"When will I be happy? But O, how bitter a thing it is to look into happiness through another man's eyes. For happiness lies within you .
The world happiness 2021 report is out as of March 21! The report pegs India at 139th position in a list of 149 countries with that position proudly being held by Afghanistan. Pakistan ranks at 105 and Bangladesh at 101. Appalled, are we? Certainly!!
Delve down deeper. The report is a measure of ˜Subjective wellbeing™ relying on three main indicators of: life evaluations, positive emotions, and negative emotions. The sample size for the survey is 1000 people. For a country of 1.39 billion people, isn't it a little less? It's a baseless report, best consigned to the dustbin. But it does set one thinking. Are we Happy?
Firstly, let's have a common understanding of what is happiness. One of the widely accepted definitions in the academia is What we loosely call happiness is the individual life satisfaction or subjective well-being.
Look at the accompanying image. Of the two broad factors, I will first dwell on the internal (endogenic) ones. And within that, let's begin with the 'Biological Factors. Look at the infants. The one to two year old ones.
Playfully happy. Happy in the dreams too. Existence of significant differences in temperament and happiness of infants is an indicator of biological influences.
Studies have revealed that Genetics have an average influence of 35 - 50% on our Happiness or subjective well being. So mostly it is an inherited trait. Serotonin is a chemical nerve cells produce. It sends signals between your nerve cells. Serotonin in the brain is thought to regulate anxiety, happiness, and mood. When this chemical is generated, serotonin transporter gene has a role to play in its spread. Research has shown that individuals with more efficient version of the serotonin transporter gene are likely to be happier.
While we are at it, here is a primer on genes
Human DNA is composed of an estimated 21,000 genes that form the blueprint for molecules that regulate the development and function of the human body. Genes are distinct regions of human DNA that are placed in the 23 pairs of chains, or chromosomes that make up all human DNA. Almost all human cells contain the same DNA they inherited at the moment of conception.
Individuals inherit one half of their DNA from each parent, with one copy of each gene coming from the mother and one copy from the father.
Referred to as 5-HTT, serotonin transporter gene is critical to the metabolism of serotonin in the brain. Different versions of this gene influences transcription, metabolism, and signal transfers between neurons. Transcription is the process by which the information is copied. The long, more efficient, gene produces three times more messenger RNA and increased gene expression and more serotonin transporters in the cell membrane.
Gene variants which are less efficient in Transcription tend to moderate life stress and avoid causing depression. On the other hand the more efficient ones lead to optimism. Now we know that much of happiness is not in our hands but handed over to us at conception. We now know that, given common variables, the level of subjective well-being or happiness level in two individuals will vary.
More to come on this!"
