- DECODING THE SCIENCE OF HAPPINESS: THREE FORMS UNCOVERED

What is happiness from a neuroscientific perspective and how does the feeling of happiness arise in the brain?

Happiness is, first and foremost, a feeling. It only becomes a reflection on one's own state, the present experience, life as a whole in the second step; but first and foremost it is the raw feeling. If you were awakened at night and asked how you are doing right now, this is the feeling that is meant. It is generated in the brain's reward system, so it has a hard biological, also physical basis, it is based on neurobiological processes and neurotransmitters.

Happiness is therefore anything but just an idea or a purely psychological experience. It is not "soft" or "gentle," but a truly substantial and hard currency. Ultimately, happiness is everything that gives you the feeling of being worthwhile – small things, moments of happiness, life itself.

What do nostalgia and connectedness have to do with happiness and how do they affect our brain activity?

Nostalgia comes from the Greek roots for nostos and algos, meaning homecoming, belonging, home on the one hand and pain on the other. Here it is essentially about the happiness of coming home. And about the pain when we are not at home.

Home makes us happy, the feeling of belonging; of community and social connectedness. And all of this reduces pain. In the brain, we find very similar activity patterns to the placebo effect. We expect that when we come home or imagine doing so, that we will feel better, we will be "healed." These expectations and the associated feelings – along with their physiological, even health-related consequences – are generated by the brain's own reward system. And as the name suggests: this feels worthwhile, makes us happy or satisfied. It allows us to be ourselves in the end.

What is the theory of the U-curve in the context of happiness and what do you as a neuroscientist think of it?

A few years ago we described three types of happiness and that these are somewhat differently distributed over lifetime, i.e. they are differently pronounced in different phases of life and ages. Together, they form the "U-curve" of happiness, with the "valley of tears" around midlife. In youth and especially in the second half of life, happiness and satisfaction seem to be most present, while an ostensibly increased satisfaction in old age (compared to midlife) initially appears paradoxical. Therefore we also speak here of the "satisfaction paradox." Especially in midlife, life often feels subjectively hard and unsatisfactory, less so in old age.

The aforementioned three forms of happiness present themselves differently in the brain, they are generated in different places and have different neurotransmitters as their basis. Firstly, there is the youthful happiness, the happiness of anticipation, of expectation. Then, especially in the middle phase of life, the happiness of relief, when a difficult phase, perhaps the "unhappiness" takes a break. When the stress subsides, we can take a breath, even if it is only brief.

And then finally there is the happiness of satisfaction, the bliss when I neither want to have something nor have to avoid something, but consider myself to be exactly at the right place, at the right time, feel – feelings of gratitude and connectedness exist.

Why is it important to answer the question of what you get out of bed for in the morning and how can this insight contribute to a fulfilled life?

For us humans, it is crucial that we feel connected, belong and are embedded; that we are protected or feel protected and safe; that we can grow, even beyond ourselves. These forms of connectedness finally lead to a feeling of relatedness and significance – that we know WHAT FOR. What is it worth getting out of bed for? What is it worth – ultimately – to live for?

Or, as Nietzsche wrote: if one has his WHY of life, one can get along with almost any HOW.

Viktor Frankl, the famous Viennese psychiatrist, wrote about this almost 100 years ago, and he also referred to Nietzsche, that the question of meaning becomes crucial when a crisis comes. The life crisis. The midlife crisis may also be part of it. Then the wheat may separate from the chaff. Not good for those who have no feeling of sense in them.

And we are truly living in crisis-ridden times. It is therefore not only sensible, but absolutely necessary, that we know our WHAT FOR, that we are connected with the ground on which we stand, the people around us, but perhaps also with something "higher" that watches over us. So let's ask ourselves occasionally: "What do I get out of bed for in the morning?" And then: "Why right here?"

If we do not like the answers or we do not find any, we should perhaps invest more time in seacrhing – also to live into the supposed answers, as Rilke once put it, one day!

About the expert Tobias Esch

Since 2016, Tobias Esch has been working as a university professor and director of the Institute for Integrative Health Care at the University of Witten/Herdecke, including leading the university outpatient clinic he founded. Prodean for organizational development, currently also Co-Chair of the Mind-Body Medical Research Councils. Prior to that, he was a guest professor at Harvard Medical School (2013-2015) and a Harkness Fellow in New York (2013-2014) as well as a neuroscientist at the State University of New York (2001-2015). Tobias Esch is a bestselling author, specialist and health researcher with a focus on happiness and satisfaction research, among other things.

2024-03-27T09:02:02Z dg43tfdfdgfd