subject: Who Puts The "i" In Your Happiness? [print this page] Morning people are happier than night peopleMorning people are happier than night people. In a study published in the journal Emotion, researchers studied 435 adults ages 17-38 and 297 adults ages 59-79. Both groups completed questionnaires about their emotions, health and preferred time of day. Seven percent of younger adults were morning people and 7% of older people were night people. "Morningness" in both groups was associated with greater happiness and healthfulness. This was attributed to the biological clocks of night people being out of sync with their social clocks. By age 60 most people are morning people - again proving wisdom comes with age.
Dim lighting at night can cause depression. In an Ohio State University study, hamsters exposed to chronic dim light at night - television and computer screens, overhead lighting, night-lights, streetlights - showed signs of depression within a few weeks. They were less physically active, less interested in treats and experienced changes in the brain's hippocampus similar to changes seen in depressed humans. According to the American Medical Society, artificial light can affect hormone changes, obesity, diabetes and reproduction. The hamsters' depression went away when they received 8 hours of total darkness daily. Obviously, being "kept in the dark" can be beneficial.
Young people have difficulty recognizing the emotions of older people because of their facial wrinkles. In a study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 65 college students viewed computer-generated, black and white faces - 3 men and 3 women who were young (ages 19-21) and who were old (ages 76-83). The students were most accurate recognizing anger in older faces and least accurate recognizing sadness. In older faces happiness appeared less emotional than in younger faces and neutral expressions appeared more emotional. Because wrinkles can impact emotional communication, people's voices and body language help us "read between the lines".
However, dogs know when we're sad. That's according to a study published in the journal Animal Cognition. A researcher went to the homes of 18 dog owners of various breeds. The researcher and owner took turns talking, humming and fake crying. Fifteen of the dogs approached whomever was crying, but only 6 approached during humming. This supposedly showed the dogs were responding to emotional content - not out of curiosity. Of those 15 dogs, 13 approached with submissive body language - tucked tails and bowed heads - behavior consistent with empathy. Although not scientific fact, any dog owner will tell you it's the "doggone truth".
