>> What makes for a good, happy life? A fascinating article in The Atlantic takes a look at a 72-year study following 268 men, in search of a look at what makes for a good life. “The men’s lives are worthy of Tolstoy or Dostoevsky. One man acknowledged to himself only in his late 70s that he was gay.”

>> Happiness studies shed new light on what really makes us happy — i.e. that minor chronic pain makes us more unhappy than one-time traumas (via Freakonomics). Now, people are pushing for changes in law, health care, and urban planning to take these new findings into account:

While we quickly adapt to a bigger house and start taking it for granted, research suggests that a long, trafficky commute is something we never adjust to, and that even grows more onerous with time. Work like this could give added heft to arguments for policy measures like higher gas taxes, and for zoning laws that concentrate housing and cut down on traffic and commuting distances – arguments that now tend to be cast chiefly in environmental terms, but which also might push people toward decisions that make them happier in the long term.

>> Lithium in your water supply could make your town less suicidal. “The amount of lithium in drinking water would seem far too low to offer any clinical benefit, since people with bipolar disorder routinely take hundreds of times more lithium each day. But … swigging lithium-tainted water for decades could offer some protection against suicide, Ohgami’s team speculates.”

Earlier:
>> An Anti-capitalist video guide to happiness
>> How to decide to be happier
>> Clicklist: Happiness and suicide
>> The Happiness Trip — with a happiness formula!

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