Ready for the roaring 20s? It’s time to re-learn how to have fun, says happiness professor

A conscious decision to bring more joy into our lives can boost both mind and body

After a year-and-a-half of loss, sickness and stress caused by the pandemic, burnout is high and morale is low. But in some positive news, according to Laurie Santos, Yale's happiness professor", the way to feel better need not depend on restrictive diets, gruelling fitness regimes or testing mental challenges, but in something far more attractive: fun.

The American psychology professor and Happiness Lab podcaster, who rose to international fame when her course psychology and the good life" became the Ivy League university's most popular course of all time, says that consciously injecting more fun into our lives - which she refers to as a funtervention" - can not only improve mental health and help prevent burnout but also improve physical health.