wellness Post

What is Happiness

Scientifically, a person feels happy when the brain releases neurotransmitters; these neurotransmitters are dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins. Each of these neurotransmitters helps to regulate sleep, mood, appetite, emotional response, movement, and the brain’s pleasure and rewards centers. A balance of all these factors leads to a sense of feeling content, which many people attribute to feeling generally happy. According to Greek philosophy, happiness has two major concepts, hedonia and eudaimonia. These simply translate to pleasure and meaning in contemporary psychology. Hedonia considers happiness as a destination; this concept of happiness is derived from external factors, such as buying a new car. The concept of eudaimonia considers happiness as a journey; eudaimonia implies that happiness is derived from internal factors, such as achieving a personal or spiritual goal. Recently, another component of has been added to the overall concept of happiness, which is engagement. Engagement implies happiness derived from living a satisfying life of work, hobbies, friends, and family. The three aspects of pleasure, meaningfulness, and engagement are collectively termed as the subjective well-being of a person. Subjective well-being (SWB) is based on the factors and activities that a person finds fulfilling and satisfying. An evaluation of SWBs of people across the globe found that around 50% of a person’s happiness is based on genes, 40% on daily activities, and 10% on circumstances.