Given the current status of the economy, the lingering winter in much of the country and soaring unemployment rates, the simple fact of the matter is, there are probably a great deal of unhappy people fluttering around this great Nation as of late.  What do we need to all get a little bit happier?  According to new reports, Blogging.

That’s right, blogging very well could be the new Prozac.  New research out of Taiwan is showing that when it comes to reports of general happiness, those that blog and keep up with some form of social media networking are just plain happier.  According to the research:

“[they] found support for deeper self-disclosure from bloggers resulting in a range of better social connections. These included things such as a sense of greater social integration, which is how connected we feel to society and our own community of friends and others; an increase in social bonding (our tightly knit, intimate relationships); and social bridging — increasing our connectedness with people who might be from outside of our typical social network…They also hypothesized and found support from their data that when these kinds of social connections increase or grow deeper through blogging, a person will also feel a greater subjective sense of well-being or happiness.”

Well I’ll be.  I always knew that blogging made ME feel better, and I’m sure a lot of you felt the same way, but now we have research on our side.  The bottom line is, in case you were ever wondering if blogging can make you feel more connected, can increase your social bonds, and can lead to a better mood, the simplest answer is…Yes.  Keep writing, keep blogging, keep connecting, your happiness will thank you.