Taking advantage of the thick blanket of snow -- and the day off from classes -- some Tufts students got in touch with their gleeful inner children over the extended weekend by sledding, engaging in snowball fights, and building snowmen (and snowwomen). Those students pursued happiness in their own small way -- and according to a recent TIME Magazine cover story on the science of happiness, many other individuals are doing the same. In the first "By the Numbers" of the semester, the Daily takes a look at some of the many factors that affect happiness levels.
78% Americans who feel happy "all or most of the time"
5% Americans who feel happy "not very often"
3.4 Days per month that people aged 20-24 "feel sad," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
2.3 Days per month that people aged 65-74 "feel sad"
3-10X How much more common clinical depression is today than it was two generations ago
63% Women who say they talk to their family and friends in order to improve their mood
51% Men who say they do so
25%Men who say they have sex in order to improve their mood
18% Women who say they do so
50%How much of a person's satisfaction with his or her life is estimated to be genetically determined, according to a 1996 study by University of Minnesota researcher David Lykken
8% How much of a person's satisfaction with his or her life is determined by "circumstantial factors" (income, education, marital status, religion), according to Lykken
4,000 Sets of twins (who have identical genetic makeup) studied by Lykken to reach these conclusions
30X How much more frequently laughter occurs in social situations than solitary ones
1,800 Number of "giggle clubs" -- in which people come together to laugh for no reason other than promoting happiness -- in India
1,000 Number of "Certified Laughter Leaders" -- who travel to hospitals and nursing homes to spread laughter -- in the US
$50,000 Happiness increases up until this level of annual household income; happiness levels out as income increases beyond this
$43,000 Median annual U.S. household income
The statistics cited above come from TIME Magazine and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
