Going into 2022, below are the questions I am aiming to look to solve in terms of overall happiness and well-being. A lot of these questions I have incorporated into my daily tracking, and spend time each week evaluating studies and concepts behind these questions.
Much research into the midday "dip" emphasize the importance of eating habits and a consistent sleep schedule. However, upon my linear regression analysis in December 2021, I have not found any significant impact into bed time consistency, wake up consistency, hours of sleep consistency, or number of sleep hours on the impact of sleep. Additionally, for those already in that dip in energy, research suggests sun exposure, light activity, and remaining active.
In 2022, I have initiated keeping track of time in which I eat certain foods, as well as it's sodium, sugar, and refined carbohydrate amounts. Additionally, I began keeping track of sun exposure, exercise time, and sitting time leading up to midday exhaustion. Sleep habits are continuing to be monitored as well.
Many articles have evaluated the impact of excitement, emphasizing that the happiest aspect of a vacation is the anticipation of it rather than the actual execution. This is also consistent with measuring the joy a child in school experiences on a Friday afternoon compared to a Sunday evening. Concurrent with my findings in my December 2021 linear regression analysis, one of the most important predictor factors in well-being is excitement for the upcoming week, but what causes positive/anticipation excitement?
Knowing this is a pivotal factor in evaluating overall well-being, what can one do to increase the level of positive anticipation they feel?
In the past decade, a lot of research has evaluated the impact of meditation on an individual, with some studies producing profound impacts. Matthieu Ricard was deemed the "world's happiest man" after neuroscientists at the University of Wisconsin evaluated his brain activity, and measured how his brain has an incredibly large capacity for happiness and reduced capacity for negativity. Ricard is a tibetan monk, and has been practicing meditation for years of his life.
Which meditative practices have a profound impact on happiness? How can one incorporate meditation into their daily routine to see significant changes in their overall well-being, and how long would it take?
Along with positive anticipation and accomplishment, positive relationships were allocated to be one of the most important aspects in predicting an individual's overall well-being for a given day.
However, this is true for time spent around an individual one "really" enjoys or more, so what are the factors that lead to one "really" enjoying one's company compared to "somewhat" enjoying one's company?
What are the factors that lead to one being able to foster new relationships and strengthening existing ones, as a means to work towards overall well-being?
A quick perusal of the happiness data from 2018 compared to 2020, and one notices a vast difference in the range of happiness. While this is mostly in part due to alterations of the tracking scale overtime, a good portion can be attributed to higher-highs and lower-lows in 2018 compared to 2020. When evaluating 2020 & 2021 specifically, where there is a consistent scale throughout the year, one would also notice much more variability from January 2020 to April 2020 than from May 2020 to February 2021.
How does emotional variability affect overall well-being? From my December 2021 linear regression analysis, the amount of time spent "really happy" has significance as it relates to overall well-being. What are the factors that relate to this difference.
Additionally, looking at 2020 specifically, much of the difference between the emotional variability is correlated with time spent around other individuals. Following April 2020, there was close to no interaction with individuals (except for cashiers at Panera Bread) with the exception of mid-June, mid-September, and late-December. Is this the reason for this difference, or are other factors impacting it?
Does more time spent in neutrality and apathy reduce the emotional response that an individual normally feels to things that used to make them happier?
Can a few, objective measures evaluate an individual's well-being on a given day? What would those objective measures be and can they be implemented into one's life and have an impact on their overall well-being?