--- title: Education Does Not Make You a Happier Person description: A new study by Warwick Medical School finds no link between education level and happiness canonical: https://time.com/3759397/education-happiness-mental-health/ author: Kevin McSpadden article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-26T08:02:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:45:19.112Z og:title: Education Does Not Make You Happier og:description: New study finds no link between education level and happiness. og:url: https://time.com/3759397/education-happiness-mental-health/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc148ad4a2679faba/698785542dce01d9109de35f/education-happiness-study-mental-health.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4563 og:image:height: 2567 og:image:alt: Silhouetted profile of woman wearing graduation cap og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Education Does Not Make You Happier twitter:description: New study finds no link between education level and happiness. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc148ad4a2679faba/698785542dce01d9109de35f/education-happiness-study-mental-health.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Education Does Not Make You a Happier Person > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Each week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published weekly. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=4a63a734-e92d-4b40-a41e-a078cc7c45b8&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1) ## Video: How $1,000 Could Help Your Health [Watch (HLS stream): How $1,000 Could Help Your Health](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EILRa37f.m3u8) (2:01)  _Published 2014-08-22. From acupuncture to yoga, $1,000 can go a long way to improving your health._ by [Kevin McSpadden](https://time.com/author/kevin-mcspadden/) ## Kevin McSpadden Mar 26, 2015 8:02 AM UTC  Silhouetted profile of woman wearing graduation cap Silhouetted profile of woman wearing graduation cap Getty Images by [Kevin McSpadden](https://time.com/author/kevin-mcspadden/) ## Kevin McSpadden Mar 26, 2015 8:02 AM UTC There is no link between your education level and your personal happiness, says a new [mental-health research study](http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/education%5Fmay%5Fnot/) published by the _British Journal of Psychiatry_. According to a press release, researchers from Warwick Medical School were inspired by the strong association between poor education and mental illness and wanted to investigate if the opposite was true: Does being educated lead to happiness? The team discovered that the odds of happiness were equivalent throughout all levels of educational attainment. “These findings are quite controversial because we expected to find the socioeconomic factors that are associated with mental illness would also be correlated with mental well being,” said Sarah Stewart-Brown, the lead author on the study. “But that is not the case.” Researchers defined happiness as a state of high mental well-being in which people “feel good and function well.” They applied this to data from the Health Survey for England, which was administered to 17,030 people in 2010 and 2011. Stewart-Brown said that her discovery means that socioeconomic factors may not be applicable to programs aimed at boosting mental well-being. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] $ 1, 000 can really put you on the road to good health, or at least to better health. A lot of workers say that they're really stressed, unless productive. But half of workers say that stress makes them less productive at work. And there are a lot of studies that show that people who are more stressed have higher medical bills. And that makes sense. If you are stressed you may miss more work. You may go, go to doctor more often. So if you can invest $ 1000, you can really improve your health and lower your own costs. Yoga is a great way to reduce stress. It helps you with deep breathing, relaxation exercises. And a mindfulness that can really reduce your tension. Yoga classes cost about $ 15 to $ 20 each, at, that would get you doing downward dog about twice a week for six months. Acupuncture is another great way to reduce stress. It may be covered by your health insurance, so check that first. If not, acupuncture sessions cost about $ 16 to $ 120. Modern exercise has been proven as a great way to reduce stress. To incorporate it on a regular basis in your busy life, consider riding your bike to and from work. Or, taking a bike ride when you get home from work in the evening. Now, a good bike can cost you $ 1000. But think of it as a long- term investment, a good bike will last you many. If you have 10 thousand dollars, there's a lot you can do to invest in your health. A personal trainer, may give you the motivation you need to exercise, that you might not be able to do on your own. That costs you about 50 dollars a session, which could give you about 100 sessions, that you could spread out over two years. Another great way to. T find someone to motivate you is to consult a nutritionist. A first- time session with a nutitionist will cost about $ 150. But, if you wanna do follow- up sessions, to create say a health plan to see how you're doing, that'll cost you about $ 100. See if your health insurance may cover that, as well. 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