Readers who have been struggling to finalize their list of personal pleasures now have a cheat sheet, thanks to researchers at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, where a scientific study has determined that sex is the most enjoyable activity for most people. Drinking alcohol came in second. A U of Canterbury news release reports that a postgraduate psychology researcher used mobile-phone text-messaging to collect data on what people did during the day and how they felt about it, a technique called “experience sampling.†The researcher, who texted people three times a day over a period of one week, found that people replied to 97 percent of all text-messages. The participants rated activities in four categories of reward: pleasure, meaning, engagment and happiness. The top ten and lowest ten activities are listed below:
|
Top-ranked:Behaviour |
Pleasure |
Meaning |
Engagement |
Happiness |
| Sex/ making love |
1st |
1st |
1st |
1st |
| Drinking alcohol/ partying |
2nd |
10th |
5th |
2nd |
| Care-giving/ volunteering |
9th |
3rd |
6th |
3rd |
| Meditating/ religious activities |
8th |
2nd |
7th |
4th |
| Childcare/ playing with children |
10th |
4th |
11th |
5th |
| Listening to music/ podcast |
3rd |
17th |
13th |
6th |
| Socialising/ talking/ chatting |
5th |
11th |
10th |
7th |
| Hobbies/ arts/ crafts |
4th |
5th |
4th |
8th |
| Shopping/ errands |
15th |
16th |
16th |
9th |
| Gaming/ video-games |
6th |
24th |
9th |
10th |
|  Lower-ranked | ||||
| Washing/ dressing/ grooming |
22nd |
29th |
30th |
21st |
| Internet/ on computer |
20th |
28th |
21st |
22nd |
| Commuting/ travelling |
27th |
23rd |
29th |
23rd |
| Paid work |
26th |
15th |
17th |
24th |
| Lectures/ class/ lab |
23rd |
8th |
15th |
25th |
| Texting/ emailing |
21st |
18th |
18th |
26th |
| Studying/ working on education |
28th |
7th |
14th |
27th |
| Housework/ chores/ DIY |
29th |
27th |
27th |
28th |
|
24th |
30th |
28th |
29th |
|
| Sick/ healthcare |
30th |
25th |
25th |
30th |
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I love the headline! Sounds like ground breaking research!
Wow, are you kidding me? It took actual research to figure this out?
Who was in the sampling, UC seniors only? Then these results are hardly surprising. How many people? Without this kind of info this “scientific study” is absolutely meaningless. What about the saying, “if you have your health you have everything”? Health is at the bottom? No wonder health care is out of control!