The Happy Heels Study: Testing Whether Positive Exercises Improve Mental Health, Happiness and Academics in First-Year Students

College students face increasing amounts of stress related to navigating and thriving at universities. With increasing levels of anxiety, depressive symptoms and the strain placed on college counseling and psychological services, new creative ways are needed to assist students with their mental health and well-being. Three Good Things and a variant that focuses on social connection, are two exercises shown to improve mental and physical well-being, as well as reduce loneliness. 160 UNC first-year and transfer students participated in a two-week intervention where they performed Three Good Things (3GT) or an adapted Positivity Resonance exercise (3GT-Social). Results showed that while no significant changes in academic performance or visits to counseling services emerged, students did report significant improvements in loneliness, positivity resonance with strangers and acquaintances, and depressive symptoms, with between-group differences approaching significance at one follow-up time point. The two exercises offer a novel approach to addressing the mental health of many college students while also at little costs to university resources.Bachelor of Scienc