Can we learn to be happy? More and more children are coming forward for help with their mental health. Some say we need lessons in happiness.
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NHS data exposes explosion of mental illness
Can we learn to be happy? More and more children are coming forward for help with their mental health. Some say we need lessons in happiness.
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What's happening?
Picture this: you wake up as the sun rises, step out of your cave and set off in search of food. You start picking berries and hunting animals - all the time, keeping an eye out for predatorsAnimals that prey on and eat other animals. .
If you had lived 2.5 million years ago, this is what your life would have looked like. Life was very simple, but it was also more dangerous.
Today, life is very different. We wake up before the sun, stare at computers all day and live in huge cities, where we do not know the people who live next to us. We eat food from supermarkets and live in comfortable houses.
But our brains are still the same brains that we had 2.5 million years ago. When we are worried, it is the same as when Stone AgeA prehistoric age in which stones were used as tools. It ended around 4,000BC, when metal began to be used instead. people were worried about predatorsAnimals that prey on and eat other animals. - the only difference is, we are worried about exams.
Some say that the rise in mental health problems today could be linked to our struggles to adaptChange to fit a new situation. to modern life.
Today we have lots of things to do, things to see, things to say and people to talk to. But does this make us happy?
Find out more
Some say no. When researchers spoke to groups of indigenousEthnic groups who are the original or earliest-known inhabitants of an area or country: for example, Native Americans in the USA. people around the world, they found they were just as happy - if not happier than - than many people in rich western countries.
Some say it is time to cut back. Others say that we can simply learn to be happy, like we can learn a language.
Can we learn to be happy?
Yes! There are choices we can make and techniques we can use to become happier. Happy is not always something you are born knowing how to be.
No! There are lots of different reasons why someone might be unhappy. It is very unhelpful to suggest that being unhappy is a choice.
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Keywords
Predators - Animals that prey on and eat other animals.
Stone Age - A prehistoric age in which stones were used as tools. It ended around 4,000BC, when metal began to be used instead.
Adapt - Change to fit a new situation.
Indigenous - Ethnic groups who are the original or earliest-known inhabitants of an area or country: for example, Native Americans in the USA.
NHS data exposes explosion of mental illness
Rich existence: People living in the indigenous Ibirama-La Klano area of Brazil be happier than those in wealthy cities. Glossary
Predators - Animals that prey on and eat other animals.
Stone Age - A prehistoric age in which stones were used as tools. It ended around 4,000BC, when metal began to be used instead.
Adapt - Change to fit a new situation.
Indigenous - Ethnic groups who are the original or earliest-known inhabitants of an area or country: for example, Native Americans in the USA.