The Happiness Lab: Dr. Laurie Santos On The Science Of How To Be Happy

Right now, nationally, over 40% of college students report being too depressed to function most days, over 60% report feeling overwhelmingly anxious, and more than one in ten college students, right now, has seriously considered suicide in the last year.

I think the fastest thing you can do to improve your happiness is to get in a little social connection. Even really simple studies show if you chat with the barista at the coffee shop, if you talk to somebody on your commute, those quick moments of social connection, even with a stranger, can boost your positive mood.

If I had a fourth tip for something we could do to be happier, I'd talk about having free time. This idea of just feeling wealthy in time is another big booster to happiness. The studies show that if you self-report being time-famished... that's as bad for your well-being, statistically, as if you self-report being unemployed.

Dogs make us happier because they change our behavior. They get us out to exercise more. They get us to be more socially connected ... They get us to be more present because we're noticing stuff because the dog's noticing stuff.

There's so much evidence that shifting our mindset to one that just focuses on the blessings rather than the griping is something we can do to feel happier.

We don't realize that time is as valuable for our happiness as we think.

The simple act of being present, even if you're not feeling good, whether it's sadness or anxiety, just being with that can be a way to improve our well-being in this odd way.

We're focused on the accolades and the achievements and the money and the next step and the buying stuff. And the research shows that none of that really makes us happy. Even if it makes us happy briefly, it doesn't do so for very long.

I honestly think we could solve a lot of the college student and young teen mental health crisis by just getting them to sleep more.