Studies suggest that just talking to one friend throughout the day – just once or twice to joke around, catch up or let them know you are thinking about them – can significantly enhance happiness and decrease stress levels at the end of each day.

Researchers focused their investigation on forms of communication that had been demonstrated to foster bonding by conversing.

There were 7 forms of communication:

Giggle around, give genuine compliments, listen attentively, catch up quickly and appreciate others and their perspectives; all these activities contribute to meaningful dialogues and conversations.
At Showing Care, more than 900 participants were instructed to participate in one of seven communication types for one day and report back at the end of their experience with regards to loneliness, well-being, anxiety, connection stress and quality of day.

No matter the nature of these conversations, what was important was reaching out intentionally in one or more of these ways to a friend.

This study was intended to examine both the quantity and quality of everyday communication.

Research suggests that both interactions and quality play an integral part in creating happier, less lonely individuals. One interaction a day was enough to make an impactful difference, with individuals engaging in more quality conversations reporting happier days overall.

Meaning, spending more time listening to and appreciating others’ opinions could lead to greater happiness in your day at the end.

This study illustrates that those already leading fulfilling lives don’t need to have higher-quality conversations to enhance their mental well-being; any individual can improve theirs by scheduling time for such dialogue. Communication can impact our daily feelings significantly – just one conversation can change it all!

Researchers also examined previous studies on different ways that we connect in an age of mobile and social media connectivity, and it was discovered that face-to-face communication was more closely related to well-being than social or electronic media communication.

Researchers explain why quality communication can increase happiness. According to Communicate Bond Belong theory, individuals use conversations as an effective way of fulfilling their need for belongingness through discussions.

Quality conversations were found to be particularly beneficial for managing stress and cultivating connections, supporting the idea that communication serves to fulfill our need for belonging while at the same time helping reduce our overall levels of anxiety.