HAPPINESS IS HEALTH

Happiness And Your Health: Which Comes First?
One of the most intriguing aspects of recent research is the fact that there is an undeniable link between your health and your level of happiness. There's always been an acknowledged link between the two -- the search for health and happiness as a combination is a popular refrain repeated by millions in all cultures. But now there is a growing body of evidence that says feeling happy actually is not just good for your health, but vital to your health.

No doubt you know intuitively that when you feel happy you feel better. Research is now proving that by making your happiness a priority, you will also be significantly improving your overall health -- both physically and emotionally.

In fact, it's not much of a stretch to say that happiness is a pre-requisite to good emotional health and to good physical health. By the same token, unhappiness is literally a poison to your ongoing health and longevity.

Consider the following.
The Link Between Happiness and Your Emotional Health

Your brain is literally hard wired to be happy first and there are numerous studies that bear that out. But let's set the studies aside for a moment. When you observe small children, what do you see? Are they generally happy and playful, or are they unhappy and sullen? They're happy of course. Why? Because they're born that way.

Studies of the concept of learned helplessness, which was first introduced as a concept in the 1970s by Martin Seligman (ironically enough through the study of animals), reveal an undeniable link between your happiness and state of mind.

Unhappy people, who believe they have no ability to control or change their circumstances rapidly lapse into emotional despair. They lack energy, experience increased stress, suffer from depression, experience a decline in their cognitive and problem-solving abilities, suffer from a lack of motivation, have more relationship and other interpersonal problems.

It's as if we can literally watch them slowly shrivel up and die.
The Link Between Happiness and Your Physical Health

The effects of unhappiness on your physical health are just as dramatic. Stress and depression result in the manufacture of harmful chemicals and toxins that are detrimental to your cellular health. Chronic unhappiness weakens your immune system and increases your frequency of illness. It results in more colds, more flus, more headaches or what have you.

Even more disturbing is the increase in the incidence of major illness such as heart attacks, strokes and cancer. On top of that, recovery time for such illnesses is markedly longer for unhappy people.

By contrast, happiness and responses associated with being happy, such as laughter, have the opposite effect. Laughter triggers a physiological response. It lowers blood pressure and increases blood flow. In addition laughter triggers the contraction of fifteen facial muscles, abdominal muscles, leg muscles, etc. It literally gives your body a physical work out. Laughter also triggers an increase in the production of T cells, the creation of antibodies, and helps to reduce excessive production of cortisol, which is harmful to the body.