Denmark’s No. 1 Secret To Happiness
Meik Wiking (pronounced “Mike Viking”), CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, recalled spending a weekend at a cabin in Sweden with some friends one December. It had snowed, and the friends decided to go for a hike. When they returned to the cabin, they built a fire in the fireplace to warm up, turned on the stove to get the stew boiling, and then simply relaxed and enjoyed the silence.
Wiking recalled one of the men asking, “Could this be any more hygge?” And one of the women said, “Yes, if there was a storm outside.”
What is “hygge” and why is it special to Denmark?
So, what is “hygge” (pronounced “hyoo·guh”) and why is it special to the people in Denmark? Also, why do Americans want to learn more about hygge? The hard-to-pronounce word describes a lifestyle concept of Danish residents, who are among the happiest people in the world, according to international surveys.
Hygge is often about taking a break from the daily rush and casually spending time with family and close friends, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.
“Typically, the setting is at home or another quiet location, or perhaps a picnic during the summer months,” the government agency said on its website. “It usually involves sharing a meal and wine or beer, or hot chocolate and a bowl of candy if children are included. There is no agenda. You celebrate the small joys of life, or maybe discuss deeper topics. It is an opportunity to unwind and take things slow.”
For Wiking, hygge is “like a warm hug, but without the physical contact.”
“I think the shortest label to put on it is ‘consciously cozy,’ or ‘the art of creating intimacy,’ or ‘the pursuit of everyday happiness,’” Wiking, author of The Little Book of Hygge, explained in an interview with NBC’s BETTER.
Besides hygge, Danish residents have other reasons to be happy. For one, Wiking said there’s social security, universal health care, equal opportunities for men and women, and free university education. However, there are high taxes, and the weather’s not that great in Denmark. “We do have summer, it’s about three hours,” Wiking said, jokingly.
Surprisingly, the weather plays a significant role in the practice of hygge.
“We spend a lot of time indoors because of the weather and because we spend a lot of time in the darkness, and lighting is a big thing, so people consider quite carefully how to light a room, and you won’t find many big fluorescent harsh white lights in the seating in Denmark,” Wiking told NBC’s BETTER.
Rather than have one big bright light on the ceiling, candles are popular “because they give off this softer, warmer light,” Wiking explained. While candles and lighting are factors in hygge, they are a “manifestation of the hygge culture, not a driver of the hygge culture,” Wiking added.
If hygge is all about spending time with family and friends, then aren’t Americans—as well as people in other countries—taking part in it, too? Wiking said people around the world tell him that they’ve been doing hygge their whole lives, but didn’t know there was a word for it. Wiking says that having a “word” for it helps people appreciate it more and become more conscious of it.
“I think that’s the difference between Danes and a lot of other people, that we have a word that describes that situation, and that makes us more aware of it and perhaps makes us plan for it more and appreciate it more,” Wiking told NBC’s BETTER. “And then secondly the major difference is that we see it as part of our culture and part of our DNA, the same way Americans see perhaps freedom as part of their culture or DNA.”
American Professor Finds Secret to Happiness and Balance
Marina Cooley, an assistant professor at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, went to Denmark to teach a course called “Happiness Blueprint.” While visiting for a year, Cooley said she discovered that hobbies were an integral part of life in Denmark.
“From cycling to sewing, I watched Danes find joy in the everyday outside of work,” Cooley wrote in an article for CNBC Make It.
When Cooley returned to the United States, she said she decided to conduct a one-year experiment of trying out hobbies.
“I came away from my experiment, stronger, braver, and more confident,” she wrote. “After a year, I was fundamentally changed.”
After trying 17 hobbies, which included pottery, pickleball, cold plunging, and embroidery, Cooley learned to:
1. Kick her doomscrolling habit.
First, Cooley said she had to find time to start a hobby, which, as a busy working mother, she believed would be hard to do. Surprisingly, she found time everywhere, especially after giving up her evening habit of watching TV while half-working and using a second screen for doomscrolling (spending a lot of time online reading negative news).
2. “Bookmark” her joy for the future.
Cooley said some hobbies did not fit into her “current season of life.” For instance, Cooley wanted to take up woodworking, but was deterred by the hefty start-up cost, and it wasn’t ideal for households with small kids around. So, she plans to take up the hobby later.
3. One person’s hobby is another person’s stress relief.
While Cooley views preparing a family meal as work, she found baking to be “methodical and soothing,” and her “efforts led to a delicious treat at the end.”
4. Changed her definition of “self-care.”
Cooley had regular manicures, facials, and lash appointments, thinking that self-care would make her more balanced, but it created stress from having to be in more places at set times. A few months into her experiment, Cooley developed a general rule of having one hobby for her mind, one for creativity, and one to keep her in shape. So, rather than make appointments for facials and manicures, “in an attempt to soothe my brain, I was redirecting all my energy and free time into my hobbies.”
5. Feel less lonely.
“Each group of hobbyists has a community, and they are actively forming relationships and identities outside of work,” Cooley wrote.
6. Stop dreading small talk.
Once she told people about her experiment, Cooley said she was “freed from making small talk.” “Instead, I found myself in deep conversation with others, understanding who they were at their core, outside of obligations,” she wrote. “Thanks to my year of hobbies, I feel like I know the people in my life much better.”
Cooley said she learned that hobbies are the number one secret to happiness and balance. Now, Cooley has an answer for those who say they will get into a hobby as soon as they find a work-life balance.
“Unfortunately, balance doesn’t work like that. It’s not a shiny pebble you find on your way to work,” Cooley wrote. “If you want balance, the secret is to get a hobby. You’ll naturally be forced to define your boundaries: as a worker, as a parent, and as an individual.”
Source Links:
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/26/hygge-denmarks-secret-to-happiness-how-americans-can-cultivate-it.html
https://denmark.dk/people-and-culture/hygge
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/05/i-tried-denmarks-no-1-secret-to-happiness-for-a-year-it-made-me-happier-and-more-confident.html
