5 Lies of Happiness That Actually Increase Depression
Content updated from previous publish date.
Do you know how to find happiness? If you believe what society has been telling you, then you might think you know where to look to get the joy you seek. But you could be wrong. For financial gain, marketers have been brainwashing populations for decades into believing happiness is based on things that actually damage our brains, ruin our minds, increase depression, and make us unhappy. They are spreading lies of happiness.
For financial gain, marketers have been brainwashing populations for decades into believing happiness is based on things that actually damage our brains, ruin our minds, increase depression, and make us unhappy.
5 LIES OF HAPPINESS
Happiness Lie #1: Having more and more of something (love, sex, fame, drugs, etc.) will make you happy.
Unfortunately, if you are not careful, the more pleasure you get, the more you will need in the future to continue making you happy, something called hedonic adaptation. Your brain will adapt to high-pleasure experiences, so you’ll need more each time to get the same effect, much like cocaine. Seeking more and more of a pleasure high often leads to depression because it wears out the pleasure centers in your brain. This process involves the neurochemical dopamine, which is known as the molecule of more because it causes you to want more pleasurable things. This phenomenon can occur in Olympic and professional athletes, entrepreneurs, movie stars, and recording artists who never learned to manage their minds. True happiness often lies in appreciating the little things in life. Make it a point to notice the things that make you smile throughout your day.Happiness Lie #2: A “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” mindset, promoted by the popular 1988 Grammy Song of the Year of the same name by Bobby McFerrin, will make you happy.
In fact, this mindset will make you unhappy and kill you early. According to one of the longest longevity studies ever published, the “don’t worry, be happy people” die early from accidents and preventable illnesses. You need some anxiety to be happy. Appropriate anxiety helps us make better decisions. It prevents us from running into the street as children, risking broken bodies, and running headlong into toxic relationships as adults, risking broken hearts.Happiness Lie #3: Advertisers and fast-food restaurants know what will make you happy.
Take McDonald’s Happy Meals (and kids’ meals on most restaurant menus), for example. They certainly will not make children happy. These meals should be called Unhappy Meals as the low-quality, nutrient-sparse, processed food-like substances increase inflammation and have been linked with depression, ADD/ADHD, obesity, cancer, and a lower IQ. That is not a recipe for happiness. Consuming foods that nourish your brain, body, and moods is a better way to ship up happiness.Happiness Lie #4: Someplace else will make you happy.
The notion that happiness lies elsewhere is wrong. A prime example is Disneyland, which claims to be “the happiest place on earth.” If you’ve ever been to Disneyland or Disney World, you know it can be a mixed bag. It can be fun, or it can be stressful and exhausting because of the large crowds, long lines, crying children, and expensive trinkets. Let’s hope it’s not the happiest place on earth, as stress can shrink the major mood and memory centers in the brain. The truth is, you need to learn to cultivate happiness within yourself and take it with you wherever you go.Happiness Lie #5: You need a smartphone, watch, tablet, or the latest technology to make you happy.
Technology can be addicting; gadgets and apps grab our attention and distract us from more important things such as family, friends, fitness, or faith. Many people eat at the same table but engage with their phones, rather than with each other. Current research has found that many teens spend more hours on social media (average of 9 hours) than they do sleeping. Children 8 to 12 are online 6 hours a day. Technology has hijacked developing brains with potentially serious consequences for many. For example, being glued to social media is having a deleterious effect on self-esteem. A better route to finding happiness may lie in doing a brain detox that includes a temporary technology detox.MORE LIES OF HAPPINESS
There are many more societal lies about happiness that can drag you down and leave you feeling empty, hopeless, helpless, or full of negativity. Some of these lies include the belief that happiness comes from alcohol, marijuana, video games, constantly being “in the know,” sugary sweets, or money. All of these quick fixes may make you feel good in the moment, but they are associated with long-term consequences.- Alcohol damages the brain and body in serious ways that impact moods, physical health, and cognitive function.
- Marijuana reduces blood flow to the brain, can cause psychosis in some people, and can lead to cannabis dependence.
- Video games are addictive.
- Being “in the know” can breed unhappiness, as research in the Harvard Business Review shows that just a few minutes of negative news in the morning can lower your happiness later in the day by 27%.
- Sugary treats cause blood-sugar spikes and crashes that lead to mood swings.
- Money, although it is not irrelevant, cannot buy happiness. One study on wealthy people revealed that in order to be a perfect 10 in happiness, most said they needed 2 to 10 times more than what they had.
