Daydreaming Makes a Person Unhappy

A person spends roughly half of his working time dreaming about the future, and thinking over past events. However, psychologists from Harvard University believe such a pastime not only interferes with work but also makes people unhappy in spite of universal ideas.

It turns out that a person is most happy when he lives today, and not when thinking about a possible position in the world. The experts through their study showed that people are daydreaming 46.9% of the time. And at this time we feel the worst, experiencing minimal joy.


Often, people involuntarily begin to dream when listening to music, playing, resting, working or sitting at a computer. But reading, watching TV and doing homework have little effect on the brain activity. The highest peak of happiness comes at a time of active communication with friends. This same theory explains why so many people prefer extreme sports, register in various clubs and spend evenings in bars talking to friends.

For the study, researchers developed an application specifically for iPhone, which randomly dispatched three simple questions to 2,250 volunteers from all over the world: How are you feeling right now?” “What are you doing right now?” and “Are you currently thinking about something other than what you’re currently doing?”. The survey showed: the participants diverted at least 30% of the time on any activity other than engaging in sexual activity. Just as a person felt less happy when he was distracted most of all.