Positive Psychology Archive

Most people know that as they age, they need to put effort into staying healthy by eating carefully, exercising, and getting enough sleep. But there is another element to healthy aging: keeping your mind engaged helps protect brain health, and one way to do that is by maintaining an active social life.

Depression may be more common as people age, but new data suggest that the biggest threat to older adults' mental health is their failure to recognize its symptoms and seriousness. Many chalk up depression as a normal part of aging, but addressing it as a real and treatable disease can help older adults seek the help they need and not needlessly suffer.

Gratitude has the power to boost well-being, improve sleep, lessen depression, and help heart health. Now new data from the long-term Nurses' Health Study shows that it may extend lives. How can you jump start a gratitude practice in your life?

People reckoning with problem drinking choose different paths, including two well-known self-help organizations built around peer support: Alcoholics Anonymous and SMART Recovery. Researchers questioned people participating in these programs, or no program, about their approach.

Writing a letter of gratitude to someone can increase positive feelings for both the letter writer and recipient.

In a 2024 study by Harvard researchers, people who reported feeling persistently lonely had a 56% higher risk of experiencing a stroke compared with people who did not report feelings of loneliness.

Doomscrolling is the habit of constantly scrolling online news headlines, which often blare bad news. Doomscrolling became prominent during the pandemic. It can lead to a wide range of physical and mental health effects, including headaches, muscle tension, elevated blood pressure, and existential anxiety. To offset doomscrolling, people can create boundaries around using devices that include keeping phones off their nightstand, opting out of digital notifications, focusing on local news, and asking others not to send you depressing news items.

The 1,000 Hours Outside challenge can motivate people to spend more time outdoors by trying to accumulate 1,000 hours of outdoor time over a year.

A 2024 study suggests that cognitive changes are a more reliable signal than either age or biological signs of Alzheimer's disease to foreshadow an older adult's decision to stop driving.