For an earlier PREVENTOMICS blog post, project partner OCU conducted a large survey to identify which behaviour changes end users perceive to be the easiest and the most difficult. According to the people surveyed, the lifestyle habits easiest to change were the following:
- Eating better (e.g.: more fruit and vegetables, less processed products, etc.): 52%.
- Doing more physical exercise: 15%.
- Getting enough sleep: 13%.
- Managing time better in daily life: 12%.
- Other: 8% (including improving emotional well-being 5% and giving up smoking 3%.
On the other hand, the lifestyle habits that were more difficult to change were:
- Improving emotional well-being: 30%.
- Doing more physical exercise: 19%.
- Managing time better in daily life: 17%.
- Giving up smoking: 14%.
- Getting enough sleep: 12%.
- Eating better: 8%.
First of all, it is interesting to observe that several behavioural changes are found to be both the easiest and the most difficult to change. Eating better, doing more physical exercise and getting enough sleep are on both sides of the spectrum. But this is also not surprising given that everyone’s experiences and everyday lives are different. Lifestyle habits, such as doing more physical exercise, are not easy to change, but coming up with ways to achieve it is at least pretty straight forward.
Improving wellbeing and increasing happiness
Therefore, I will discuss the behaviour that is found to be most difficult to change: improving emotional well-being. Improving emotional well-being is complicated. For the purpose of this short blog, I will focus on one component within this complex target: increasing happiness.
Happiness is not the result of bouncing from one joy to the next; researchers found that achieving happiness typically involves times of considerable discomfort. Genetic makeup, life circumstances, achievements, marital status, social relationships, even your neighbours—all influence how happy you are. Or can be. So do individual ways of thinking and expressing feelings. Research shows that much of happiness is under personal control.
We often think of happiness as subjective well-being, based on a set of emotions and feelings. And of course, if you ask someone if they are happy, they will probably reflect on how they feel. An unhappy person will think of their feelings of sadness, perhaps some negative emotions or absence of joy. And most would say they want to feel better.
It’s not easy to think yourself happy. But you can boost your happiness through your actions. And you can maintain and nurture your happiness with what you do. This works both ways, you can also maintain unhappiness with what you do. Happiness is a consequence of what we do and how we behave. So, when a person who is unhappy shifts their focus and does something different, they help themselves can become happier. Professor Fletcher puts it simply: if you want to be happier you have to do something different — you have to do new things.
Before the PREVENTOMICS project, Professor Fletcher translated a set of Ten Keys to Happier Living variables into actions (Do’s) and created a Do Happiness programme. The programme helped users align their habits and behaviours with the GREAT DREAM factors in order to boost their happiness levels. Action for Happiness synthesised the list of Ten Keys to Happier Living from the latest research in psychology and related fields.
The GREAT DREAM factors advocate amongst others:
- Giving – do things for others
- Relating – connect with people
- Exercising – taking care of your body
- Appreciating – awareness of what you do and the world around you
- Trying Out – doing new things
- Direction – doing things towards a goal
- Resilience – bouncing back after something negative
- Emotion – being positive about what you do
- Acceptance – that we all have faults and that things go wrong
- Meaning – being part of something bigger
Researchers measured happiness and depression levels in Do Happiness users after one week, one month, three months and six months. For the relatively small Do Something Different-style intervention, the results were astounding.
The Do-omics behaviour change programme designed in PREVENTOMICS is based on the Do Something Different intervention. Besides Do’s that target healthy nutrition, physical activity and sleep, a significant amount of Do’s also target general happiness.
When the project is finalised and the analysis has been done, we will find out whether the Do-omics programmes had a positive impact on people’s happiness. For now, I can share another Do that was part of Do-omics and is aimed at increasing your happiness:
THE PRESENT. Ban the past and future from your thoughts or self-talk today. Write down the good things that are in your life right now, this very moment! – Finding the positive perks up your well-being. Take the time to feel grateful. —
About the authors
Sander van Berlo
Director at Onmi B.V. with a focus on design and business development. For the past five years he has focussed on the design and implementation of Onmi technology that interprets and helps change behaviour. He holds a master’s degree in industrial design from the University of Technology Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Contact email: sander[at]onmi.design.
