Healthy Habits, Happy Homes

Happy Healthy Home

This chapter introduces the idea of a smart living environment in which the home tracks and supports happy healthy living for the residents. We start with the introduction of the concepts of wellness and the Aware Home Research Initiative at Georgia Institute of Technology. We then present several interesting projects to illustrate the approaches and implementations toward health, awareness and...

Be a Happy and Healthy Dragon!

Living a happy, healthy and satisfying life

Healthy eating habits protect against temptations.

Can healthy food-choice habits protect people against temptations of consuming large portion sizes and unhealthy foods? In two studies, we show that the answer is yes, good habits serve this protective role, at least in contexts in which people are not deliberating and thus fall back on habitual responses. In the first study, participants trained with unhealthy habits to approach eating chocola...

Grateful People Are Happy and Healthy—But Why?

What are you grateful for today? Scientists have found that people who feel grateful more often are also happier, get better grades, and are more satisfied at school. They also sleep better, have less pain, and do not get sick as often. One explanation for this is that grateful people think about the world in a more positive way. Another explanation is that grateful people have better friendshi...