6 Simple Science-Backed Hacks That Will Make Your Life Better

KEYPOINTS

• 01

  Modern life drains attention, and nature restores it.

  Alter says that being in nature is, apart from sleep, one of the few states that refills you. Screens and work demand intense, focused attention all day. Nature still catches your attention with birdsong, running water or trees, but in a soft, undemanding way. He points to a body of research known as attention restoration and calls natural environments one of the best forms of medicine available.

• 02

  Even a small or indoor dose of nature counts.

  City dwellers can use real plants, or fake ones if necessary, and a small plug-in fountain, since even the sound of running water stands in for the real thing. He suggests about five minutes a day of doing nothing but taking in a natural setting, however small. On a recent forest run he made himself stop and sit on a rock by the water for five minutes, against his instinct to keep going, and calls it the most restorative part of his day.

• 03

  Colour mostly works through association.

  Alter, who is colour-blind, became interested in colour because of it. He thinks most colour effects come from what we associate the colours with. Blues and greens calm us because they remind us of sky, water and leaves, while reds and yellows activate us, which can help or hurt depending on the situation.

• 04

  Red signals dominance and attractiveness, with a caveat.

  In many species, animals with more red, such as redder-faced birds or apes, tend to be the dominant ones. People wearing red feel more dominant and are seen that way by others. Alter says it can help in a negotiation, interview or date. His caveat is that red is a conspicuous, deliberate choice, so in a setting where it would look unusual it may send a message you don't intend.

• 05

  Mirrors make us more honest with ourselves.

  Seeing a face, and especially eyes, makes us feel watched. Looking at our own reflection pushes us to judge whether what we're doing is right. Stores with shoplifting problems that can't afford constant surveillance often put up more mirrors for this reason.

• 06

  Seeing money makes people more independent and less helpful.

  In studies Alter describes, people who had just been shown money or dollar bills were a little less helpful and less generous on a later task. The theory is that money reminds you of your resources and that you need other people less, which makes you more self-reliant and less community-minded.

• 07

  Clutter pulls at your focus even when you ignore it.

  Every object in view draws you slightly out of the present, a phone most of all, but also photos and mementos. Alter isn't against family photos on a desk, but he favours a clear space for thinking. He notes that many people struggle to manage even 10 to 20 minutes of focused work in a row, especially with a phone nearby or email pinging.

• 08

  Scrolling works less like a thrill and more like a soothing trance.

  Alter compares evening doom-scrolling to sitting at a slot machine: people stay not because it's exciting but because it numbs them. After a hard day it's like 'taking a bath in the screen', because nothing is asked of you. He notes that alcohol is the other common source of easy calm. Phones are harder to resist than TV because they respond to your actions, while TV is more passive and leaves you a little more control, even if it encourages binge-watching.

• 09

  Tech has removed the natural 'stopping cues'.

  Chapters, credits and the end of a newspaper used to signal that it was time to move on. Alter says tech companies have systematically removed those signals, the bottomless feed being the clearest case. Because humans tend to keep doing whatever they're already doing, without a cue we simply carry on.

• 10

  Over a lifetime, scrolling adds up to 15 to 20 years.

  Alter estimates that the average person will spend something like 15 to 20 years scrolling. Heavy use also lowers our tolerance for slow, effortful work: a brain fed constant one-second hits finds reading lessons or a quiet elevator ride hard. He argues that very few people, offered 20 extra years at the end of life, would choose to have spent them scrolling.