Gratitude greatest factor behind happiness

Finding the key to happiness may sound impossible to achieve, but believe it or not, it may be as simple as picking up the phone.

A study out of the US found that gratitude is one of the greatest contributing factors to overall happiness, News.com.au reported.

But how do you define happiness? The researchers defined happiness as a feeling of positive emotion, engagement in their environment, work, friends and family and the feeling that life is meaningful.

Another group of researchers from YouTube science channel Soul Pancake decided to expand on the study by testing it for themselves.

They put together a group of people and asked them to choose the one person who had the greatest effect on their lives.

The participants were then asked to write down the reasons why these people were so important and then pick up the phone and call that person to tell them what they wrote.

Pouring your heart out to someone is a difficult task at the best of times, but the study showed that it was pretty essential to well-being.

Those who took the time to write something down but didn't pick up the phone saw happiness increase between two and four percent.

But for those who picked up the phone and expressed their gratitude to the person who influenced them the most saw happiness increase between 4 and 19 percent.

The best part, the participant that registered as the least happy in the group saw the biggest increase in happiness after making that phone call.