THREE REASONS TO DOWNSIZE YOUR LIFE

When it comes to being happy, less really is more! When researchers studied stress levels worldwide, they found that people in the most affluent countries were the most stressed out. So, here are three reasons to downsize your life. These are from the book Affluenza: The All Consuming Epidemic:

[1] When you scale back, people, not things, become your priority. Happiness levels in the U.S. have been declining since 1957. Experts believe one of the main causes is the absence of time spent with family and friends. So, once you commit to living with less, you'll focus on what you can do together as a family instead of what each of you wants to buy.

[2] You'll be smarter. British researchers found that people who were constantly distracted by the things they owned actually scored lower on IQ tests than they did when they lived without their fancy gadgets.

[3] You'll chill out. In a University of Virginia study, the more people pampered themselves with material objects, the less satisfied they were overall. Overindulgers got more upset by small annoyances. So, a trip to the mall for some "retail therapy" might give you a temporary boost, but in the long run - it lowers your quality of life.