Study shows that having new and diverse experiences is the 'key to happiness'

Whether it's varying your route to the shops, trying a new exercise, or going for a walk during lockdown, visiting more places and getting new and varied experiences could be the key to happiness, a new study reveals. They established that those who had been to the most places and spent a similar amount of time in each were more likely to say they felt'happy', 'excited' or'attentive'. MRI scans showed that, for these people, activity in the hippocampus and striatum - areas of the brain associated with the processing of novelty and reward - had increased. The findings, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, reveal a previously unknown connection between our daily physical environments and mental wellbeing. Participants were based in New York and Miami and asked to report how they were feeling by text each day.