globally Not the result of parents’ influence Blind babies and deaf babies laugh at same age

Smiling Signs of smiling start at weeks of gestation

How often do we smile? 30% of people smile more than 20 times daily 14% smile fewer than 5 times daily Children smile 400 times per day

Smiling predicts... Social relationships and life satisfaction 3.5 years later (Facebook)

Preventing Smiling Judging the smiles of others Botox and brain activity

Understanding and Showing Emotions is Important

Laughter across species Laughter is seen in chimps (and perhaps rats and gorillas) If play recordings of dogs “laughing” to other stressed dogs they calm down

Health Benefits of Laughter Laughter opens and dilates blood vessels (increases circulation and oxygenation of blood) Decreases blood pressure and muscle tension Decreases arrhythmia in cardiac rehab Decreases bronchial responsiveness in asthmatics Increased levels of melatonin in breast milk

Give yourself permission to laugh

Bhutan In Bhutan, happiness (they define it more like peaceful serenity) is the most important driver of government policy

A Big Thanks Dr Ben Coleman – Okanagan College Graduate Students: Judi Wallace Andrea Klassen Rob Callaway Ashley Love Maxine Crawford Undergraduate Students: Tabatha Freimuth Zoë Sehn Tim Krupa and Gene Krupa Funding: Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Ogopogo Rotary Club UBC Okanagan Internal Grants & Travel Grants Joan Rundle (private donation) BrainTrust Canada Mitacs Okanagan Sustainability Institute