A new study by Southern Cross University researchers aims to drill down into Australians’ unique sources of pleasure.

The first National Pleasure Audit, that launched this week and will run until the end of March, aims to establish evidence-based data to help people across the country feel better.

Audit coordinator Dr Desirée Kozlowski said existing research supported a link between pleasures and health, but her team wanted to know how Australians tapped into small joys, particularly those beyond regular fun time hits such as music, food, nature and sex.

“I don’t think there’s one single way that people have reacted to the fear, the limitations and the illness that’s been around us. What brings people pleasure and helps us during our days is also varied,” Kozlowski said.

“The time is absolutely ripe, in fact it is overdue, for us to put the appropriate level of energy and attention and resources toward looking at those things that keep us well and make us feel better as we do about mental ill health.”

Kozlowski, whose expertise also covers emotional intelligence and gender roles, said discovering and documenting sources of pleasure wasn’t “fluffy or light-hearted,” rather it could offer serious health benefits.

“We are seeing that no matter how much stress or difficulties people are experiencing, if they can increase the range and number of small pleasurable experiences in their day, it reduces their perceived stress, it reduces depressive symptoms, reduces anxiety, boosts immunity, and there’s links emerging with longevity,” she said.

“It’s subtle but it’s powerful.”

Kozlowski said the National Pleasure Audit was deliberately being conducted in summer, largely so results wouldn’t be skewed by respondents from chilly southern states suggesting that moving to Queensland would bring them the most joy.

It had also been postponed for two years during the most disruptive impacts of the pandemic, but now aimed to provide a snapshot of where people were finding pleasure, and how strongly they experienced positive feelings.

The results would also identify differences between states or between cities and the regions in how and where people found pleasure, she said.

“It is an overlooked fact, but when we have data like this it serves to give psychologists and GPs somewhere to start and something real to talk to their clients about,” Kozlowski said.

“This kind of stuff can have an impact right across the way we deal with things. And we are all dealing with things.”