--- title: See How What Makes Us Happy Has Changed Over the Past 80 Years description: British psychologists have re-created a famous study conducted in Bolton in 1938 that sought to find out what made people happy canonical: https://time.com/3846687/happiness-study-1938-time-uk/ author: Helen Regan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-05T09:12:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:19.250Z article:section: Science og:title: How What Makes Us Happy Has Changed Over the Past 80 Years og:description: Now we consider good humor and leisure time to be crucial to our happiness. og:url: https://time.com/3846687/happiness-study-1938-time-uk/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f80f7b6b09068eb/6987ee5a2dce0128be9e1aa8/happiness-study-time.jpg?branch=production&width=726&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 726 og:image:height: 408 og:image:alt: Man jumping in mid air on beach og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How What Makes Us Happy Has Changed Over the Past 80 Years twitter:description: Now we consider good humor and leisure time to be crucial to our happiness. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f80f7b6b09068eb/6987ee5a2dce0128be9e1aa8/happiness-study-time.jpg?branch=production&width=726&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See How What Makes Us Happy Has Changed Over the Past 80 Years > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Future Proof: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Future Proof is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Making sense of the climate and energy economy. Future Proof examines the forces transforming energy and climate, and what those changes mean for business, technology, policy and the global economy. Senior correspondent Justin Worland goes beyond traditional climate coverage to connect the energy transition to the bigger decisions reshaping companies, markets and society. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Ask the Expert: Sex is the Key to Happy Retirement [Watch (HLS stream): Ask the Expert: Sex is the Key to Happy Retirement](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DNE2aJxk.m3u8) (1:55)  _Published 2015-02-18. Studies show that a healthy and active sex life is one way to ensure a happy retirement._ by [Helen Regan](https://time.com/author/helen-regan/) ## Helen Regan May 5, 2015 9:12 AM UTC  Man jumping in mid air on beach Man jumping in mid air on beach Daniel Ingold—Cultura RF/Getty Images by [Helen Regan](https://time.com/author/helen-regan/) ## Helen Regan May 5, 2015 9:12 AM UTC Psychologists from the University of Bolton in the U.K. have [re-created](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150504210704.htm) a famous study conducted in the same town almost eight decades ago that sought to find out what made people happy. In 1938, an advert was placed in the local paper asking readers “What is happiness?” reports Science Daily. After rating the importance of 10 factors from 226 people, researchers found that people believed security, knowledge and religion were the most important aspects of happiness. Last year, Sandie McHugh and Professor Jerome Carson repeated the social experiment and found that while security was still in the top three, good humor and leisure came in poll position. Meanwhile, religion, which was the third most important factor in 1938, has fallen to the bottom of the current list. In 1938, most people said they were happiest at home in Bolton, whereas today 63% said they were happier away from the town. One factor that hasn’t changed, though, is the importance people place on luck — 40% believed good fortune was vital to their happiness both back then and in 2014\. And in both eras, most people said they didn’t think happiness was related to material possessions and wealth. “The overall impression from the correspondence in 1938 is that happiness factors were rooted in everyday lives at home and within the community,” said McHugh. “In 2014, many comments value family and friends, with good humor and leisure time also ranked highly.” \[[_Science Daily_](http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150504210704.htm)\] _Read next:_ [_7 Easy Happiness Boosters According to Harvard Research_](http://time.com/3841045/happiness-boosters/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day._](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/autoplay/?xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ## Transcript Maybe you didn't save as much as you'd hoped for retirement. And perhaps you could have done a better job investing, too. And maybe you'd feel better if you could count on a bigger Social Security check. But don't despair. Even if you're not as financially prepared as you might like, there's another way you may still be able to improve your chances of living a happy retirement. Have more sex. I'm not kidding. Researched by Florida A and M professor Adrian Jackson presented last year at the [ UNKNOWN ] to Logical Society of America's annual meeting found that frequency of sexual activity among individual. Individuals 65 and older was a significant predictor of happiness, even after accounting for factors such as age, gender, health status, and one's finances. I won't get into the many details the study examined concerning sex and retirees. I'm afraid I might blush. But the relationship between sex and overall satisfaction among older people was quite clear. Based on the responses of 550 individuals, 65 and older. Researchers found that while only 32 % of those who reported no sexual activity in the last 12 months said they were very happy with life in general. Almost 38 % who engaged in sexual activity at least once or twice over the past 12 months said they were very happy, and more than 50 % who engaged in sex more than once a month said they were very happy. The association between frequency of sex and happiness also held when the study looked only at the 238 older married people in the study. Although their relationship wasn't quite as strong. That said, married people who had sex more often were also more likely to feel very good about their marriage, compared to those who had sex less frequently. Of course, this study doesn't necessarily prove that more sex leads to a happier retirement. After all, it could just be that happier retirees are more likely to have sex than those that aren't. But as long as there's even a chance that sex might lead to more retirement happiness, seems it would be a shame not to give it a try. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3846687/happiness-study-1938-time-uk/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3846687/happiness-study-1938-time-uk/"},"headline":"See How What Makes Us Happy Has Changed Over the Past 80 Years","datePublished":"2015-05-05T09:12:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:59:19.250Z","description":"These days we consider good humor and leisure time to be crucial to our happiness","url":"https://time.com/3846687/happiness-study-1938-time-uk/","keywords":["Research","Happiness","study"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f80f7b6b09068eb/6987ee5a2dce0128be9e1aa8/happiness-study-time.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Helen Regan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/helen-regan/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f80f7b6b09068eb/6987ee5a2dce0128be9e1aa8/happiness-study-time.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Man jumping in mid air on beach","caption":"Man jumping in mid air on beach","creditText":"Daniel Ingold—Cultura RF/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3846687/happiness-study-1938-time-uk/","name":"See How What Makes Us Happy Has Changed Over the Past 80 Years"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Ask the Expert: Sex is the Key to Happy Retirement","description":"Studies show that a healthy and active sex life is one way to ensure a happy retirement.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/DNE2aJxk/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-02-18T15:40:02.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DNE2aJxk.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3846687/happiness-study-1938-time-uk/","duration":"PT1M55S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3846687/happiness-study-1938-time-uk/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```