Is it possible that happiness is tangible? People often think of happiness as some abstract emotion, maybe one of those undefinable things that distinguish humans from animals. However, researchers at Kyoto University in Japan recently published a study in Scientific Reports showing a correlation between happiness and the amount of gray matter in a certain region of the brain.
This region, known as the precuneus region, is an area of the brain in front of a triangular area, the cuneus region, which is located towards the back of the brain. The precuneus region is involved with aspects of a person’s sense of self, including memory and consciousness.
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By studying this region and then comparing it to measurements of the participants’ happiness, the researchers could identify links between the two. Although happiness is an ambiguous term, researchers quantified it in the study through the idea of “subjective well-being,” a way of measuring happiness that factors in satisfaction with life, moods, and emotions. The researchers used four different scales to measure happiness: Subjective Happiness Scale, Emotional Intensity Scale, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and Purpose in Life Scale.
After measuring the participants’ happiness, the researchers compared MRI scans of the 51 subjects’ brains to their answers to the three questionnaires. The MRI scans measured the differences between physical regions of the participants’ brains, while the questionnaires quantified the ratio of positive and negative emotions and overall satisfaction with life. The researchers then compared the regions of the participants’ brains to their happiness and found that a larger amount of gray matter in the precuneus region corresponded to higher happiness scores. The existence of a correlation between a measure of happiness and the physical structure of the brain suggests that happiness may have origins in the components of the brain.
The results of the study might also account for why activities like meditation improve the happiness of people. According to the results, the act of meditating might actually increase happiness by changing specific regions of the brain. Just as training for athletic activities works by strengthening muscles in the body, meditation might be a form of training by increasing the amount of gray matter in the precuneus region of the brain.
Other studies have also shown that engaging in activities like meditation does change the structure of parts of the brain. However, further research needs to be completed to determine whether the change in brain structure is something that is set at birth or whether it is something that people can actually change. Additionally, the small sample size of the study means that it is difficult to conclusively apply the results to the human population.
If the study proves applicable to the general human population, people could specifically target areas of their brain with exercises to effectively make themselves happier. The researchers’ findings that happiness is associated with specific regions in the brain might even have significant implications for developing ways to increase happiness in the future.
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