isolated from their compatriots.
This assumption is based on outdated
information, however. Suicide rates in Finland
and the other Nordic countries have been
falling since the 1980s, and they are now
approaching the European average. The causes
of suicide are notoriously complex and may
be only partly related to the factors that
influence overall life satisfaction in the
general population. But these statistics
don’t demonstrate a dark downside to the
countries’ generally happy lifestyles.
Finally, there are some common
misconceptions about the effects of
immigration. Some commentators had argued
that ethnically diverse countries will struggle
to reach a high level of happiness, thanks to the
tensions between different cultural groups
and the difficulties of cultural integration.
While it is true that the number of immigrants
in Finland is fairly low, other Nordic countries,
such as Sweden, have taken in many foreigners,
yet it also ranks highly in The World Happiness
Report. Indeed, an analysis in the 2018 edition
found that in the top 10 happiest countries,
immigrants made up around 17 per cent of the
population. This was about twice the world
average. “The number of immigrants within
a country just doesn’t seem to correlate with
happiness levels,” concludes Martela.
Given all the evidence, Easterlin suggests
that Nordic nations offer a potential path for
many other governments to follow. “Europe –Marriage brings
a boost in life
satisfaction
that tends to
wane over
the yearscourse. The one in question
is run by the charity Action for
Happiness and, like Santos’s
course, it teaches techniques
such as mindfulness, the
keeping of gratitude journals,
ways to reappraise stressful
events and tips to improve social
relationships, alongside the
scientific ideas behind the
suggestions.
The participants were
randomly allocated to take the
course immediately or be put
on a waiting list. Like Santos, the
researchers found that people’s
life satisfaction improved while
taking the course and that these
benefits continued for at least
two months after the workshops
had finished.
Overall, the gains in well-being
were equivalent to finding
employment or meeting a
romantic partner. “It testifies
to the fact that, if you offer
people a way of getting a better
perspective on what’s really
important and the tools to move
in that direction, they will do so,”
says Richard Layard, a co-
director of the Community
Wellbeing Programme at the
London School of Economics
and one of the study’s co-
authors. The benefits could
also be seen in the participants’
anxiety levels, which dropped
over the course, and their
perceptions of social trust.
COULD DO BETTER
Richard Easterlin at the
University of Southern California,
who has pioneered research into
the social and economic factors
that influence our happiness,
is also passionate about this
approach. “We started educating
children about the adverse
effects of smoking and the
result has been an enormous
improvement in public health.
And I think we can do the same
for mental well-being,” he says.
Such success stories should
be accompanied by a note of
caution. There is now some
evidence that the pursuit of
happiness can backfire if it
becomes all-consuming. Keeping
a gratitude journal appears to be
effective if it is used once a week,
for instance, but it can slightly
reduce well-being if used
more than three times a week.
It seems that the technique may
become a burden if it is practised
too regularly, particularly if
someone is going through a
stressful time when true
blessings are hard to find.
More generally, it seems that
an excessive focus on happiness
can lead certain people to
measure their life against an
unrealistic ideal. This results
in them interpreting the
occasional bad mood as a failure
to meet their happiness goals,
an attitude that could exacerbate
the bad feelings. It could even
make good experiences lose
their lustre if they fail to match
up to elevated expectations.
Overall, the result seems to
be similar to those social
comparisons that harm life
satisfaction – except in this
case, you are competing with
a figment of your imagination.
There seems little doubt that
we can learn to be happier, but
we should be realistic about
what we can achieve and
recognise that the path to a
better life may be a winding road
with ups and downs. You cannot
eliminate every negative feeling,
but with some science-backed
strategies, you can shift the
balance so that the troughs in
your mood are shallower and
the peaks are more frequent.Continued from page 44
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