We all need both work and rest to live a balanced life, and neglecting one of them can affect your mental health.
A new study claims that people who focus too much on achieving things rather than enjoying themselves feel less happy the next day.
Let's find out more about this study and its results.
Studying happiness
People who tried to relax and do things they liked experienced an 8% boost in well-being. They also felt 10% less stressed and anxious.
It's the first time a study looked at how different values affect our happiness.
Taking time to enjoy ourselves and pursue our own goals can actually lead to more success.
This is because people will be more relaxed, happier, and satisfied.
How it was tested
The experiment tested over 180 people from different countries.
They kept a diary for nine days, noting how different values affected them.
Prioritizing 'hedonism' (enjoying oneself) and 'self-direction' (pursuing personal goals) led to increased happiness.
On the other hand, valuing 'achievement' and 'conformity' didn't impact happiness at all.
However, the specialists believe achievement might affect happiness when it's related to job satisfaction or the number of days worked.
Why it might be important
In this context, where achievement-oriented values take up a big part of our time, valuing freedom and other things just enough can bring balance and recovery.
In the future, it will be interesting to see how this pattern interacts with personality traits like conscientiousness and situational contexts like the type of employment.
The researchers hope this research will impact mental health services and the support given to clients.
