Don't spend a lot of time watching television. So says Dr. John Robinson, professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, who recently authored a study on the subject. In comparing what happy people do with the activities of unhappy people, Dr. Robinson found that watching television was the sole activity measured that happy people spend less time doing than unhappy people.

New York health writer Roni Caryn Rabin reports: "Happy people spend a lot of time socializing, going to church and reading newspapers—but they don't spend a lot of time watching television, a new study finds. That's what unhappy people do" ("What Happy People Don't Do," The New York Times, Nov. 19, 2008).