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Cancer Answers is hosted by Dr. Anees Chagpar, Associate Professor of Surgical Oncology and Director of The Breast Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and Dr. Francine Foss, Professor of Medical Oncology. The show features a guest cancer specialist who will share the most recent advances in cancer therapy and respond to listeners questions. Myths, facts and advances in cancer diagnosis and treatment are discussed, with a different focus eachweek. Nationally acclaimed specialists in various types of cancer research, diagnosis, and treatment discuss common misconceptions about the disease and respond to questions from the community.Listeners can submit questions to be answered on the program at canceranswers@yale.edu or by leaving a message at (888) 234-4YCC. As a resource, archived programs from 2006 through the present are available in both audio and written versions on the Yale Cancer Center website.

LISTEN: 'The Happiness Lab' Professor On Ways To Be Happier

Karin Shedd
/
Yale University
Professor Laurie Santos teaching her popular class “Psychology and the Good Life” at Yale University.";s:

Yale University psychology professor Laurie Santos says happiness is about having joy in your life and with your life.

“If we’re maximizing you being happy in your life -- that’s lots of positive emotions,” Santos told NEXT.

She says you’re happy with your life when you’re satisfied at a meta level.

Santos teaches the course “Psychology and the Good Life” at Yale, which is all about happiness. She started it in 2018 after noticing students were more anxious and depressed than ever. A study from the Journal of Adolescent Health backs that up. It found that rates of depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation increased significantly among U.S. college students from 2007 to 2018.

It turns out Yale students wanted to talk about the science of happiness. Over 1,000 people signed up for Santos’ class on “the good life” -- so many that she had to teach it in a concert hall. Since then, she’s taught a similar course online where millions of people have enrolled. She also hosts the podcast The Happiness Lab.

Santos says we often think we’ll be happy when some big change happens -- we get a new job, more money or an award. She says that’s rarely true.

“I think one misconception we have is that happiness is a destination. That we’ll get to somewhere and it will be happily ever after,” she says. “‘Happily ever after’ only works if you only have two seconds to live.”

In reality, happiness takes work, she says. Research shows you can increase your happiness with socializing, gratitude, kindness, enough sleep, exercise and being in the present moment.

This interview was featured in a recent episode of NEXT. Listen to the entire episode here.

Morgan Springer is the host/producer for the weekly show NEXT and the New England News Collaborative, a ten-station consortium of public radio newsrooms. She joined WNPR in 2019. Before working at Connecticut Public Radio, Morgan was the news director at Interlochen Public Radio in northern Michigan, where she launched and co-hosted a weekly show Points North.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

Fund the Facts

You just read trusted, local journalism that’s free for everyone, thanks to donors like you.

If that matters to you, now is the time to give. Join the 50,000+ members powering honest reporting and a more connected — and civil! — Connecticut.

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Connecticut Public’s journalism is made possible, in part by funding from Jeffrey Hoffman and Robert Jaeger.