Happiness Habits and Lifestyle Medicine: A missing link in the mental health conversation.

Mental health has just become the world’s top health concern. For decades, the response to people struggling with their circumstances has largely been clinical—more diagnoses, more prescriptions, and more treatment pathways. And while medication has its place, one important question remains: why, after all the prescriptions for antidepressants, do we still see this global result? What if the answer isn’t just in what we prescribe, but in how we live? Happiness and health are deeply intertwined. Lifestyle medicine—a holistic approach to wellness—focuses on six pillars: sleep, nutrition, movement, stress management, relationships, and avoiding harmful substances. In this post, we explore how 21 Happiness Habits align with these pillars, creating a blueprint for a vibrant, fulfilling life. Happiness habits are skills we can learn. Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” We can train our brains to develop new habits, but what we’re really talking about isn’t just happiness—it’s our capacity to live a life of health and wellbeing through the lens of happiness. Happiness Principle #1: Take ownership of your own happiness Everything begins with the first powerful principle: Take ownership of your own happiness. This is where real change starts—not outside of us, but within. The three foundational happiness habits that support this first principle are simple, but transformative:

• • Focus on the solutions

• • Look for the lesson and the gift in every situation (there is always a lesson we can learn from the experiences life brings us)

• • Make peace with yourself. (This is probably the hardest—and yet the most important happiness habit in principle #1. Learning to speak kindly to ourselves, especially when we’re struggling, shifts everything. When we move from self-judgment to self-compassion, we stop seeing ourselves as victims and start stepping into our own personal power. This foundation underpins not only our happiness, but our health.

Happiness Principle #2—Make your cells happy. The idea that happiness lives in the body is directly aligned with lifestyle medicine. The first three pillars of lifestyle medicine are sleep, nutrition, and movement, and these correspond with the three happiness habits in Principle #2—Make your cells happy. Lifestyle Medicine Pillar 1: SLEEP | Happiness Habit: Tune in to your body’s wisdom Quality sleep is the foundation of mental and physical health. By tuning into our body’s needs—listening to cues of fatigue, creating a calming bedtime routine, and prioritising rest—we honour our biological rhythms. As the body repairs during sleep, our mind also resets, reducing anxiety and enhancing emotional stability. It was Zorba the Greek who said, “Be quiet mind and let me hear my body!” Lifestyle Medicine Pillar 2: NUTRITION | Happiness Habit: Nourish your body What we eat directly impacts mood and energy. Nourishing our body with whole, nutrient-dense foods (e.g., vegetables, fruits, lean proteins) stabilises blood sugar, reduces inflammation, and fuels emotional resilience. This habit aligns with the lifestyle medicine principle of using food as medicine to prevent chronic disease and elevate wellbeing. Lifestyle Medicine Pillar 3: MOVEMENT | Happiness Habit: Energise your body Movement isn’t just about burning calories—it’s a tool to shift energy and reconnect with your body. Whether through yoga, dancing, or a brisk walk, daily movement reduces stress hormones, boosts endorphins, and cultivates body awareness. This habit mirrors the lifestyle pillar of physical activity as a cornerstone of health. Our bodies are not separate from our mental health—they are deeply connected. When we nourish ourselves with whole foods, prioritise rest, and move our bodies with intention, we are not just improving physical health—we are stabilising our mood, increasing energy, and supporting emotional wellbeing. Our bodies are always communicating with us. The question is—are we listening? Happiness Principle #3: The pillar of the mind and Principle #4: The pillar of the heart Lifestyle Medicine Pillar 4: STRESS MANAGEMENT Another key pillar of lifestyle medicine is stress management, and this is where many of our happiness habits live. Research tells us we have around 60,000 thoughts a day—many of them repetitive and often negative. Happiness habits that support us in this pillar are all about awareness and choice. We can learn to observe our thoughts without becoming them. We can interrupt old patterns and create new neural pathways. We can choose where we place our attention, because what we focus on is what we will get more of in our lives. The six happiness habits from two of the happiness principles (Principle #3: The pillar of the mind and Principle #4: The pillar of the heart) soften the stress response, open us to connection, and shift us out of survival mode into a state of safety and ease. These are not just “nice ideas”—they are powerful emotional regulators. The six Happiness Habits that support this pillar are:

• • Don’t believe everything you think. (Question negative thoughts and reframe them.)

• • Go beyond the mind and let go. (Practice mindfulness techniques to detach from rumination.)

• • Incline your mind towards joy. (Actively focus on positivity. e.g., uplifting music, positive books, time with friends).

• • Practice gratitude. (Daily gratitude journaling rewires the brain for resilience.)

• • Cultivate forgiveness. (Release resentment to free emotional energy.)

• • Spread loving-kindness. (Acts of kindness boost oxytocin, the “bonding hormone.”)

Stress management is where many happiness habits converge. By training the mind and opening the heart, we build emotional agility—a key component of holistic health. Happiness Principle #5: Cultivate Nourishing Relationships Lifestyle Medicine Pillar 5: RELATIONSHIPS Connection is medicine: the power of relationships. Lifestyle medicine recognises relationships as a core pillar of health—and so do the happiness habits. Connection is not a luxury—it’s a biological need. When we feel seen, heard, and supported, our nervous system relaxes, our resilience increases, and our overall wellbeing improves. Through Principle #5: Cultivate Nourishing Relationships, we focus on the following three happiness habits:

• • Tend to your relationships. Prioritise quality time and open communication.

• • Surround yourself with support. Build a network of uplifting, compassionate connections.

• • See the world as your family. Foster compassion and unity across differences.

Strong relationships are a buffer against stress and a source of joy. Lifestyle medicine recognises social connection as vital for longevity and mental health. Happiness Principle #6: Live a life inspired by purpose Lifestyle Medicine Pillar 6: AVOIDING HARMFUL SUBSTANCES The final pillar of lifestyle medicine encourages us to avoid harmful substances (and I include harmful situations here) by rethinking and recreating our coping strategies. By introducing the following happiness habits, we no longer focus only on what to avoid, instead, we ask a more powerful question: What can I replace my current coping strategies with? Through Principle #6: Live a Life Inspired by Purpose, we cultivate passion, presence, and contribution, and when we are connected to purpose—when we feel alive—we are far less likely to seek escape through harmful habits. As Howard Thurman said: “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” When life feels meaningful, harmful coping mechanisms lose their appeal. A life that feels meaningful is a life we don’t need to numb or avoid. Replacing avoidance with these three happiness habits will support us in this Lifestyle Medicine pillar:

• • Find your passion. (Aligning with your purpose reduces the urge to numb emotions.)

• • Follow the inspiration of the moment. (Creative engagement fosters presence and reduces escapism.)

• • Contribute to something greater than yourself. (Service and purpose diminish the need for external validation through substances.)

BEYOND THE 6 PILLARS: A PROPOSAL FOR SPIRITUAL WELLNESSPrinciple #7: The Pillar of the Soul While lifestyle medicine focuses on six pillars, the happiness habits suggest a seventh pillar taken from Principle #7: The Pillar of the Soul. The following happiness habits tap into existential wellbeing, which emerging research links to reduced anxiety and greater life satisfaction:

• • Inviting connection with a higher power

• • Listening to your intuition, and

• • Trusting life’s unfolding.

The proposal of a 7^th Pillar invites a holistic expansion of lifestyle medicine to encompass mind-body-spirit unity. Trusting ourselves, connecting to something greater, and feeling supported by life itself can profoundly impact how we experience stress, uncertainty, and meaning. A NEW WAY FORWARD If mental health is now our greatest global health concern, then we need to expand the conversation. The alignment of the 21 happiness habits with the 6 pillars of lifestyle medicine reveal a powerful synergy: caring for both our body and mind is not just about avoiding disease—it’s about thriving. It’s about flourishing. By integrating these habits, we build a life where health and joy are inseparable. Happiness is not something we find. It’s something we practice—daily. And when our daily habits align with how we are designed to live, we don’t just feel better; we become healthier—mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Category	Happiness Habits
INTRODUCTION – Take Ownership	Focus on solutions Look for the lesson and the gift Make peace with yourself
Pillar 1 – Sleep	Tune in to your body’s wisdom
Pillar 2 – Nutrition	Nourish your body
Pillar 3 – Movement	Energise your body
Pillar 4 – Stress Management	Don’t believe everything you think Go beyond the mind and let go Incline your mind towards joy Practice gratitude Cultivate forgiveness Spread loving-kindness
Pillar 5 – Relationships	Tend to your relationships Surround yourself with support See the world as your family
Pillar 6 – Avoid Harmful Substances (or other coping mechanisms)	Find your passion Follow the inspiration of the moment Contribute to something greater than yourself
Proposed Pillar 7 – Existential Wellbeing	Invite connection with a higher power Listen to your intuition Trust life’s unfolding

Contact: SkyeMcKenzie@worldhappiness.foundation References: The 6 pillars of Lifestyle Medicine are officially attributed to the American College of Lifestyle Medicine (ACLM). https://lifestylemedicine.org The 21 Happiness Habits are commonly associated with Marci Shimoff’s “Happy for No Reason” framework and teachings. Shimoff, M. (2009). Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out. New York: Free Press.