A New Study Says If You Do This for 5 Minutes a Day, You'll Be Happier

• The Big Joy Project wanted to see whether small acts of joy could impact people's happiness.
• Researchers collected data from over 17,000 participants across 169 countries.
• The study found simple acts of joy, practiced for just 5-10 minutes daily, can significantly improve happiness and well-being.
  

Time is precious, and most of us might say we’re just too busy to add one more thing to our over-scheduled lives. But what if a quick, simple act could make you feel more joyful? And what if the actions were so easy that anyone could do them at any time, anywhere?

That’s exactly what a team of researchers set out to discover with the Big Joy Project: Can small acts of joy make a difference in people’s happiness levels? “The idea really started with Mission: Joy, a project inspired by the wisdom and friendship of the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu,” says Darwin A. Guevarra, Ph.D., assistant professor and director of the Affective Science and Psychophysiology Laboratory at Miami University. “Their message is simple but powerful: joy isn’t just for a lucky few, it’s something everyone can cultivate, even during tough times.”

Darwin and the other researchers created the Big Joy Project as part of Mission: JOY to see if little, science-backed, actions like expressing gratitude, doing something kind or pausing for a moment of awe could have an effect on people’s happiness and health, especially when life gets stressful. “We were looking for changes in happiness, stress and even physical health, like sleep quality, after just one week of simple activities,” says Guevarra.

The idea was to see if these practices could help everyone, including people who might be going through a tough time or have fewer resources to help them cope. “We also wanted to test if the effects were real in the ‘messy’ real world, not just in a controlled lab,” he says.

Through the Big Joy Project website, researchers invited people from all over the world to try various “micro acts” of joy. “They’re what I sometimes call ‘joy snacks,’” says Guevarra. “The idea is to make it easy and approachable.”

Data from more than 17,000 people in 169 countries was included in the study. Participants were asked about their happiness, stress and well-being. Then, each day for a week, they did a random happiness activity — something that took just 5 to 10 minutes. After 7 days, the scientists measured their well-being again to see what changed.

Surprisingly, the study found that tiny acts of joy had a big impact. “The main takeaway is that simple acts of joy, done for just 5 to 10 minutes a day, can really boost your happiness and well-being,” says Guevarra. “We also saw that the more of these micro acts people did, the bigger the boost in well-being. What pleasantly surprised us was that these small daily actions didn’t just make people feel happier; they also reported sleeping better and feeling healthier overall — even after only one week.”

People experienced decreased perceived stress and increases in emotional well-being and positive emotions, which researchers think could be because these small actions are similar to other long-term techniques. “We believe these small actions are powerful because they tap into the same core psychological mechanisms that longer interventions do — like generating positive emotions, reinforcing a sense of meaning and fulfilling our need for connection and relatedness,” says Dr. Guevarra. “The difference is, they do it with much less time and effort. Even just a few minutes a day can spark emotional shifts that add up, especially when those moments are repeated and intentional.”

The best news to come out of this new study is that you can use the findings in your own life. The Big Joy project itself is ongoing, free and open to people anywhere in the world. So you can sign up here, and start trying the exercises. Or you can incorporate some of these easy, study-supported ways to boost your mood into your daily routine:

• Write a gratitude note
• Do something kind for someone else
• Pause to take in something awe-inspiring, like a sunset or a beautiful tree
• Celebrate someone else’s joy by asking them to share a recent moment of pride
• Reframe a recent frustration by identifying three good things that came of it
• Reflect on how you could contribute to someone else’s well-being

You can also find more happiness-boosting ideas at Greater Good in Action, which offers simple practices, like mindfulness, savoring and self-compassion exercises. Sample a few activities to see what works best for you. “The key is to experiment and find the small actions that actually make you feel good,” says Guevarra.