Does Leisure Make Us Happy? Often the Answer Is No

You might think spending more time relaxing would make you happier.

But recent research suggests that having more leisure time doesn’t necessarily make people more likely to rate their day as happy. The research, using data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Time Use Survey, shows that people were most satisfied with their days when they included an hour or two of socializing, physical exercise and — surprisingly — up to six hours of work (though more work than this was linked to less happiness).

“It doesn’t mean leisure time is bad. It just means that we probably need to use it a little bit differently,” said Laurie Santos, a psychology professor at Yale University who wasn’t involved in the study, which was published earlier this year and analyzed how 15,000 Americans used their time across two nonconsecutive years.

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