redOrbit Staff Wire Reports – Your Universe Online

This just in — adults enjoy having sex and drinking alcohol.

Those stunning discoveries are the result of a new study conducted by Carsten Grimm, a psychology researcher at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

Grimm asked participants to rank 30 typical activities in terms of four different qualities: pleasure, meaning, engagement, and happiness, according to a university report detailing his work.

“Psychologists have proposed that individuals may seek to increase their well-being through three main behavioral orientations; via pleasure, via engagement, and via meaning,” he said in a statement.

“Endorsing pleasure as a way to happiness means you enjoy ‘eating dessert first’ or you focus on feeling good and enjoying sensory pleasures,” he added. “Engagement is what you experience when you’re totally absorbed in what you’re doing; either skiing down a hill or being immersed in your work. People call this experience a state of ‘flow’ and this may be a dominant orientation to happiness for some people.’’

Making love topped all four lists, while consuming alcohol and partying finished second in the pleasure and happiness balloting. Volunteering or acting as a care-giver was third on the happiness list, followed by religious activities (including meditation), and caring for/playing with children, CBS Atlanta reported on Wednesday.

Feeling ill was the lowest rated activity in terms of pleasure, while using Facebook ranked 30th in terms of meaning, added The Daily Mail. Religious activities, volunteering, playing with children, and hobbies (including arts and crafts) rounded out the top five in terms of meaning, according to the university.

“From my research I can see what activities are routinely rated as highest and lowest in people’s daily lives,” Grimm explained. “Having sex is (no surprise) highest on all measures of happiness. Being sick is again, no surprise, relatively low on all measures. Going to lectures, or studying, is low on pleasure and happiness, but ranks relatively high on meaning (7th out of 30 behavior categories).”

“The results have implications for what psychologists have called ‘the full life,’” he added. “Those who tend to be high on all three orientations to happiness not only score high on life satisfaction, they also tend to have higher experiences of pleasure, meaning, engagement and happiness in their daily lives… This means that being able to seek happiness in different ways may enrich your everyday experience and increase your overall well-being.”