Health

All these prongs matter for happiness, and they're all interventions we can try, regardless of our circumstances or genetic background. They're simple changes that can really improve our well-being.

Psychologist known for teaching popular "Science of Well-Being" course at Yale

I think social media is a great example of this. It feels a little bit like social connection, but I often joke that it's the 'NutraSweet' version—it seems good but doesn't deliver the psychological benefit we expect.

Psychologist known for teaching popular "Science of Well-Being" course at Yale

If we treat the mind and body as one unit, then wherever we put the mind, we necessarily put the body—and that opens up enormous possibilities for control.

Harvard psychologist & researcher in mindfulness and the psychology of possibility

Our research over the past 45+ years shows that when you're actively noticing, your neurons are firing, and that's literally and figuratively enlivening. And what do we do when we're having fun? We notice, we engage. So mindfulness is not just beneficial—it's enjoyable.

Harvard psychologist & researcher in mindfulness and the psychology of possibility

I mean, people ask me, 'Should I do a startup?' And I say, 'Well, how important is work-life balance to you?' And if they say anything other than 'It's not important,' I say, 'You shouldn't do it.' Because it's a killing field.

Anxiety is a feeling problem, and basically, you need to speak to that feeling problem with a feeling solution. You can't fix a feeling problem with a thinking solution, which is, I think, why most traditional therapies fail. They try and talk you out of a feeling, which never works.

As soon as you get close to this thing we need to heal, the anxiety comes up to try to pull us away as it did when we were a child, and that's why anxiety is so hard to heal. Because as soon as you get close to it, you want to pull away.

Anxiety isn't one thing, it's two. It's the anxieties of the mind, but it's also this alarm state, this state of constant protective hyper vigilant alarm, physiological activity in the body. And each of them energises the other.

I think when you have early trauma that gets disrupted, your mind gets separated from your body. Your mind becomes this sort of distracted, dissociated place to go when this alarm in your body—if your parents are screaming at each other or your dad's an alcoholic—there's only so much a child can take.

But when it comes to claims like 'pets alleviate depression,' there's really no solid evidence. In fact, the findings so far are pretty ambiguous. And in one study that found no significant overall effect, cat owners were actually more depressed than the control group.

Canadian science communicator and former host of Daily Planet

When you gaze into your dog's eyes, your oxytocin level—the so-called 'love hormone'—rises, and the same thing happens in your dog. It's a powerful pair bond. More recently, though, researchers have found the same effect with cats.

Canadian science communicator and former host of Daily Planet

If we want to build or maintain function, we need to apply a stimulus. And then, as much as we can, we need to provide the environment that allows us to best adapt to that stimulus.

We have a significant ability to change our cognitive trajectory. But first, we need to believe it's possible. And second, we need to engage in the things that allow it to happen.

What they found was that the majority of people — above 50% — maintained cognitive function from their 50s into their 80s. We knew this more than fifty years ago.

When those inputs are removed, it starts to prune function and structure, because those functions aren't needed anymore. It's still that same process — we just call it ageing. And it happens because we've removed physical activity, cognitive stimulus, and social connection. The brain responds accordingly.

If dementia is preventable, it means we're changing the trajectory of cognitive decline — which means that trajectory isn't inevitable.