London: Visiting the library, dancing and going swimming can make people as happy as a £5,000 (Dh30,829) pay rise, according to an official British study. Researchers from the London School of Economics found that sports, culture and the arts have a significant impact on people’s happiness.
They then assessed how much money it would take to give people a similar boost in their level of well being. They concluded that playing sport on a weekly basis is equivalent to being given an extra £1,127 a year on average, while regular involvement in the arts through enjoying music, dance or plays, for example, is worth £1,084 a year.
The most beneficial activity, apparently, is taking part in dancing, worth £1,671 a year, closely followed by swimming which is worth £1,630 a year. Visiting libraries on a regular basis is worth £1,359 a year.
The report, published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, forms part of a drive by David Cameron to measure the impact of policies on people’s happiness.
Cameron has argued that gross domestic product, the standard measure of economic activity used around the world, is no longer sufficient in its own right to assess the health of a nation. Daniel Fujiwara, from the London School of Economics, said: “If we can pick up the intangibles, we understand a lot more about the benefits of different policies and we can make different conclusions based on that.
“If you get people to do more sport for example, that might improve their health. There might be NHS savings there. But that is going to very severely understate the benefits of sport because there is a huge quality of life or well-being impact there.”
The researchers analysed a survey of 40,000 British households, stripping out the impact of other factors on people’s happiness such as age, wealth, health, children and education.
The report suggested that swimming had a more significant impact on people’s well-being than almost any other sport, almost twice as much as football or cycling. The analysis also found that people who regularly enjoyed the arts were 5.4 per cent more likely to report good health, while those involved in sport were 14.1 per cent more likely to be healthy.
People who take part in sports save the NHS almost £100 a year, while those who enjoy cultural activities such as films, exhibitions and plays save the NHS £37 a year. Sajid Javid, the new Culture Secretary, said: “Anyone who likes to take part in sport or the arts will often say that it has an intrinsic benefit that they can’t always put into words. “This research has some interesting findings that begin to show a wide variety of social benefits too, in education, health and general wellbeing. “Through free access to museums and our continued funding of the arts, sport and culture the Government wants as many people as possible to reap the benefits of taking part.”
