Scientists Discover Secret Trick to Feel “Energized and Alive”

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Keeping Good News Secret Can Boost Your Energy, Study Finds

The results are in: keeping good news a secret may literally be good for you, scientists have found.

As the American Psychological Association reports, new research suggests that despite the common belief that secret-keeping harms mental health, holding on to positive news for a while can actually help people feel more energized and alive.

Questioning the Negative View of Secrets

“Decades of research on secrecy suggest it is bad for our well-being, but this work has only examined keeping secrets that have negative implications for our lives,” said Dr. Michael Slepian, the study’s lead author and an associate professor of business at Columbia University, in the APA press release. “Is secrecy inherently bad for our well-being, or do the negative effects of secrecy tend to stem from keeping negative secrets?”

The researchers behind the new paper, published in the APA’s Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, have not yet completed their full analysis of the benefits of secret-keeping. However, their early findings are already compelling.

The Thought Experiment

In one part of the study, participants were asked to imagine receiving good news—such as a desired pregnancy or job promotion—and then picture keeping it private until they could share it with their partner at home. They might do this to create a surprise or simply because their partner was unreachable during the day.

Most participants who held on to their good news for a period reported feeling energized and “enlivened.” Those who deliberately kept the news secret as a surprise felt the most excited about the experience.

The Power of Anticipation

“People sometimes go to great lengths to orchestrate revealing a positive secret to make it all the more exciting. This kind of surprise can be intensely enjoyable, but surprise is the most fleeting of our emotions,” Slepian explained. “Having extra time—days, weeks, or even longer—to imagine the joyful surprise on another person’s face allows us more time with this exciting moment, even if only in our own minds.”

Why Positive Secrets Feel Different

The researchers also explored why keeping positive secrets tends to feel far better than keeping negative ones.

“People will often keep positive secrets for their own enjoyment or to make a surprise more exciting. Rather than being based in external pressures, positive secrets are more often chosen due to personal desires and internal motives,” Slepian continued. “When we feel that our actions arise from our own desires rather than external pressures, we also feel ready to take on whatever lies ahead.”

Next time you receive good news, try keeping it to yourself for a few hours or days. According to this research, it may just surprise you.

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