February 2011

Measuring "happiness" continued to catch the mass media’s eye as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) continued its consultation on what we should include. The Telegraph reported that people will be asked "How happily married are you?" in the ONS’s regular household survey, while on the same day the more interesting headline "Bingo is good for your health!" caught our eye. This is actually reporting on a serious piece of long term research looking at 1000 adults entering their 80’s in Chicago. According to the researchers "a person who reported a high level of social activity was about twice as likely to remain free of a disability involving activities of daily living than a person with a low level of social activity." The Bingo angle … bingo halls are quite sociable places, they provide an excuse to get out and meet people. Online Bingo will probably not have the same affect unless you win the UK jackpot.

For the more gadget minded generation, the Guardian reported on Mappiness – an iphone application that collates information from people to find out when, where and why they are happy. Surprisingly almost 32,000 have used this app at some point in the UK since its launch last August, and it has 7,000 regulars on a daily basis. It looks like being the first widespread use of this mobile technology in gathering wellbeing data