Happy Habits: 50 Science-Backed Rituals to Adopt (or Stop) to Boost Health and Happiness

by Karen Salmansohn

50 habits to start (or stop!) right now in order to be happier, healthier, less stressed, and more productive—from the best-selling author and happiness expert behind Think Happy.Forming new habits can improve your mood and invigorate your daily routine, but you’ve gotta figure out which ones to adopt or drop. How can you successfully create habits—and what new habits will actually increase your happiness and fulfillment? Wellness expert Karen Salmansohn to the rescue! Happy Habits presents fifty habits that span body, mind, relationships, work, home, and play. Karen shares the tools you need to master fundamental habits (daily meditation; practicing gratitude), surprising happiness-boosting techniques (crying regularly; strategic complaining), and tips for easily incorporating new habits into your daily life. Filled with fascinating studies and simple rituals, this illustrated guide offers fun, accessible ways to uplift your life.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, How To

120 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 15, 2020

About the author

Karen Salmansohn is a bestselling author (with 2 million books and courses sold), leading behavioral change expert, and columnist for Oprah and Psychology Today, as well as the founder of the popular personal development site NotSalmon.com, which has a vibrant community of 1.5 million followers. Her most recent book is "Your To-Die-For Life: How to Maximize Joy and Minimize Regret . . . Before Your Time Runs Out." She’s been sparking transformations in individuals and companies for a few decades and is passionate about digging deep and finding fascinating insights, tools, and studies from all areas of life, including psychology, Eastern and Western philosophy, neuroscience, quantum physics, and more.

She began writing “self-help for people who wouldn’t be caught dead doing self help” in 1999 with the bestseller How To Be Happy Dammit—the very first personal development book of its kind to have a feisty title, edgy humor, and stylish interior design, which paved the way for self-help authors to write irreverent personal development books. Since then, she’s written many bestsellers, including The Bounce Back Book and Think Happy. Now she’s excited to pioneer the mortality awareness movement by illuminating life’s most avoided conversation—death—and reminding others to live more bravely.

Reviews

[Val~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like that the book is science based, but it looks like a standar guide which doesn’t consider differences in personality types, mental health issues, and so on. It’s just a cute generalized introduction to boost happiness.

[Jordana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was needing a little bit more positivity in my life recently and found this lovely book while making a display at work ( I work in a bookstore). I had just enough time to flip through it briefly but the vibrant illustrations and concise (+ scientifically proven) information / techniques got me hooked enough to give it an in depth read. As someone who is a psychology nerd I really liked how they were able to tell you the benefits to doing this technique and tell you who or what study was the source of this happy habit. This book radiates good vibes and gives you ideas on how to improve you mood and mindset to lessen your stress and be more in tune with your self. I highly recommend this to everyone!

Also a great coffee table book😉

[Am Y · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are nice, colourful, uplifting illustrations to accompany most of the tips given in the book, but the "science-backed" part is a bit iffy. We're just told "studies have shown blah blah" but that's about it - no further details, so we don't know how reliable they are or if they're even peer-reviewed or replicable. This book is mainly a quick feel-good title you can turn to for a mood boost or quick reminder (e.g. laughter is the best medicine; faith in a higher order/entity helps get you through tough times; listen to music to feel better, etc), or else a pleasant gift for a friend. Nothing groundbreaking for sure.

[Andrea Pole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Happy Habits by Karen Salmansohn is a comprehensive guide to living your happiest and healthiest life with only a few easily achievable tweaks to your current routines and habits. What appealed to me about the proffered advice, which is backed by scientific and credited studies, is that it can be of benefit to anyone, regardless of age, health, or financial means. These are practical suggestions, such as writing in a gratitude journal each night before going to bed, or watching television with a friend, thereby turning a solitary activity into an opportunity for social discourse, increasing feelings of optimism and happiness. While some of the suggestions cover well-trodden territory, such as reducing sugar consumption, others are more unconventional, like the mood boosting benefits that come from regular crying. This is an informative, accessible read, and I will certainly be putting many of the tips into immediate action.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press for an ARC of this title.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute book that's a super fast read and is full of scientific studies that highlight specific habits that would help you be happier.

Here's one of my favorite ones:
"Don’t want to take time to bake? Take a whiff at your local bakery! Many studies report that basking in the aroma of bread can put you in a positive mindset. In particular, the Journal of Social Psychology reported that shoppers were more likely to tell passersby that they dropped belongings if the shoppers were standing near a bakery smelling of freshly baked bread!"

The whole book is full of little gems like this.

with gratitude to netgalley and Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

Happy Habits is a list of fifty science-backed rituals to take on (or stop) to increase health and happiness. Some of them are keystone habits, including starting the day with a short meditation and ending the day with making a gratitude list. Reframing a situation is a powerful tool cited. One habit I eagerly have established is that of baking bread.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

All things I’ve heard before of course but I liked that it was a short book that was quick to skim through with reminders on healthy habits, back up with a quick summary of the summary behind it or research that proves it.

[Aimee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute little book with lots of fun tips on small steps you can take to cheer yourself up when you feel down. People that want quick answers will enjoy this book. Plus there are fun pictures and it’s a fast read if you have a short attention span.

[Will Bentley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! Sweet. Simple. Accomplishes the goal without having to get too wordy. Great refresher for simple tasks you can do for a healthy lifestyle. Karen offers a wide range of habits; so if one may not be your cup of tea, there are several others you can do. She's not giving information, more than likely, that one hasn't heard before, but still refreshing. The art was by far my favorite. Not sure who the artist was, but loved the visuals. The multiple races. Lively, vibrant colors. Would recommend.

[Karley Essington · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I won't be adding all of these habits into my life, there are some that I've already put into use and I really tell a difference. It was a fun, inspirational, cute, quick read.

[sinag · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5 stars!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book contains cute and colorful illustrations and gave useful tips and motivation to the readers. However, not everything is applicable to everyone, which is still okay. I wished there's something more to it since everything in here feels too generic and can be seen in magazines, Pinterest, and motivational posts on Instagram.

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

Piece of crap
Childlike book

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not one that reads a lot of self help books, but this one grabbed my attention, one because of the inviting cover and two I was curious to know what sort of habits make you happy, and am I doing any of them. Come to find out Yes, yes I am. I in fact I actually do many of these habits which makes me a pretty happy person I guess. Not all the time I need to work on a few thing which is yet another reason why I requested this read. There is always room for improvement.

With that being said I do not feel like this is for someone who is clinically depressed, they may want to seek help elsewhere. This is in a fact a light whimsical approach to simple habits to not only make you feel happy but also help in making you, well, just a better person in general. My initial thoughts were definitely positive I loved the quirky, colorful, not to mention. exceptionally diverse illustrations. The layouts and fonts were pleasing to the eye making for a quick confident reading experience.

This book reminds you that the simplest of tasks or habits can make you happier. Simple things such as smiling, sitting in the sunshine, crying-it-out, standing tall, having a dance party (which I do with my dog on a weekly basis), can all lead to feeling better. Everything was straight to the point without a lengthy explanation but each had a research statement and study to back it up. Was this anything new that I haven't already heard, probably not, but is was colorful enough that I didn't seem to care.

My only complaint was I wish it would of wrapped things up with some concluding thoughts, just to reiterate the simplicity of happiness. It just ended with a task of "Go to Comedy club". It had such a great introduction but lacked with a corresponding conclusion. Still a fun little coffee table type book to have around.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lot of great little ideas on how to boost your mood. It’s easy to read: each scientific finding is paired with ideas of how to employ the technique in your life, followed by a colorful full-page illustration. This is helpful because not everyone has the ability or strength to tackle big changes, but we all have little things we can do to improve our moods. Some of these tips you may have heard before (gratitude journaling, don’t eat lunch at your desk, meditate) or are common sense (eat your fruits and veggies, get some exercise, go on vacation, and take a nap) but there is likely still something in here for everyone.

[Chapter.whispers.reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

A self-help book about making tiny, deliberate adjustments in daily life to cultivate happiness. Readers who are new to self-help or who are searching for short, doable ways to improve their everyday happiness will find this book ideal. It's a wonderful gift for friends or family because of its attractive design. With categories such increasing positivity, stress management, relationship building, and self-love, the book provides 50 doable habits. Research supports each habit, which is then presented in an approachable manner, frequently with humor and eye-catching graphics. Keeping a gratitude diary, engaging in mindfulness exercises, and spending time outdoors are a few ideas.

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

40-45% of your daily habits are preprogrammed habits! Can you believe that? We run on automatic for almost half our days! With the new year quickly approaching, it's a great time to reevaluate our daily habits and make some changes!

This book would make a great stocking stuffer for any of the loved ones are your list. It's got simple habits to incorporate into your life. I took a lot of tips and I will be working on them from now until the new year!

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of suggested habits to boost happiness based on science with tips on implementing them, accompanied by colorful illustrations. It breaks them up into keystone, mental, relationship, physical, home, work and play categories. While I'm not sure how science based these suggestions are, I do think that they are helpful and accessible and the author's writing is very approachable. This is a nice, quick guide and might make a good gift.

[Scout College Consulting · Rating 5 out of 5]

These habits address mental health (meditation and gratitude), relationships (small talk, volunteering), body/physical (drinking water, headstands), home (declutter, color), work (learning, commuting), and play (tourism, less TV). It's a quick read with plenty of practical ideas that you can put into practice today.

[Bri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cheery topical book about habits and rituals. Reads a bit like a magazine, nothing super challenging. Nothing to disagree with, either. Duhigg's *The Power of Habit* is a deeper and more sophisticated foray into the topic, but this is nice for a quick read. Can't comment on the illustrations as they are fairly limited in the ebook version.

[Gina Zappa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm always ready for some health and happiness tips. Gimme. I want them. This was a great lil read with some wonderful tips and tricks, I particularly liked the YET section where you add yet on to the end of a sentence for something, ex: I haven't succeeded...yet. A tiny lil tip that can make all the difference for how you frame something in your mind.

[Kalyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is a bright and accessible introduction to the habits we have and the psychology behind shifting our bad habits into good ones. Salmansohn's work is a great bit of motivation for making the habit changes without getting you bogged down in lots of detailed research. Definitely a book I'll be revisiting when I need that extra boost!

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you've read books like The Power of Habit (Charles Duhigg) and Atomic Habits (James Clear), you won't learn anything new from this book. But I do think it's nice to flip through it every now and then to get bite-sized refreshers on the key points from those books, plus it's so visually appealing. I loved the graphics here and would recommended that you get the hardcover version.

[Pam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short book on healthy habits you can start following. Each is explained on the 2-page spread (one page is an image of some kind). Quotes scientific research for each suggestion, but most of these ideas are fairly well-known. Not much new here.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a cute quick read. It’s the kind of book that you can read bits and pieces of leisurely w/o feeling overwhelmed. It had some great advice and absolutely some habits that I’m going to attempt to add to my life. I absolutely adored the illustrations that were included!

[Cynthia Fry · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are lots of helpful tidbits to help set a positive mindset or help you keep it. This is arranged in manageable chunks and sounds like advice from a good friend rather than a mother or doctor telling you what to do. Well organized

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of statistics...”happy I read it”

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s cute but pretty light weight. It has similar suggestions & lists like a magazine article. You know take a walk in nature, eat less sugar.

[Kendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful info presented in a cute way. Nothing groundbreaking.

[Agnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely, quick read that provides suggestions on how to build habits into your life and offers 50 habits to try to incorporate. Most were pretty expected but found a few new ones I might try.

[Ro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pint-sized pep talks with cheerful pictures. Healthy reminders.