For this reason, people commonly assume that moving to a warmer climate will make them significantly happier. Unfortunately, this is not the case at all, as a 1998 large-sample study of Kahneman's showed.
The sun boosts our mood
This is down to the link between sunlight and our serotonin levels – the hormone that makes us feel happy. It's also why people are more likely to develop Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) when the shorter autumn days arrive and we creep into winter with fewer daylight hours.
But, research goes and proves that the colder you are, the happier you are. Low temperatures increase happiness and reduce tiredness and stress, whereas hot temperatures make you more exhausted and decrease happiness.
The link between climate and happiness in science seems small, and in fact, some studies (such as one from 2013 published in the Journal of Happiness Studies) claim that "low temperatures increase happiness and reduce tiredness and stress, raising net effect, and high temperatures reduce happiness."
The Takeaway
There's more to living in a warm area than just getting the benefit of a healthy tan. Warmth and sunlight can offer real benefit to your health. From improved heart and lung health, to enhanced mental performance, living in a warm climate may give you just the health boost you need.
Body temperature is one of the most well known and important factors involved in lifespan; increased body temperature has been shown to negatively associate with longevity (i.e. earlier death) and conversely, lower body temperature is associated with increased longevity and reduced aging.
So there you have it: although we have similar rates of cold and flu infection, we get them at different times of the year. And although the tropical lifestyle certainly has its upsides, lower rates of cold and flu is not one of them.
“If, for instance, some people with SAD symptoms prefer warmer climates, these same individuals may have improvement in their mood on warmer days,” she says. “However, weather does not necessarily impact Seasonal Affective symptoms. The longer daylight hours, not the warmer climate, positively affects SAD.”
According to the 2023 World Happiness Report, Finland is the happiest country in the world for the sixth year in a row. It's followed by Denmark, Iceland, Israel, and the Netherlands in the annual survey released on Monday, March 20, 2023, that ranks countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be.
Finland took the top spot for the sixth year in a row in 2023, followed by Denmark and Iceland. But why are they so consistently happy? Some say it's because they are small, homogenous, and wealthy. Several years ago, a research paper even suggested it was because they are genetically bound to be happier.
Researchers have discovered, though, that while people in sunny climes are happier than those in cold ones during their autumn and winter, the pattern reverses in spring. That is, it's the change in the season that really kicks up happiness levels. When bad weather turns good, that's when you know you're truly alive.
"The sun signals our body to produce more serotonin, which is a natural antidepressant," said Dr. Allison Bashe from New Directions Counseling. "The sun also encourages our body to produce less of a stress hormone. Because of that, we tend to feel more relaxed and less stress when the weather is warm and sunny."
The energy comes from glucose…which is also necessary for the brain's mental processes. So basically, cooling off when it is hot uses more glucose than warming up when it's cold; thus leaving less available glucose for the brain. Therefore, we can assume that cold weather is better for the brain.
The sun alone makes us happy, as it increases serotonin. In the summer, we spend hours on end out in the sun, whereas during the winter, we don't spend much time in it at all. Simply spending more time in the sun can increase our moods greatly — a luxury that locations that have all four seasons don't get all year.
The science behind it
Exposure to sunshine and light therapy increases the brain's release of a hormone called serotonin. Serotonin is associated with boosting a person's mood and helping a person feel calm, focused and less anxious.
Australia has been named the 12th happiest country in the world.
The World Happiness Report released its annual ranking of the happiest countries in the world and while Australia narrowly missed a spot in the top 10, it was ranked pretty high at number 12 on the list.
For the sixth year in a row, Finland is the world's happiest country, according to World Happiness Report rankings based largely on life evaluations from the Gallup World Poll.
Some people associate their happiest memories with long summer days and experiencing the benefits of the warmer months. However for people with anxiety disorders, the heat may increase their symptoms of anxiety, and the summer months can feel the most difficult to face.
If you're at risk of SAD, you may already have less serotonin activity. Since sunlight helps regulate serotonin, a lack of sunlight in the winter can make the situation worse. Serotonin levels can fall further, leading to depression.
The symptoms usually occur during the fall and/or early winter and they improve during spring and summer. What is noteworthy is that some people experience the opposite pattern whereby the symptoms of depression begin in spring or summer. The symptoms can be mild and then progress and become more severe.
However, there is no physical stress on our bodies when we are in the 22 to 23°C (72 to 73°F) temperature range and a Mediterranean type of climate (dry-summer climate). What is this? Consequently, we don't need to maintain constant thermoregulation in heating and air conditioning, which depletes our body from energy.
In healthy people, physiological systems prevent hypothermia from occurring. Impulses from the skin arrive at the hypothalamus, a brain area responsible for controlling the internal environment of the body, which generates instructions in the nervous system that prevent a drop in body core temperature.
The Canary Islands climate is considered the best climate in the world, thanks to the year-round pleasant, mild temperatures.