As long as priority is given to financial growth and GDP remains the dominant measurement of national economic health, where does health and happiness fit in? Top pieces on the health and wellbeing hub this year explored the serious business of being happy, analysed wellbeing statistics that suggest money is not the best measurement of success and asked what lessons we can learn from slums on community happiness.
From happiness to hospitals, campaigner Anna Lappé wrote about the US hospitals working to kick junk food franchises off the premises. While Steven Johnson suggested the sustainability sector could learn a great deal from the public health sector's long-running battle to change behaviours.
The health and wellbeing pieces that got people reading this year were:
1. Communicating sustainability: lessons from public health
Experts in public health have struggled with enabling behaviour change for years. The sustainability sector should learn from this
2. International happiness day: why it's a serious global issue
The UN's International Happiness Day is an opportunity to reflect on what a good life is and why political and social harmony are so vital
3. Kicking McDonald's out: the hospitals getting serious about food
Hospitals across the US are stepping up their commitment to healthy food, and telling junk food chains to leave the premises
4. Sustainable urban design: lessons to be taken from slums
We should not romanticise slums, but informal settlements can teach us a lot about society and the economy of resources
5. New national wellbeing statistics show money doesn't always equal happiness
Our obsession with maximising economic growth overlooks the importance of happiness as a measurement of the UK's success
Get involved!
Let us know your favourite health and wellbeing content from 2013 - was there a piece that you feel has a particularly strong message or gave you a fresh perspective? Did you find one article especially useful professionally? We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below or tweet us @GuardianSustBiz.
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