The Science of Happiness

On the dark, cold mornings of January, it can be difficult to find the joy in the alarm going off at 7am and the fact that your toe contracts frostbite soon as you stick it out from under the duvet, but there is a science to happiness that could brighten up our winter blues.

While there's big money to be made in promising people that you can share the secret to happiness with them, there's a whole lot of science that studies what makes us happy, and how we can go about feeling better about ourselves in general.

And the folks at Webpage FX have put together this handy infographic with some of the secrets of happiness, but with the science and stats to back it up, as well as telling us what the happiest countries in the world are. It turns out we need to move to Mexico, but that in terms of the temperature that maximises our happiness, an Irish summer ain't half bad. Still, we'd take a bit more sunshine.

Now we might not agree with everything on this list but given that this chart scientifically proves that more sleep makes you happier, we're heading back to bed.

So tell us, what do you reckon is the secret to happiness? What makes you feel content and at ease with the world around you? We'd love to put together our very own Beaut.ie Secret to Happiness guide!