ACCORDING to renowned health guru, Dr. Joseph Mercola, the feeling of happiness – whether you equate it with optimism, joy, well-being, personal achievement or all of the above – goes hand-in-hand with healthier habits.

People who are in good spirits tend to eat better, exercise more frequently and get better sleep than those who are not. This could be, in part, because leading a healthy lifestyle helps you achieve your goals, leading to

happiness.

It could also be that such habits lead to better health, which in turn lends itself to a better mood and happiness. Beyond these rather common-sense associations, however, is intriguing research that suggests there’s something more about happiness that makes you healthy.

Beyond its tendency to occur alongside better eating, exercise, and other healthy habits, it appears a positive mental state may have a much more direct effect on your body.

Positive thoughts and attitudes are able to prompt changes in your body that strengthen your immune system, boost positive emotions, decrease pain and chronic disease, and provide stress relief. One study found, for instance, that happiness, optimism, life satisfaction, and other positive psychological attributes are associated with a lower risk of heart disease.
It’s even been scientifically shown that happiness can alter your genes!

A team of researchers at UCLA showed that people with a deep sense of happiness and well-being had lower levels of inflammatory gene expression and stronger antiviral and antibody responses. This falls into the realm of epigenetics—changing the way your genes function by turning them off and on.

It could be, however, that the type of happiness matters. In one study, participants answered questions about the frequency of certain emotional states, covering two different categories or types of happiness known to psychologists as: 1) Hedonic well-being (characterised by happiness gleaned from pleasurable experiences); 2) Eudaimonic well-being (originating with Aristotle, this form of happiness comes from activities that bring you a greater sense of purpose, life meaning, or self-actualisation).

Perhaps people who are happy are less impacted by everyday stressors, and this ability to deflect stress is responsible for many of the gains to their health. Past research has also similarly found that positive emotions –including being happy, lively, and calm — appear to play a role in immune function. One study found that when happy people are exposed to cold and flu viruses, they’re less likely to get sick and, if they do, exhibit fewer symptoms.
However, the state of our minds is not necessarily something we can control, because incidences, situations and the people in our lives can devastate our sense of self and purpose in life, thereby creating synergies that fill one’s being with negative energies that degenerate into depression of the spirit.

The best solution to this is a re-conditioning and/or purifying of the spirit through meditation – and in Guyana the Brahma Kumaris, located in High Street Kingston, Georgetown, have excellent programmes in meditation designed to calm the mind and bring peace and solace to the spirit; as well as attendance at one’s individual choice of church.

Congregation, worship, or satsangs often provide some degree of healing to souls shattered by their circumstances and/or the people in their lives.

(By Parvati Persaud-Edwards)