A work in progress, helping others: Lessons from a course on happiness

When you deliver a university course that makes students happier, everybody wants to know what the secret is. What are your tips? What are your top 10 recommendations? These are the most asked questions, as if there is some quick, surefire path to happiness.

The problem is that there are no life-transforming discoveries, because most of what works has already been talked about. Social connection, mindfulness, gratitude letters, acts of kindness, going for a walk in nature, sleep hygiene, limiting social media use. These are some of the 80 or so psychological interventions which have been shown to work to improve our wellbeing (to a lesser or greater extent).

But if we already know so much about what works, then why are we still fielding requests for top happiness tips?

The data tells us that students and young people today are increasingly unhappy, with national surveys finding wellbeing is lowest among the young in the UK and the US compared to other age groups.

It was for this reason we began teaching the science of happiness course at the University of Bristol in 2019 – to counter some worrying downward trends. During the course, we teach lessons from positive psychology and create opportunities for students to put these lessons into practice.

Science of happiness

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