“The most important thing is to enjoy your life—to be happy”
– Audrey Hepburn
Enjoy your life – be happy. That makes sense. And now research shows another compelling reason to be happy. In a recent article from Greater Good, the concept that happiness is good for your health is explored.
Recently, a critical mass of research has provided what might be the most basic and irrefutable argument in favor of happiness: Happiness and good health go hand-in-hand. Indeed, scientific studies have been finding that happiness can make our hearts healthier, our immune systems stronger, and our lives longer.
The research shows that happiness is good for your health in six ways:
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Happiness protects your heart – happiness predicts lower heart rate and blood pressure.
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Happiness strengthens your immune system – immune system activity in the same individual goes up and down depending on their happiness.
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Happiness combats stress – happiness seems to temper the effects of stress, or at least help us recover more quickly.
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Happy people have fewer aches and pains – positive emotion mitigates pain.
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Happiness combats disease and disability – participants who reported being happy and satisfied with life most of the time were less likely to have long-term health conditions.
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Happiness lengthens our lives – happier people were 35 percent less likely to die over the course of a recent study than their unhappier counterparts.
Happiness helps you live longer, combats disease, mitigates pain, combats stress, improves your immune system and protects your heart! Don’t take my word for it, read about the this critical mass of research on Greater Good.
I’d like to close with a clip I have used in a past post.
Dan Gilbert explaining the The Surprising Science of Happiness.
Please let me know what you thought of Daniel Gilbert’s TED talk, and I’d love to hear your thoughts happiness and your health.
And as always thank you for taking the time to visit, I appreciate it.
It’s a scientific fact that stress can cause sickness. Being happy with yourself and your life is often hard for some, especially if they are not being who they truly are. I always encourage everyone to find something that makes them happy and hold on to it. Life is a one time deal there’s no need to live it in distress. I loved reading this
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Absolutely! Life is a one-time deal.
One of my favorite bumper stickers is:
This is NOT a dress rehearsal!
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
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Hi Patty! Love your bumper sticker! I’ve got one on the truck “I do not intend to tiptoe through life only to arrive safely at death”. It reminds me to position myself where good things can happen and not let expectations ruin the experience. W ether in the woods or the water, ANYTHING can happen at anytime, I came literally face to face with an adult grey whale last spring while diving on the north coast and as I sat on my kayak later laughing uncontrollably, what I felt most was happiness and gratitude that I had put myself in position to allow this to happen. I read into the TED talk a little of the saying, “not getting what you want is sometimes the greatest gift of all”.- A reminder to me to live in the moment. Thanx a bunch, Love Ya,
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Thank you Doug for another wonderful response. Wow! Your experience with the whale sounds absolutely incredible. What a gift! I am eagerly looking forward to seeing you in June. My launch will be right around our reunion. You are cordially invited to my book launch. I will have a signed copy of my book waiting for you. Love you my friend!
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Thank you Patti, for visiting my Family blog. I’ve learned (through loss) that life truly is a gift. How we choose to spend the hours of each day determines the life we live. Practicing joy – even when you don’t feel all that joyous – has been the gateway to finding peace, in my circumstances. I am looking forward to reading through your posts! So many great articles. Thanks for the follow 🙂
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Thanks so much. I totally agree, practicing joy is the gateway to finding peace.
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Hi Patti! Thanks for liking so many of my posts 🙂 And for deciding that I offer something worth your while enough to follow me. You have some interesting stuff here. I’ll be back to read more.
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Thank you Michele. A win/win for sure!
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Thank you! I appreciate that.
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I completely agree with this. Happiness not only increases life-span, but ultimately improves the quality of the life we live. I just wish more people realized that happiness is often a choice we make. Whether things and situations are good or bad, we can choose how we reflect on it, and what those situations ultimately mean to our greater desire to love ourselves, love each other, and love life.
Great post!
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Thank you so much Jon! I appreciate you taking the time to comment.
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