Going to new places improved volunteers’ mood even when it was cold and raining, the survey found.
The study was conducted by New York University. There were 122 volunteers. There age was between 18 to 31. Their movements were tracked by GPS technology.
Co-author Dr Catherine Hartley said: “Our results suggest that people feel happy with more variety in their daily routines – when they go to novel places and have a wider array of experiences.”
Previous studies on rats showed similar positive effects to variations in routine. Researchers also scanned the brains of almost half the study group to see if this might explain the link between exploring and happiness, the journal Nature Neuroscience reported.
It turned out that the subjects who reacted most happily had more brain connections between their hippocampus and the striatum – the regions which process new and rewarding experiences.