Emily Craig
For many of us, the start of the year can be a bit of a struggle. There’s the emotional hangover from the festive period, the financial realities of Christmas expenditures kicking in and “a general feeling that the good times are still some time away”, notes Bruce Hood, a psychologist at the University of Bristol and author of The Science of Happiness.
Even world-leading happiness experts are vulnerable to feeling blue. This is what the professors, doctors and psychologists who spend their days teaching others how to be happy do when they need to raise their own moods.
1. Listen to music and see to your friends
Paul Dolan, a professor of behavioural science at LSE and author of Happiness by Design
I listen to music often, but especially when I feel down. Whatever mood you’re in, go and stick on something that you enjoy listening to and you’ll come away feeling happy again. This may sound glib but it’s really effective. Sometimes we forget the most obvious things.
I also spend time with friends. Around 15 years ago, when I was in my early 40s, I had the realisation that I was falling into the trap of being a middle-aged man whose only close relationship was with his wife. That’s putting a lot on one person.
I made a conscious decision to cultivate three friends – some I’d known for a while, others I’d just recently met – to make sure I had a community as I got older. I went out of my way to make regular contact with them.
It means, when I’m down, I’ve got people to talk to – over a morning coffee, afternoon tea or evening beer – and vice versa. It just makes life so much better.
I also go to the gym four or five times a week. I’ve done that for three decades. I’ve always made it a priority as it definitely improves my mood.
Music, connection with other people and exercise are all physiological reactions as much as psychological ones. They all bring system benefits to our neurobiology, to our biometrics, alongside our feelings and our mood.
2. Get out of the house and be generous
Dr Michael Plant, founder and director of the Happier Lives Institute and research fellow at the University of Oxford’s Wellbeing Research Centre
I feel down at least once a week. I am confident that learning how happiness works has made me happier, but it’s not a magic wand. Anyone who tells you they’re happy all the time is lying (to themselves) or trying to sell you their book.
On any given day, if I’m feeling low, I’ll run through a checklist: eat something, leave the house, talk to someone, exercise. I find it amazing how often my soul-destroying, existential funk clears soon as I step out of the door.
More broadly, I prioritise living a meaningful life where I am making a difference. Lots of self-help advice is very self-focused – such as the ‘let them’ theory – which flies in the face of the research that the best self-help is probably ‘other help’ [from others]. Research shows people get joy from both altruistic activities and talking to strangers – and more enjoyment than they expect.
Volunteering, switching to a high-impact career and just trying to be nicer to people are ways to do good and feel better.
Finally, if you’re very down for more than a couple of weeks, you’re potentially depressed and you should chat to your GP and seek out therapy. The best predictor of therapy working is the therapeutic relationship, so if you get “bad vibes” from your therapist, find another.
3. Put your problem in context
Bruce Hood, psychologist at the University of Bristol and author of The Science of Happiness
Drawing appropriate comparisons makes one more grateful and appreciative. There are always others who are less fortunate, and we should remind ourselves that our lives are precious, relatively short and mostly comfortable. We need to be less self-focused and more other-aware.
There are many studies showing that gratitude can be one of the strongest antidotes to misery. In general, my research shows that becoming less egocentric [self-focused] and more allocentric [other-focused] is a better approach to happiness.
I use this technique all the time, both during the ups and downs so as to calibrate my emotional life. You can’t stop bad things happening but you can change the way you think about them. I’d like to take credit for that advice, but it’s all old Stoic truism.
4. Have a cry and join a club
Lowri Dowthwaite-Walsh, BABCP accredited psychotherapist and coach and honorary senior lecturer at the University of Lancashire
Honestly, [I feel down] probably more than I’d like to admit – probably a day or two every month. But hey, I’m a 47-year-old woman who works full-time, has teenage children, step-children and a whole host of other weird and wonderful life issues that I am navigating. Of course I am going to feel down at times.
If things feel really bad, I will cry. If I can’t cry, I watch a sad film and make myself cry – I always feel better after. I also like to go to the woods near my house and scream to let out my anger and frustration – although that has been a bit embarrassing at times when I’ve bumped into a dog walker or two. Other go-to’s include cuddling my kids and husband, walking my dogs and meeting friends for laughs.
But my absolute go-to as of this year is attending my drama club every Sunday. At the beginning of 2025, I was feeling burnt out. I felt as though I had lost my spark, so I reminded myself of what I had loved the most growing up – acting and performing – and contacted the Cartwright Drama Studio in Chorley and signed myself up for the year.
I’ve not looked back. For two hours a week, I get to be a big kid, to be playful, improvise and use my imagination. Being creative is a great way to stop my mind from over-thinking and the social element lifts my mood like nothing else.
5. Take a walk in nature
Dr Tara Swart, a neuroscientist and author of The Source: Open Your Mind, Change Your Life and The Signs: The New Science of How to Trust Your Instincts
I lost my husband a few years ago, so I have been very down at certain points in my life. I have since trained myself to be very positive so I don’t get down often.
When my husband passed away, I started walking for hours because I was so drawn to nature. I wasn’t working and knew I couldn’t sit at home and do nothing. Within a week or two, I noticed the impact on my mental health of walking for at least an hour.
Walking in nature has mental health, physical health and longevity benefits. Walking resets your nervous system and trees release compounds called phytoncides, which trigger the release of natural killer cells in your immune system. Being among nature also lowers blood pressure, levels of the stress hormone cortisol, your heart rate and breathing rate. All of that leaves you feeling better than before.
“In the past, I’ve also found it helpful to have a list of things to do when you’re down. For me, it was things like taking a bath, talking to a friend and eating a square of dark chocolate. When you’re down, it’s quite hard to actually think of something new or different to do, so it helps to have that list of things you enjoy to pick from.
6. Pay attention to the details that spark happiness
Dr Andy Cope is a positive psychology expert and author of The Art of Being Brilliant
[To improve my mood] I tune into “glimmers”. If triggers are the things that spark stress, anxiety and painful memories, glimmers are their unnoticed opposite. Triggers drag us into tension. Glimmers pull us back towards calm.
Glimmers don’t arrive with fanfares – they aren’t big, cinematic life events. They’re microscopic, blink-and-you’ll-miss-them moments: your first sip of coffee, the smell of fresh sheets, a shaft of sunlight, the kettle’s final click, raindrops racing each other down a window. It’s a dog greeting you like you’ve been missing for a decade, a stranger doing something quietly kind, a bee bumbling with purpose or a misty morning.
They’re everywhere, but to catch them you have to slow down to the only speed that ever really counts: you need to learn to live in “now mode”. Rather than trying to escape the present moment, glimmers slide you straight inside it. The present isn’t a stepping stone, it’s the whole damn stage. Fall in love with now and you quietly fall back in love with life.
While the term “glimmers” is popularised language, it aligns directly with work on neuroception – the brain’s automatic scanning for danger or safety. Research shows that small sensory signals (warmth, eye contact, nature, rhythm, kindness) act as signals of safety, shifting the nervous system out of defensive states.
7. Reframe your negative thoughts
Professor Jolanta Burke is a wellbeing researcher, chartered psychologist and award-winning researcher at the Centre for Positive Health Sciences at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences
Sometimes, I sit down and try to re-evaluate my life to figure out what is getting me down so much. Other times, when I can pinpoint it, I try to change my thoughts about it. By reframing thoughts that cause my low mood, I get into a better place.
In some cases, I try to do things that give me joy, like take time out to read a book, spend time with my son or go for a walk. There are days when I choose not to do anything, however, and just wait for the mood to pass.
8. Meditate
Dr Robert Waldinger, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital
I probably feel down once or twice a day, often just for a few minutes at a time.
The first thing I do is wait. I have learnt that my moods don’t last, and that it often helps if I just give it time, for example going to sleep at night and seeing how I feel in the morning. Exercise usually improves my mood, as does meditation.
9. Move your body
Dr Laurie Santos, a professor of psychology at Yale University and host of The Happiness Lab podcast
I have lots of times where I feel down. It’s worth saying explicitly that feeling down is normative: it’s normal to feel sad everyone once in a while. It’s normal to feel anxious and depressed when there’s bad news in the world. We need to get away from the idea of toxic positivity – this notion that we need to feel happy all the time. We’re supposed to have a range of emotions, especially during difficult times.
My go-to is exercise. There’s lots of evidence that simply moving our bodies makes us feel better. So when I’m down, that’s when I try to squeeze in a harder yoga or Pilates class than usual. I also try to combine that with a little social connection, so I’ll often phone a good friend to see if she’s free to work out with me.
Many studies show that exercise is a great way to boost our mood. One review even found that exercise can be just as effective in reducing depressive symptoms as other forms of psychological treatments.
The Telegraph, London
