On the International Sloth Day, NPO Radio 1’s programme “Fris” interviews Ruut Veenhoven, Emeritus Professor of Happiness at the Erasmus Happiness Economics Research Organisation (EHERO). The International Sloth Day is a day to honour the adorable slow-moving, tree-dwelling, and leaf-eating mammals, but how happy do we actually become when we are lazy?
According to Veenhoven, it is good to be lazy now and then, but not to be it all the time. ‘In general, the most active people are the most happy. So, it is good to do active things. On the other hand, you have to take some rest every now and then. There are two strong predictors of happiness, one is activity and the other the quality of sleep. Eventually, you need both.’
‘The modern society of the Netherlands ensures that the pace of life is quite high, and that is also a reason why we are quite happy. But in that “busy-happiness” we do daydream about more rest. That is why a subject such as “niksen” – the art of doing nothing - gets so much attention’, says Veenhoven.
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Listen to the entire interview on NPO Radio 1, 20 October 2019 (in Dutch). The interview with Ruut Veenhoven can be found in block 05.00-06.00 and starts approximately at minute 5.00.