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Health

Are you a master of pleasure? Take part in the National Pleasure Audit to find out

The National Pleasure Audit investigates the importance of maximising joy by reflecting on life’s little pleasures.

“Life is a garden, so dig it!”, the immutable words of Joe Dirt aren’t the official motto of Southern Cross University’s National Pleasure Audit, but with the famous character’s mastery of joy under hardship, they might as well be.

From a ripe piece of blue cheese, cracking open a frothy with friends or taking a long, sonorous bath à la Pretty Woman, Aussies love to chill out and what better way is there to commemorate year three of pandemic life than with a survey reflecting on life’s little joys?

Pleasure in the pool
Photo by Hayley Phelps

Head researcher Desirée Kozlowski aims to gain a nuanced understanding of the quality, source, and frequency of the pleasurable experiences of Australians.

Dr Kozlowski, who specialises in the research of hedonism and emotional intelligence, says “we have been grasping at small pleasures in ways we haven’t had to pre-pandemic”.

Preliminary research suggests that “experiencing a range of small pleasures is linked to all kinds of indicators of wellbeing, good health and improved immunity”, but the National Pleasure Audit aims to further understand how we can maximise our engagement with hedonistic activities and their function.

Speaking to the ABC, Dr Kozlowski says that actively engaging with small joys promotes a gamut of health-related benefits and that “if we build a variety of more small pleasures each day, we increase our resilience”.

This resilience takes the form of lower rates of depression and anxiety, higher psychological wellbeing, better immunity and even links with longevity”, Dr Kozlowski said.

The survey covers several key areas in the mechanism of pleasure: positive anticipation, mindfulness in the moment of pleasure and the recollection of pleasurable memory.

Dr Kozlowski hopes to explore the diverse depth of pleasurable experiences through this survey, stating that “there is nothing equally pleasurable to all people all of the time”.

Participation in the National Pleasure Audit is anonymous – so if you’ve got a secret foot or nose picking fetish that makes you happy to be alive, there’s no need to fear.

Click here to take part in the survey.

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