{"id":74770,"date":"2024-03-20T15:29:50","date_gmt":"2024-03-20T21:29:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=74770"},"modified":"2025-03-03T11:14:17","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T18:14:17","slug":"a-surprising-key-to-happiness-do-less","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/a-surprising-key-to-happiness-do-less\/","title":{"rendered":"A surprising key to happiness: do less"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><figure id=\"attachment_74743\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-74743\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-74743\" src=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/03\/19103606\/Laurie-Santos-looser-office-photo-tiny.webp\" alt=\"Dr. Laurie Santos taught the most popular class in the history of Yale University and shares &quot;keys to happiness&quot; on The Happiness Lab podcast. Photo courtesy of Dr. Laurie Santos.\" width=\"640\" height=\"416\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-74743\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Laurie Santos taught the most popular class in the history of Yale University and shares &#8220;keys to happiness&#8221; on The Happiness Lab podcast. Photo courtesy of Dr. Laurie Santos.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Want to be happier? Try doing less.<\/p>\n<p>This seemingly counterintuitive advice comes from happiness guru, <a id=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.drlauriesantos.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dr. Laurie Santos<\/a>. She skyrocketed to fame after teaching the most popular class in the history of Yale University, \u201cPsychology and the Good Life.\u201d Hundreds of students signed up to learn how to be happier.<\/p>\n<p>Then Santos and Yale offered a free online version of the class called <a id=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.coursera.org\/learn\/the-science-of-well-being\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cThe Science of Well-Being,\u201d<\/a> and hundreds of thousands of people, then millions, (4.6 so far) signed up for the class. In 2019, Santos also launched her chart-topping podcast, <a id=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.drlauriesantos.com\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cThe Happiness Lab.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>All of Santos\u2019 advice about happiness is rooted in evidence from research.<\/p>\n<p>And when it came time for Santos to apply these lessons to her own life, an interesting thing happened.<\/p>\n<p>Like many women, <a id=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/yaledailynews.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/18\/laurie-santos-steps-down-as-silliman-head-of-college\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">she realized she was dealing with burnout<\/a>, and in order to be happier herself, she decided to simplify her life.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Burnout\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/967957116?h=58bbb82875&amp;dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Santos will share her insights as the keynote speaker for UCHealth\u2019s signature women\u2019s health event, evr\u0113, which takes place on April 6 in Denver. Pronounced \u201cevery,\u201d the event aims to help all women lead healthier lives. (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/readysetco\/evre\/\">Learn more about evr\u0113 and sign up to attend<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>When Santos visits Denver, she\u2019ll talk about how we all can rethink happiness to lead better lives. And she\u2019ll highlight 10 scientifically-proven tips for boosting mental health and reducing burnout and stress.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Among the top &#8216;keys to happiness&#8217; that Santos frequently cites are:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Prioritizing social connections.<\/li>\n<li>Practicing gratitude.<\/li>\n<li>Getting plenty of sleep.<\/li>\n<li>Eating a healthy diet.<\/li>\n<li>Helping others.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When Santos identified her own burnout, she also learned about the value of speaking openly about struggles.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Facing burnout and taking actions for a fix<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Along with her work as a professor and researcher at Yale, Santos used to serve as head of one of Yale\u2019s 14 residential communities called Silliman College. All students at Yale are assigned to live in one of the university\u2019s colleges where they can dine, relax, study and enjoy enrichment activities with one another. Santos and her husband, Yale philosopher Mark Maxwell, lived at Silliman, and Santos regularly advised students and helped create a popular coffee shop and wellness center at Silliman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs the head of college, you\u2019re like the CEO of that college or a benevolent aunt to many students,\u201d Santos said. \u201cSo, I would run events and make decisions about how the college was run.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the popularity of her happiness programs surged and the pandemic hit, Santos found that her time and energy for meaningfully engaging with students had declined sharply. She needed to heed the advice she shared with others, so she resigned as head of the college and uprooted herself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe decision to step away was a really big one. It involved moving and changing a lot of the ways I spent my time every day,\u201d Santos said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_74742\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-74742\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-74742\" src=\"https:\/\/uchealth-wp-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/03\/19103600\/Dr.-Laurie-Santos-headshot-tiny.webp\" alt=\"Dr. Laurie Santos had to make changes in her own life after realizing she was suffering from burnout. All of us can be happier if we adopt a counterintuitive approach: try doing less. Photo courtesy of Dr. Laurie Santos.\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-74742\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Laurie Santos had to make changes in her own life after realizing she was suffering from burnout. All of us can be happier if we adopt a counterintuitive approach: try doing less. Photo courtesy of Dr. Laurie Santos.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The pandemic was hard on the Yale community, as it was for so many other people, Santos said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a really tough time to be leading a group of students who couldn&#8217;t engage in the university in anything like the way they were engaging before, and I started experiencing a lot of the symptoms of burnout. I was emotionally exhausted,\u201d Santos said.<\/p>\n<p>Santos said she was also experiencing a phenomenon that experts call \u201cpersonal ineffectiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven if I did my job perfectly, I felt like I wouldn\u2019t be making a difference,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Santos also noticed another common symptom of burnout: cynicism, \u201cwhere everybody\u2019s just getting on your last nerve\u2026.and it\u2019s hard to feel compassion for people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even though she knew there\u2019d be plenty of chatter both at Yale and in the media about a happiness expert who was unhappy, Santos decided she had to give up her job as head of Silliman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI really needed to make a big change. It was a hard decision,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>And sure enough, word got out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was in the New York Times Magazine for talking about my burnout,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Stigma about openly discussing challenges is common, Santos said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut there may be a special stigma when you\u2019re \u2018supposed\u2019 to be an expert in this. What I realized is\u2026I wanted to be practicing what I preach to my students, and the feedback has been incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Along with students, younger scholars and staff members were grateful to Santos for speaking up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey said, \u2018thank you for doing this so publicly because it made it easier for me to make the decision to take time off and to realize that no one\u2019s perfect, and we all have to take care of ourselves,\u2019\u201d Santos said<\/p>\n<p>In addition to giving up some of her academic duties, Santos also took off a full year off.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBurnout doesn\u2019t just stop. You really need to make some serious changes,\u201d Santos said.<\/p>\n<p>She\u2019s lucky that professors get regular breaks known as sabbaticals. Many choose to do research in far-flung locales during their sabbaticals. But Santos also knows from her research that human connections and regular social interactions are vital to happiness. So, rather than living in a new community that might have felt lonely, Santos and her husband decided to spend their sabbatical year in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they have many friends and Santos had attended Harvard University for both college and graduate school.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI took action to try and fix the burnout,\u201d Santos said.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Filling herself up and embracing the benefits of subtraction<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The sabbatical proved to be fun and restorative.<\/p>\n<p>To nurture relationships, Santos and her friends held regular movie nights.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the biggest predictors of people\u2019s happiness is their sense of social connections. You\u2019re making time for friends and family and the people you care about,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe did a lot of dinner parties and movies every Monday,\u201d Santos said. \u201cIt gave me the routines and social connections that I had been missing after the pandemic. That was really huge for me, and I had a feeling that I was healing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome people came every week and others only came every once in a while. But it was this space where people could be social together and enjoy a new film together,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Santos also enjoyed her favorite physical activities: yoga and long walks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had the time to move my body. That\u2019s important,\u201d Santos said. \u201cOne of the reasons I love the Boston community is that it\u2019s not really a car city. People walk a lot, and I love walking during my daily life when it doesn\u2019t feel like exercise. I don\u2019t have to commit to going to a gym, but I get a lot of steps in. That was great for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Santos also enjoys keeping a journal.<\/p>\n<p>And she kept things as simple as possible during her year away, a lesson that could prove invaluable to people who overschedule themselves or their children.<\/p>\n<p>In a recent podcast episode, Santos teamed up with Tim Harford, host of \u201cCautionary Tales,\u201d for an episode called \u201cThe Happiness of Subtraction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Santos highlighted a concept that\u2019s tough for humans to embrace \u2014 especially overachievers \u2014 doing less.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt seems like we\u2019d all be much happier, maybe even healthier, if we could figure out the importance of sometimes doing nothing,\u201d Santos said.<\/p>\n<p>Or busy people could go a step further.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes, the best thing we can do is to actively take something away,\u201d Santos said.<\/p>\n<p>She notes that it\u2019s very hard for humans \u2014 especially those who are addicted to constant notifications from their phones and packed schedules \u2014 to choose to subtract and simplify.<\/p>\n<p>But Santos cited examples or travelers who try to pack in too many stops in a city like Washington, D.C., when, in fact, more down time, would prove relaxing, beneficial and perhaps even more memorable than gazillions of museums.<\/p>\n<p>And helicopter parents are notorious for constantly adding activities to children\u2019s lives when kids clearly would benefit from being less busy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCollege students today have oversubscribed schedules and never have time to do anything,\u201d Santos said. \u201cI think that\u2019s because they grew up in a generation where parents gave them so much to do that they got used to never having time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou want your kids to learn how to play soccer and to get piano lessons. And you definitely need them to get a math tutor and an SAT tutor and all of these things. So you pack your kids\u2019 schedule to the point that they have no time for rest, no time for play, no time for being social with kids their age,\u201d Santos said.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine the power of subtracting activities, rather than adding them, she said.<\/p>\n<p>The recipe for raising happier kids is relatively simple.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust take a bunch of stuff out of kids\u2019 schedules,\u201d Santos said.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Fostering happiness in young people: teaming up with teens and Big Bird<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Santos has been thinking a lot recently about how to foster greater happiness among young people. She has adapted her popular happiness for teens who can now access a free version online. <a id=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.drlauriesantos.com\/science-well-being-teens\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Check out \u201cThe Science of Well-Being for Teens.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>And she partnered with Big Bird, Abby Cadabby and Grover of \u201cSesame Street\u201d fame for a <a id=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/sesameworkshop.org\/about-us\/press-room\/happiness-lab-teams-up-with-sesame-workshop\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">three-episode series on \u201cThe Happiness Lab<\/a>\u201d to highlight concrete steps parents and families can use to boost wellness and happiness among children.<\/p>\n<p>The episodes explore how to help kids regulate their emotions and reduce negative self-criticism.<\/p>\n<p>Santos said it\u2019s never too early \u2014 or too late \u2014 to improve your emotional well-being.<\/p>\n<p>Among her college students, Santos said she often heard that they wished they had developed better well-being habits earlier in life. The class for teens has already been a big hit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve had 100,000 teenagers take it so far, which is great. It offers the same sorts of strategies (as for adults) but they\u2019re geared toward kids in middle school and high school,\u201d Santos said.<\/p>\n<p>Parents also can work with their children at very young ages to develop positive happier habits.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cParents can help kids feel less anxious and less stressed. One way to do that is by taking care of their own stress and anxiety. I\u2019m so often reminded about the power of emotional contagion,\u201d Santos said.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Anxiety\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/967942826?h=58a7f58f68&amp;dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Focusing on greater happiness is not a selfish pursuit. Instead, pursuing greater joy will likely cause joy to spread.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour emotions are affecting other people. One way to help your kids is to give yourself permission to help yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"su-callout-box col-xs-12 col-sm-12 right\" style=\"background-color:#dce4e7; color:#2e3b44;\">\n<h4>evr\u0113, UCHealth\u2019s signature women\u2019s wellness event, is back. Check out the brand new Stockyards Event Center for this annual wellness event that supports women\u2019s physical, mental and emotional health through an inspiring speaker, workshops, fun fitness classes, health screenings and more. You don\u2019t want to miss this! <a id=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/readysetco\/evre\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Register today.<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Want to be happier? Try doing less. This seemingly counterintuitive advice comes from happiness guru, Dr. Laurie Santos. She skyrocketed to fame after teaching the most popular class in the history of Yale University, \u201cPsychology and the Good Life.\u201d Hundreds of students signed up to learn how to be happier. Then Santos and Yale offered [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2123,"featured_media":74743,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[113,227,212],"class_list":["post-74770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-living","tag-behavioral-health","tag-health-and-wellness","tag-womens-care"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A surprising key to happiness: do less - 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