Now that you know the thoughts that are required for a state of happiness and raising your happiness baseline, what about the second component your actions? Well, let's look at the five actions that are needed to up that happiness baseline. But before we do so, let's not forget that you're going to need your worksheet the second half of your worksheet titled, your happiness checklist, go ahead and get that out. Please, if you don't already have it. Okay, so what are the five actions that you're going to need in order to boost your happiness? Number one, exercise that might have been an obvious one to you.

Next, sleep, gotta have it. three friends we all want friends have friends. For laughter remember, laughter is the best medicine and number five, giving and helping together. So let's start with number one. Exercise. Of course, exercise is important.

You've heard the phrase, sound mind, sound body, right? Well, we need to take care of our body if we're going to take care of our mind, and in turn take care of our happiness. Did you know that on exercise days, people's moods significantly improved after exercising mood state about the same on days that they didn't exercise, with the exception of people sense of calm, which deteriorated a little bit after time. This means that on days that you exercise you really boost that happiness. And I've experienced the same thing on multiple occasions. It certainly works for me.

Of course, it's going to work for you too. In addition, exercise increases the production of dopamine. Remember, we recently went over that term dopamine, it's the chemical that plays a role in happiness. It's a neurotransmitter in the brain that's necessary for feelings of pleasure and happiness. Also exercise lower stress in the short term and the long term, fantastic. Furthermore, it boosts confidence as you start to look better and feel stronger.

Who can argue with that? looking better, feeling stronger? Of course, confidence is going to go up. And it helps relieve anxiety. If you have anxiety in your life. What's a great stress reliever, yeah, exercise.

And finally it helps fight insomnia. If you don't sleep well then exercise more. If you do so you'll probably find yourself sleeping better and where should you exercise the gym? Great, go to the gym if you have a gym membership, but if you can't get your cardio or your walking done wear outside even better in nature. Over 100 studies have shown that being in nature, living near nature Even viewing nature in paintings and videos can have a positive impact on our brains, bodies, feelings, thought processes and social interactions. After all, nature is natural, right?

So get out those worksheets and fill in the next section. And that next section is here under actions. What I'd like you to do is list up to three physical activities you might enjoy, which can be regarded as exercise, what are three activities that you would like to do? That would be considered exercise, weight training, jogging, walking outside, around the park, biking, swimming, sports, you name it, go ahead and list three of those things now. And then tell me how much do you agree with this statement? I engage in exercise, it increases my heart rate on a regular basis.

Okay, push pause, finish that section number six. And then we'll go back to the next part. So next on our list is none other than sleep, you certainly have to have sleep. good sleep is something everybody wants. It's something that the body in mind need. But too many of us don't get enough sleep.

How much sleep Did you get last night? How much sleep Do you think you regularly get? And better yet? How much sleep do you think is actually necessary? You know, it varies from age to age, actually, according to the National Sleep Foundation, this is the number of hours that you really need of sleep per day. As we're really young.

We really need a lot of sleep 14 hours a day for infants, and then it sort of tailors off as we grow older. Once we're around 18, then all we really need is about seven hours a day. But most people don't get that amount. So again, how much Sleep Are you getting? Is it at least seven hours of quality sleep a day. If not, you should do something about that.

According to Sleepless in America, a study consisting of 68,000 plus people, including children and adolescents, who completed journal entries and questionnaires found that inadequate sleep was associated with horrible things like family issues, school troubles, physical problems and depression. So sleep plays a big role on your mood and happiness. Let's go back to your worksheet and get the next section done. So here in number seven under sleep, simply check the box where you feel you most agree with. I regularly get a minimum of seven hours of sleep per night. How much do you agree with that?

Okay, check that and let's go back to our lesson. Next on the list is spending time with friends. You know It's not necessarily the number of friends it's more the quality of friends. And not only the quality of friends but the quality of time you spend with those friends. Interestingly enough, research from Harvard Medical School and the University of California, San Diego have found that happiness tends to spread within a circle of friends and then through social networks, to other circles of friends. So happiness is contagious.

This study also concluded that sadness does not spread out in the same way as happiness does so lucky us. So what are some good reasons to spend time with your friends? Well, number one, spending quality time keeps you calm. It can reduce that anxiety, too. It increases your sense of belonging. We need that sense of purpose in the world, right?

What's the meaning of life? Well, this gives you part of that answer. They help you battle with health. issues as well. Friends keep us healthy. It can improve your mood.

Of course, being around people you enjoy helps you enjoy your time, and they actually help you live longer. Studies show that spending more time with friends lengthens the amount of time you live. So back to our worksheet again. In the next section number eight under friendships, check the box where you agree most with this statement. I regularly spend time with friends who make me feel good. Okay, check that and let's get back to the next section.

Laughter What do you think about these two pictures? Well, everyone loves to laugh, laughing can reduce stress, boosts our mood, improve our immune system and even relieve pain? Did you laugh at either of these two pictures? Researchers even believe that the long series of explanations that accompany true laughter cause physical exhaustion of the app. abdominal muscles and in turn, trigger endorphin release. They say that our results highlight that endorphin release induced by social laughter may be an important pathway that supports formation, reinforcement and maintenance of social bonds between humans.

According to co author, Professor Laurie new menma, of the Turku PT Center at the University of Turku in Finland, and if you didn't know what endorphins were, these are these neurotransmitters that are produced to help relieve pain when our bodies are experiencing physical pain. Furthermore, laughter also is contagious. I'm sure you've seen that before. One person last and then it spreads. It's like a drug. Laughter makes us feel better.

It makes you more attractive. Did you know that? If you look at someone's smiling, those who are laughing and smiling tend to seem more attractive. to other people. Also it relieves stress. Laughter takes away that anxiety and it creates happiness at that moment.

So when you laugh, you are happier. Okay, back to our worksheet. Number nine under laughter let's do the same thing as we've just done earlier. Check which of the boxes you most agree with. The statement here is I regularly laughed so hard It hurts. Okay, we got one more to go.

And last but definitely not least, giving and helping. As long been believed and experienced that we feel good when we help others and give to others. This may be linked to why we have thrived so well as a species. By helping each other we help the species the human species. Think about our holidays and celebrations we usually give to others on these days using MRI scans. Researchers found that the part of the brain connected to gift giving was linked to the part of the brain long associated with the feelings of happiness and that by triggering the giving part, we could also trigger the happiness center.

MRI scans reveal that an area of the brain linked to generosity triggered a response and another part related to happiness. So generosity in turn leads to happiness. The study provides behavioral and neural evidence that supports this link between generosity and happiness. So let's go to the final section of your worksheet. Lastly, here number 10, giving and helping. When was the last time you gave to someone or help someone without the expectation of something in return?

Can you list three examples below. Go ahead and push pause, think about it and see what you can come up with Now go ahead and check the box that works best for you. With agreeing with this statement, I take time to give and help others. How much do you agree with that statement? Okay, so to recap, what are the five actions that lead to greater happiness in our lives? Number one exercise, go ahead and do it to sleep, get at least seven hours, right?

Three friends, have those quality friends and make sure that you spend time with them for laughter, laughter is the best medicine right? And five, giving and helping, we always want to do something to give back to the community to give back to others so that in essence, it comes back to us as well in the form of happiness. So what I'd like you to do is revisit your worksheet. Take a look at areas where you strongly agreed in areas where you didn't agree as much Now, in those areas, you strongly agreed, well, you're doing pretty well. But in the other areas, there might be some room for improvement. What do you think that's up to you?

So go ahead and reflect on those answers. And get ready for the final section of this core lesson. Mystery question, answer.