Researchers Identify 5 Habits for Lasting Well-Being, Including 120 Minutes a Week in Nature
Updated
Updated · Psychology Today · Aug 7
Researchers Identify 5 Habits for Lasting Well-Being, Including 120 Minutes a Week in Nature
3 articles · Updated · Psychology Today · Aug 7
Summary
Five habits stood out in the latest well-being research: invest in relationships, protect time, seek challenge, spend on others and get 120 minutes of nature exposure each week.
An 80-year Harvard adult-development study tied relationship quality to happiness, health and longevity, while a meta-analysis found social isolation carries risks comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
Behavioral research also linked chronic “time poverty” to lower life satisfaction, and a 2017 PNAS study found people who used money to buy back time reported higher well-being than those buying more goods.
Other evidence points to challenge and generosity: 2022 research framed “psychological richness” as a distinct life goal, and a 2023 review found spending on others reliably lifts subjective well-being across cultures.
Nature rounded out the list, with a 2019 study of nearly 20,000 people finding better health and psychological well-being once weekly exposure reached the 120-minute threshold.