Sad Stats

How we spend our time has a great deal to do with how happy we are. 

Down the Tube: Sad Stats on Happiness, Money and TV

Sure our natural disposition and our  circumstances matter, but what we have most control over is how we spend our leisure time.

The standout cluster was what the authors label "engaging leisure and spiritual activities," things like visiting friends, exercising, attending church, listening to music, fishing, reading a book, sitting in a cafe or going to a party. When we spend time on our favorite of these activities, we're typically happy, engrossed and not especially stressed.

"These are things you choose to do, rather than have to do," notes one of the study's co-authors, Prof. Schkade of the University of California, San Diego. we spend too much time watching television rather than time on "engaging leisure and spiritual activities" .

But too many people - women, divorced or separated, the less educated and lower income earners - are likely to spend a bigger chunk of their time in an unpleasant state.

there's been a significant increase in the hours devoted to what the authors call "neutral downtime," which is mostly watching television. Women now spend 15% of their waking hours staring at the tube, while men devote 17%.

Watching TV may be low-stress and moderately enjoyable. But people aren't mentally engaged the way they are when they're, say, exercising or socializing.