Happiness and health, an inseparable combination, at least according to the experts, who argue that there is no true health without happiness, nor true happiness without health. The two concepts are closely related. Defining happiness scientifically is far from easy. It’s a positive emotional state, but it often changes for each person. An experience that gives happiness in one culture may not have the same result in another. This is why in the medical and psychological fields we prefer to talk about well-being and not about happiness. In psychology we talk about hedonic and eudemonic happiness. Hedonic happiness is achieved through experiences of pleasure and joy. Eudemonics with significant experiences and purpose, research. Most psychologists argue that “true” happiness is a meeting of the two.
The United Nations chose March 20 because it corresponds with the vernal equinox. It is called the equinox because the hours of light and dark are the same. All over the world the arrival of spring has a meaning of happy awakening. Nature awakens, the days get longer and you feel happier.
Research prefers to talk about psychological well-being
Studies of happiness actually focus on psychological well-being, because it’s more easily measurable. Optimism and open-mindedness are crucial for this kind of well-being. First of all, those who think positive think they can do everything and can achieve great goals. You also become more creative in choosing options for dealing with life’s problems. Happiness also lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease. Lower blood pressure, make you sleep better. It also pushes you to do physical activity on a constant basis, with important consequences on the health of the body.
Experiences that create positive emotions can cause negative emotions to dissipate faster. They become a tool to increase one’s strength and one’s tools to face life’s difficulties.
Happiness and health: Negative emotions harm the body
A vast scientific literature has explained absolutely exhaustively how negative emotions harm the body. They raise the risk of developing major diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. The reason must be sought in the fact that inflammation levels increase, there are changes in the electrical stability of the heart and accelerates the formation of atherosclerosis plaques.
Positive ones extend life
Positive emotions are also able to lengthen life. There was an important study that featured nuns as protagonists. Experts say searches with nuns are very reliable because they all have extremely similar lifestyles. This study showed that 90% of the most cheerful nuns were alive at 85. Among the least cheerful, only 34% were still alive.
Happiness and Health: Positive emotions fight viruses and bacteria
Dopamine, considered the hormone of happiness, helps defend us from the attack of viruses and bacteria. In a nutshell, this is the result of a study by the Irccs San Raffaele of Milan, together with colleagues from the Australian National University of Canberra, which was published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature.
Research shows that neurons, but also some types of immune system cells, use dopamine to communicate with each other and accelerate the production of antibodies in the event of an infection.
What happens when we are attacked by external agents?
When we are attacked by a virus or a bacterium, the immune system is activated to produce antibodies capable of recognizing the threat and neutralizing it. Antibodies are produced and selected in an area of the lymph nodes, the germinal center, by B cells which, however, carry out this work only if ‘alerted’ by a type of T cell called TFH. And it is precisely at this stage that dopamine comes into play.
What are the keys to a happy life?
Some important research explains how certain personal attributes help people successfully manage certain health problems. The keys to a happier, healthier life are:
- emotional vitality, understood as a sense of enthusiasm, commitment and hope;
- optimism: the perspective that good things happen and our positive actions can shape our lives,
- a support network of family and friends,
- know how to self-regulate and choose tools to lower stress levels and avoid incorrect lifestyles.
The happiness gene
The happiness gene exists. This was discovered by researchers at the Vrije University in Amsterdam by analyzing the genome of nearly 300,000 people.
The results of the study, published in Nature Genetics, have made it possible to identify for the first time three genetic variants associated with happiness, as well as two variants associated with symptoms of depression and 11 DNA sequences linked instead to neurosis. Research confirms that feeling good and doing well has important effects on genome allegedly.
Because it’s important research
«This study is a milestone – says the coordinator, Meike Bartels. She demonstrates that there is a genetic aspect that contributes to happiness. At the same time, however, it represents a new beginning. We know that these three variations that we have discovered contribute only to a small extent in determining the different shades of happiness that distinguish one person from another. We believe many other genetic variants are involved. Locating them will allow us to better understand the relationship between what nature has given us and what we learn with theeducationsince the external environment plays an important role in the different ways people experience positive experiences».