all right. i'm poppy harlow in new york. "cnn newsroom" continues right here at the top of the hour. but right now cnn's dr. sanjay gupta travels to the happiest nation in the world. see what we can all learn from them for the new year. that's next. ♪ today we're taking a closer look at something we arguably all want in our lives, happiness. over the past decade doctors and researchers from all over the world have conducted dozens of studies specifically looking at how happiness impacts you and me. what this remarkable new science tells us is that not only is happiness feeling good, but it's also leading to a healthier and longer life. >> lift up. hold it for a few seconds. breathe out. >> there's a lot to get to today, including how faking laughter for just a few minutes a day can lower your stress

levels, can even boost your immune system. plus, i also want to show you something else, that's how your brain, even your heart, physically reacts when you're happy versus sad. but, first, let's go to denmark. to see what we can learn from people who are already happy. ♪ so, we get to start off by going to the happiest place in the happiest country on earth. it's a maternity ward in denmark. take a look. hey there. >> hello. >> congratulations. >> thank you so much. >> how you feeling? >> oh, tired. >> tired. tired is expected. they're the proud new parents of stina sofiya, just six hours old.

do you mind if i pick her up? i washed my hands here. i've done this a few times. i have three girls of my own. we'll see if the old skills are still there. oh, you are cute. there. thousands of babies born all over the world right now, but this one is lucky enough to be born in the happiest country on earth. they have low unemployment rates here. people trust their government. they smile a lot. and mom and dad didn't pay a penny to have her here in the hospital. that makes everybody pretty happy. look how good she is. ♪ the happiest place on earth isn't a title denmark dubbed itself. it's earned the top spot on the european commission's euro barometer for well-being and happiness every single year since 1973.

and when the united nations went on the hunt to find the world's happiest nation, their final report ranked, you guessed it, denmark number one. ♪ so, what makes a country happy? sure, it's things like life expectancy, gross domestic product, low corruption. but also things like generosity, social support, and the freedom to make life choices. choices, like following your passion or just laying low. you see, the danes don't put much value on job titles or status. a street musician and a lawyer hold the same social clout in denmark. as a society, their motto is this, you are no better than anybody else. you know, as we explored happiness in denmark, we realize it's not so much the temporary

emotion of elation that we're talking about, it's something much deeper. much more profound, something that we arguably all want. it's happiness and the sense of life satisfaction. ♪ on a scale of one to ten -- >> yeah. >> -- how would you rate your happiness as far as life satisfaction? >> a little over nine. not ten completely because there's always something you can complain about, but generally nine plus. >> but it's pretty high up there, so i don't know, eight, nine, something like that. >> yeah. >> i was thinking eight. >> eight? >> yeah. >> probably a nine. >> how would you rate your happiness in terms of life satisfaction on a scale of one to ten? >> nine. >> nine? >> yeah. every day. happy. >> here's something we learned that may surprise you, with happiness comes trust. and there's a lot of it here in denmark. trust to leave your bike unlocked. trust to leave your baby in a

stroller unattended while you're inside a store. trust in each other. in fact, 96% of people say they know someone they could rely on in times of need. this sense of security helps keep stress levels down. and happiness levels up. one thing we've discovered here in denmark is that for mothers, their lives aren't just about family and kids. almost 80% of women return to work after having had a baby. spend a lot of time with friends and in social circles. also they strike that great balance between work, life, and family. and all of that leads to happiness. they tell me the key to striking this balance is actually simple. they don't overwork themselves. the average dane works just 33 hours a week. only 2% of workers put in more than 40 hours a week which is a minimum in many other countries including my own. this frees them up to spend more time with family, do volunteer

work, or participate in other community programs. and you may be wondering how can they afford all that? well, remember, money and status aren't the priority here in denmark. a simple life is. instead of gadgets and things, the danes prefer to take full advantage of all the outdoor green space. a new government policy mandates that residents in copenhagen be able to walk to a park in less than 15 minutes. cars aren't a priority either. in fact, the most popular mode of transportation, bicycles. with about 250 miles of bike paths through the capital city, it's an easy, cheap, and environmentally friendly option for residents. half of all commuters here in denmark travel to work or school by bike every single day. it's part of what gives danes a happiness boost. that's because the feel-good chemicals like serotonin and

dopamine are released in the brain and it happens with daily exercise of just about 20 minutes a day. we decided to continue our search for what makes denmark the happiest country in the world at one of the oldest amusement parks in the world tivoli gardens. ♪ it's located in the middle of copenhagen, home to about 2 million people. built in the 1800s, it inspired walt disney to create another well-known happy place, disney world. but in true danish fashion, tivoli gardens has remained simple but charming. it was built for the danes to enjoy. a place for families to make memories. you know, it's clear to see that experiences are quite important for the danes. they don't pay as much attention to possessions and admittedly

they tell me they can't afford fancy vacations. they spend a lot of time with family, laughing, building memories. and studies show that those who focus on experience instead of things have a higher level of satisfaction long after the moment has passed. when you look at your daughter, what do you -- what do you see? what do you hope and pray for? >> oh, we want all the best, you know, that's -- that's what parents want, right? >> and what about happiness? >> yeah. >> and, yes, of course. that comes as a bonus. >> i have to admit, i couldn't find any danes who had too much to complain about in their own lives. they really do appear to be quite happy. but can everything really be that rosie? we'll take a deeper look. and also is your glass half empty or half full? how changing the way you think can improve your health.

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happiness isn't just a pleasant thing you feel. science proves it's much deeper than that. feeling happy actually helps you live a longer, healthier life, but how? well, a large part of our happiness is tied to our social connections. in fact, if you don't have at least one close friend you're less likely to be happy. each of us have these things called telemeres that measure our cellular age and it turns out they also measure how many friends we have. no friends equals shorter. so by simply being social you can actually slow down your biological age living longer and happier. another way to boost your level of happiness is by meditating. research shows as little as 20 minutes a day can lower your level of stress hormones. have you ever heard of an american buddhist monk named barry kerzan, he says he can instantly generate his own bliss. people believed him, but doctors

wanted some scientific proof so they did an mri scan of his brain and it showed while he medtated he activated the area of the brain where happiness lives the left prefrontal cortex. time for a pop quiz, is this glass half empty or half full? if you said half full, you're on your way to feeling happier and healthier. a harvard study found that optimists are 50% less likely to have heart disease, a heart attack or a stroke. keeping an overall optimistic attitude actually offers protection against cardiovascular disease. science doesn't fare as well for pessimists, they have lower levels of happiness compared to optimists, but people with negative thoughts are three times as likely to develop health problems as they age. what do you do if you're not a naturally happy person. the experts say the key is to act as though you're an optimist even if you're not. they say denmark is the happiest

country on earth and based on what we've seen so far, it's easy to see why. but we want to find out just how happy is the typical danish family. why are they so happy and what can we all possibly learn from them. let's go meet them. >> hello. >> how are you? >> nice to meet you. >> nice to see you. >> welcome. >> thank you for having us to your home. >> to our home. come in, please. >> nice to see you, sanjay. >> nice to meet you. >> nice to meet you. >> jonas. >> nice to see you. nice to see you. didn't take very long to feel at home with the broom family. thomas helped break the ice. sharing with me his favorite local beer. he works as a 3-d draftsman for an engineering company. his wife works as an executive secretary. they lived in this home about 30 minutes outside of copenhagen for ten years now. the four children range in age from 19 to 24.

dinner is served. were you surprised that denmark was called the happiest country in the world? >> we are content in many -- on many questions that we are content. and that is i guess the basis of happiness. >> it's a privilege to be living in a place where they try at least to control most things going on. >> she's talking about the danish government. in a world where in many other countries residents fight for low taxes and little government control, the danes seem to feel the opposite. in fact, they told me that feeling, quote, tucked in by their government makes them happy. >> there's a security. there's somehow a net underneath you. i think that a lot of people don't mind paying high taxes because they are aware of the fact that they do get whatever

they need, it's almost like a right you have if you get unemployed or if you get sick, then someone will fix it. >> so about 56% in taxes is what i read. but you get free health care. you get free education, you know, but mostly those things are free. >> the danes are quite concerned, the danish citizens, they are quite concerned that it is fair. so, they don't mind paying the taxes, but it must be fair. >> so how do you define fairness? is it more important for everyone to be pretty much equal and treated equally, or to have, you know, lots of different variations within a society? >> it's different from your society that you have a large portion of people who are really poor, which we don't. so, fairness is just a regular.

it's just a thing. it's not really something we think so much about. >> it was interesting because in report about happiness one of the things they said countries that were the least happy, there was a percentage of people in those countries who couldn't name one person that they could depend on. you know, one person that they could call if, you know -- >> that's really sad. >> it's really sad, yeah. >> i think what we've been trying to teach our children is that relationship comes before everything else. and depending on someone and being okay with the fact that someone depends on you, and holding the standard. taking a stand for someone, protecting someone. and being fair. >> what is it that you think doesn't work that you would change about denmark? >> freedom of choice and freedom of speech and things like that.

but freedom of being successful and not being looked to with a frown, that you are actually doing good. and maybe being a bit boastful about it. so, that's actually my hope of the danish mentality, to be more open, to -- the idea to have success, freedom of success. >> freedom of success. >> freedom of success, and then still be a fair citizen that is -- that volunteers and help out. >> balance. >> but without the mediocre way. >> i am fascinated by being -- by people being eccentric and there's not much room for that in denmark. >> it leads to some kind of complacency and that leads to doing nothing about it. so, actually you should -- you should -- you should cherish -- you should cherish what you

already have, and then go for it even more. >> yeah. >> spending a day with the winterbrooms brought fresh perspective to how i view happiness. if you can get to a point where you feel content about your life, your happiness levels will rise. but the risk is the complacency. and for some people complacency can bring the opposite of happiness. it's different for you. different for me. and different for the winterbroom family. you may be thinking, look, i'm not a happy person. i wasn't born that way. so, what about me? well, you're correct, first of all, that genetics do play a role when it comes to being happy, but research also shows that your genes are only part of it. regardless of our environment, reach and every one of us can boost our daily levels of happiness by not only changing the way that we think but also taking the time to find small things throughout the day that bring us pleasure. really taking that time is so

important. and research also shows that laughing keeps you happy. i'm really going to show you why it is the best medicine. don't worry about this pessimist. this is one exercise where you can fake it until you make it.

♪

make the best entertainment part of your holidays. catch all the hottest handpicked titles on the winter watchlist, only with xfinity from comcast. these people are laughing for no reason at all. why? because research shows that laughing doesn't just signal happiness, it produces it. they say the average child laughs 500 times a day and the average adult just 40 times a day. we don't know why it makes such a difference in our health or why we laugh at all, but obviously for these people it

seems to be doing something. i'm going to give it a shot. thomas present flint laughs for living. >> we'll have 30 minutes laugh position. it's breathing, clapping, stretching and, of course, laughing. >> he's led laughter yoga classes here in denmark for more than ten years. >> please come forward, yeah. so this -- don't be afraid. >> the concept of laughter yoga is based on this scientific fact. your body can't differentiate between fake laughter and real laughter. this means you get a health boost even if you fake it. i have to admit, i was a little skeptical at first, but it didn't take me long to start

laughing and once i started i couldn't stop. you're probably laughing just watching this. >> so this next exercise is about letting go of fear, worry and stress. so, that's all in the mind. so, we going to laugh at our worry mind. you put up your fingers like this and then we just laugh at our own worry mind like this. >> flint says most of us forget to laugh because of tension, stress, pain, worry. so he taught us to laugh at our own negative thoughts. i quickly learned it doesn't really matter how you start to laugh. it's just important that you do. >> and now give yourself a good stretch. >> studies show that when we laugh our stress hormones

decrease and our endorphins rise. endorphins are the brain chemicals associated with the runner's high. laughing is also good for your heart. a study found that only 8% of heart patients made to laugh daily had a second heart attack within a year. that's compared with 42% of nonlaughers. and, get this, just the anticipation of laughter might elicit some of these same benefits as well. >> okay. this is for you. okay? >> now it's your turn. come on. just start laughing. vo: this year, santa left his sleigh at home and booked his trip around the world on expedia. because now the points you earn traveling for the holidays can be donated to help the kids at

st. jude children's research hospital. make your holiday travel mean even more. donate your expedia+ points at expedia.com/santa.

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get faster speeds or more savings, or we'll give you $150. comcast business. built for business. hi, everyone, you're in the "cnn newsroom," i'm poppy harlow joining you this evening live from new york city and this is where our top story takes place. tens of thousands of police officers flooded the industries of new york today to honor a fallen brother. new york city police officer rafael ramos 40-year-old father of two was gunned down in his patrol car one week ago today. he was also sitting right alongside another officer wenjian liu who was also killed that day. today a moving moment at ramos' funeral as his casket a