The Happiness Treadmill
Like many people, I spend a lot of time online. And by online, I mean scrolling on social media. Platforms that used to feel very personal, filled with the lives of my close friends and people I knew, now seem dominated by reels of people I’ve never met, showing me how wonderful their lives are. Even on my best days, it’s hard not to feel the burn of comparison.
Luckily, I also spend a lot of time exploring psychology and wellbeing advice online, and a term that’s caught my interest in recent months is this idea of the “happiness treadmill”.
One reel from mathematician and broadcaster Hannah Fry resonated widely. She distilled the concept into five words — “These are the good days” — and encouraged viewers to take time to acknowledge the comparison trap; to slow down and reflect on all the good that’s closer to home.
The message sounds simple, but is there more to it?
What is the “Happiness Treadmill”?
In basic terms, the “happiness treadmill” is how our mind tends to return to a relatively stable level of happiness, no matter what’s happening around us or what experiences we have, positive or negative. You might also see this referred to as “hedonic adaptation”.
Carly Dober, Principal Psychologist at Enriching Lives Psychology, explains it this way: “Hedonic adaptation is the concept that all humans quickly return to their baseline level of happiness after rising and falling in response to life events. We can get caught in the trap of chasing endless goals, a partner, a job or an experience, but after a quick jump in our happiness, we typically return to our normal baseline.”
Psychologists say this process happens because our brains are wired to adapt. Once something becomes familiar, the initial emotional response fades. Carly describes this as habituation — “a beneficial mechanism that our brains are hardwired towards”. It allows us to keep functioning and moving forward rather than staying stuck in emotional highs or lows.
Dr Maike Neuhaus, aka The Flourishing Doc, agrees, adding that this return to “baseline” is part of being human. “We often think, ‘I’ll be happy when …’ but research shows it doesn’t work like that. Whether we win the lottery or face a setback, our happiness fluctuates around a set point unique to each of us.”
Maike compares it to our body weight. It can move up and down depending on what’s going on in our lives, but it tends to hover around a familiar range. “But our happiness set point isn’t fixed in stone,” she says. “Certain behaviours and habits can raise it over time.”
So while social media might make it sound like the hedonic treadmill is something to escape, both Carly and Maike share that it’s more about understanding and learning how to move with it, not against it.
Is Hedonic Adaptation Good or Bad?
When people first hear about hedonic adaptation, it can sound a bit discouraging, as if we’re doomed always to settle back to meh no matter what we achieve. But psychologists say it’s not that simple. In fact, hedonic adaptation is neutral. Whether it helps or hinders us depends entirely on how we respond to it.
“It’s not that adaptation is good or bad; it’s a natural process. It protects us from prolonged pain after something negative, but can also dull our joy if we’re not paying attention,” Maike explains. This built-in emotional regulation system is why we can eventually find our footing again after a breakup or a job loss. But it’s also why the thrill of a holiday or a new purchase wears off faster than we’d like.
Maike and Carly agree that in today’s culture of constant comparison and achievement, adaptation can turn against us. “Modern life moves at such a fast pace,” says Carly. “We often don’t have time to slow down and appreciate the small things. Add social media, where we always see people who appear to be doing better, and we believe that more will never be enough.”
Hedonic adaptation isn’t the enemy, but our relationship with it matters. When we understand how it works, we can use it as a tool to build resilience, gratitude, and a more sustainable (dare I say, realistic) approach to what happiness looks and feels like in our own lives.
What can you do to understand your own hedonic treadmill?
Many factors contribute to our sense of happiness and to how we respond to diff erent life events. “Happiness is a combination of factors,” shares Carly. “Genetics, temperament, life circumstances, psychological mindset and lifestyle behaviours are key to our happiness and how we experience the world. Genetics and temperament provide your baseline infl uence on overall happiness, and little can be done to change this. But your mindset can greatly shape your perception of events and situations.”
Understanding the hedonic treadmill is about learning your own rhythm. Maike and Carly advise that once we know how quickly our happiness resets, we can start making small, intentional shifts that help us notice joy more often and keep it around a little longer. A few ways to do this include:
Practice mindful gratitude
It’s a classic for a reason. Carly encourages her clients to experiment with gratitude in natural ways.
“Some people like journalling each week, others write thank-you notes or simply tell the people in their lives what they appreciate about them,” she says. The key is to slow down enough, actually, to feel grateful. “Be present — notice how wonderful that yoga class was, how fun that date was, how beautiful that hike was. We’re often so quick to rush to the next thing that we miss paying attention to truly lovely moments in our lives.”
Maike adds that gratitude isn’t about forcing positivity. “If gratitude feels hard or fake, try negative visualisation. Imagine if you didn’t have what you have now. It helps stretch our appreciation and reconnect with what we’ve already built.”
Shift your comparisons
Social media makes it easy to admire people who seem to have more, achieve more, and live more beautifully. But Maike says it’s often more helpful to look sideways or inward: “We usually do upward comparisons, but rarely stop to compare with ourselves, how far we’ve come, or what we’ve learned,” she shares. “Focus on comparison with your own life rather than with others.”
This perspective shift can help us appreciate progress without falling into the endless chase of “what’s next”.
Create an upward spiral
Maike explains that our minds are rarely neutral. “We assume that when we’re not doing anything, our brains are neutral, but they’re not. They’re either in an upward or downward spiral.”
To tip the balance, she recommends proactively cultivating joy through small, consistent habits, such as savouring a good coffee, revisiting favourite photos, and celebrating small wins. “These things may sound small,” she says, “but they help train your brain to notice and remember positive experiences.”
Together, these practices help us notice when we’ve slipped back into autopilot; when our treadmill has quietly started speeding up again. The goal isn’t to stop adapting altogether, but to tune into how we adapt and make it work in our favour.
Reflect on What’s Meaningful for You
Social media can be a wonderful entry point to ideas like the hedonic treadmill; short, catchy explanations that make psychology feel accessible. But going deeper than a 30-second reel is important, understanding that happiness isn’t about finding a hack or escaping the treadmill altogether; it’s about getting curious about how you move through life’s highs and lows.
Carly encourages people to make time to engage in things that truly spark joy, and to remember that the pace of modern life often robs us of that awareness. Slowing down and paying attention to what already feels good can be transformative.
Maike agrees, adding that real wellbeing comes from reflection and daily choices. “Don’t be fooled by the idea that happiness is waiting elsewhere,” she advises. “Summon the courage to take small steps towards what makes you happy right now.”
Perhaps this is where Hannah Fry’s simple yet grateful phrase, “These are the good days”, can serve as a helpful starting point.
This article is featured in WellBeing Magazine 223
