The FINANCIAL — Spending time by the sea is one of the keys to happiness, according to a ground-breaking study employing mobile technology to track people’s wellbeing in different environments.
Being outdoors, near the sea, on a warm, sunny weekend afternoon is the perfect spot for most. In fact, participants were found to be substantially happier outdoors in all natural environments than they were in urban environments, according to the London School of Economics and Political Science.
“People recorded the highest levels of happiness in marine and coastal locations, followed by mountains and moors, forests and farms,” said Dr MacKerron.
Sport and recreational activities, such as running, gardening or bird-watching – most of which occur outdoors in a natural setting – are also associated with increased wellbeing and happiness. Designated areas such as National Parks were similarly found to be positively and significantly related to happiness ratings, according to LSE.
Women experience a greater sense of wellbeing in some natural environments than men do, while older people are happier being outdoors relative to the rest of the population, shows the study.
“There are at least three reasons why natural environments are positively related to health, wellbeing and happiness. These environments reduce stress; they have less noise and pollution; and people are more likely to engage in physical exercise and recreation and to interact with others there,” Dr MacKerron said.
Marine and coastal environments produced the most positive responses from more than 22,000 people who downloaded an app – Mappiness – which was developed specifically for the study on their mobile devices.
The app, which is the first of its kind, beeps users daily to record their levels of happiness, and uses satellite positioning (GPS) to discover their location while they answer. Response locations are linked to environmental data, which is then fed into statistical models of wellbeing. More than one million responses have been recorded in the study, according to LSE.
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