Happiness Is a Matter of Balancing Time

According to the results of a new analysis, the key to becoming and remaining happy is to have just the right amount of spare time on your hands. Too much spare time and things deteriorate, researchers say. If someone does not have sufficient spare time, then mounting frustration and stress negate happiness.

Xavier University researcher Chris Manolis and Baylor University scientist James Roberts conducted their study on adolescents. They determined that materialistic teens tended to require a specific amount of space time in order to feel happy, especially if they displayed compulsive buying issues.

In past studies of happiness levels in the general population, scientists learned that time pressure – what people perceive as a lack of time to do whatever they want – is one of the main factors that drives average happiness levels down.

Details of the new research were published in the latest issue of the journal Applied Research in Quality of Life, PsychCentral reports.