Have you ever purchased something new that you really wanted, something that you were sure would make your life noticeably better? It might have been a car, a phone, clothes, or any number of things, but most of us have been in this situation before. Did that new thing change your life? Chances are it was pretty amazing at first, but it’s also likely that the joy you first experienced didn’t last as long as you hoped it would. This is called hedonic adaptation.

The term "hedonic" relates to our feelings or sensations. Thus, hedonic adaptation refers to our natural tendency to adjust to feelings that we experience. In other words, although something may make us happy (or sad) initially, we often quickly get used to those feelings and revert to our previous level of happiness.

Hedonic adaptation can impact our happiness through two pathways. First, we often expect new things or experiences to make us happier than they actually can. After we are done remodeling a kitchen, we might find that it didn’t make us as happy as we had hoped. Second, the happy moments and experiences in our lives don’t last forever. We might enjoy the remodeled kitchen for a time, but what used to be new will eventually become ordinary and the happiness we gained from it will fade with time.

If we are not careful, our unrealistic expectations combined with quickly diminishing flow of positive emotion can drive us to continually chase new things to make us happy. This pattern of "acquisition and adaptation" is called the hedonic treadmill¹. If you’ve ever caught yourself saying, “I’ll be happy when…”, you’ve probably found yourself stuck on the treadmill. People stuck on the treadmill often consume more and more in an attempt to feel good, but they often feel disappointed when their expectations fall short.

If this seems disappointing, please keep reading! The truth is, there is a lot that influences our happiness, and there are things we can do to thwart hedonic adaptation, jump off the treadmill, and prolong the happy moments in our lives.

In 2005 Sonja Lyubomirsky and her colleagues asked what affects a person's happiness level ². As they combed through decades of happiness and well-being research, they found that a person's happiness level is influenced by three main factors: genetics, circumstance, and intentional activities. While those components are important, their main point was this: people can improve their own happiness through their own actions ³ .

How does this relate to hedonic adaptation? First, we each have our individual genetic happiness baseline. There are some people who are just naturally happy people, and others who have to work harder to notice the happy moments in their lives. Although this might seem scary, especially if you fall into the latter category, know that our genes don’t determine how happy we will be. Rather, our genes make us more susceptible to happy or sad feelings. There is much more that goes into our happiness!

Second, we learn that our circumstances only account for a small portion of our happiness! Think about that for a moment. This means that many of the things that we often assume to have the largest impact on our happiness (like our job, our house, the place we live, or even illness), actually don't have as large an effect on our lives as we might think!

A classic experiment which compared the happiness levels of lottery winners and paralyzed accident victims gives us a great example of this principle. If a person’s circumstances produced lasting happiness, we would expect the lottery winners to be the happiest group. Although I’m sure they were ecstatic at first, their happiness levels didn’t differ from the accident victims over time. Even winning the lottery didn’t provide a sustained boost to their happiness! When we expect changes to our circumstances to bring us lasting happiness, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment when those things ultimately fail to deliver.

Third, we know that a major portion of our happiness is accounted for by our own thoughts, actions, and attitudes. Think about that for a moment; our thoughts and actions, things that we have some degree of control over, have a huge impact on how happy we are! What gets us stuck on the hedonic treadmill is overestimating the power our circumstances have to make us happy, while forgetting our own power to prolong our happy moments. Here is an important note: while it is possible to change our happiness with our intentional activity, it does take work ³ ! To see sustained changes, we must give sustained effort.

To summarize, we often set ourselves up for disappointment when we expect our circumstances to bring us lasting happiness. As we’ve learned, hedonic adaptation will kick in and we’ll quickly return to our happiness baseline. Instead, we should focus our efforts on the things that matter most.

First, let's talk about that portion of happiness that comes from our circumstances. We can maximize the happiness we get from these things by continually finding new ways to enjoy them. As Sheldon and Lyubomirsky stated, “Variety is the Spice of Happiness”⁴. For example, if you purchase a new camera, schedule time to use it, explore its features, or share your photography with friends. One word of warning: remember, a trap people often fall into is overestimating the joy our circumstances bring. Instead, we will see the largest and most sustainable boost to our happiness as we change our own attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors.

So what does changing our thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors look like? There are many well-being strategies we can implement in our lives that help us change our perspective or behavior to thwart hedonic adaptation. Take savoring, for example. Savoring helps us slow down and more fully appreciate the good things in life. As we learn to savor we gain a newfound awareness of things that we often rush through as we go about our busy lives. It helps us rediscover the joy of things we often take for granted.

Also consider gratitude. Gratitude is a habit of awareness that helps us recognize the fortunate aspects of our lives. While gratitude can be a behavior, such as saying “thank you” to the person holding the elevator for you, it can be more than that. We describe it as an orientation to life that promotes both our own and others’ well-being.

Or, focus on cultivating supportive relationships. Supportive relationships are arguably one of the greatest contributors to our well-being. However, it is not enough to only have people in our life who we care about. Remember that a major component to happiness is our thoughts, behaviors and attitudes. Instead, we reap the benefits of relationships as we invest time and effort into strengthening these relationships.

These are just a few of the well-being strategies we can use in our lives to fight hedonic adaptation. Here is one final thought: Remember, “Variety is the Spice of Happiness”⁴. As hard as we try, we will likely see hedonic adaptation working its way into our lives. When it does, using a variety of well-being strategies will help us maintain their positive effects and thwart hedonic adaptation.

If what you’ve read today has interested you, you can learn more about different ways to incorporate variety into your life by exploring the modules we have available. You can also take a look at our blog to see how these strategies have helped others fight hedonic adaptation. Or, you might want to start a 21-day personal experiment yourself to start practicing one of the strategies we discussed.

You don’t need to exhaust your one precious life sprinting on the hedonic treadmill. As you apply the principles explored on this website, you'll find that your happy moments will grow; you’ll find yourself needing less and appreciating more, and you can spend more time savoring the beautiful life you have built.

Contributors: Gus Salazar, Jared Warren