Many of us can fall into the “if I just…” way of thinking. “If I just had that mansion, I’d have succeeded at life.” “If I could just afford that vacation to the Maldives, I’d never ask for anything again.”

Most of the things our brains convince us that we want are material products that require money. But we can’t be fully blamed for thinking like this.

Big brands with big marketing budgets know exactly how to convince us that we need their products.

If you’ve ever bought an iPhone, a FitBit or an Amazon Alexa, you have been influenced at some point by a brand. There are many ways for brands to make us feel that we couldn’t live without their stuff – for personal or professional image, to fit in with our peers, or simply because of brand loyalty.

And in the end, it all comes back to one thing: money. We need it, or we can’t buy the stuff we think will make us happy. Hence, we often think that only money will make us happy.

Most of us, however, know that this is untrue – and one Yale and Oxford study proved it with very interesting data.

The study, which was published in The Lancet, was produced using data about the mental mood and physical behavior of more than 1.2 million Americans.

The following question was presented to the participants: “How many times have you felt mentally unwell in the past 30 days, for example, due to stress, depression, or emotional problems?”

Additional data supplied by the participants detailed their physical activities and income.

There were 75 types of physical activity to choose from, and they weren’t all your typical exercise activities. As well as cycling and running, activities like housework and mowing the lawn were on there.

The study highlighted something eye-opening: participants who were physically active felt just as good as those who don’t do sports but who earn about $25,000 more a year.

This suggests you’d have to be earning much more to achieve the same happiness boost offered by sport.

Of course, we all know that exercise has positive effects on our mental health. It can reduce low mood, anxiety and depression by boosting cognitive function and self-esteem. It relieves stress and helps you sleep better.

Group activities, such as team sports, can also help reduce feelings of social anxiety and withdrawal.

But trying to fit exercise into our busy lives can sound easier than it actually is, especially if you spend all day at the office.

If you don’t exercise at all right now, start small.

Try taking a 20-minute walk every lunchtime. If you feel you can’t squeeze 20 minutes into your day for a brisk walk, you’ll need to assess your current lifestyle. We all need a healthy work-life balance!

There are plenty of ways you can exercise at home, too, if you don’t feel confident to exercise in public just yet.

YouTube workout videos have proved immensely popular during the pandemic, and they seem set to stick around going forward.

Find what works for you, and you will soon reap the rewards – both physically and mentally!

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Source: Business Insider, helpguide.org, smallbusiness.chron