OpinionsNurse TalesBe happier and healthier in 2018

Be happier and healthier in 2018

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“The Old Year has gone. Let the dead past bury its own dead. The New Year has taken possession of the clock of time. All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months!” 

“A new year is like a blank book. The pen is in your hands. It is your chance to write a beautiful story for yourself. “ Anonymous.

So how do you envision 2018? Would you want to be happier and healthier? Why healthier and happier, you might ask? Read on…

Being happy is a gift we can give ourselves due to its unlimited benefits. Remember, good health is more precious than all that money could buy. 

So what are the benefits of being happy? They include: 

1) Sleeping better. Being happy makes you feel relaxed and enables you to have peace of mind. 

2) Mental stability and proper function of the brain. Happy people are able to concentrate on their tasks, and turn out more productive. Andrew Oswald & Associates (2014) studied the relationship between economics and mental health and found that “human happiness has large and positive causal effects on productivity — that is, they found that happiness made people around 12 percent more productive”. They added that “positive  emotions appear to invigorate human beings.” 

3) Faster recovery from illness. Being happy helps boost our immune system and our blood cells

4) Lower and healthy heart rate. This serves as protection against heart diseases which may be caused by stress. People who are happy have lower levels of stress hormones which are bad for our health, and may increase our heart rate. In a study conducted by Karina Davidson and her research team in Columbia University (2010), they found that people who are “generally upbeat, enthusiastic and content “ have less risk of developing heart  disease than people who are not.” 

5) Lengthened life expectance. In a longitudinal study on aging and Alzheimer’s disease with the School Sisters of Notre Dame (known as the Nun Study), Dr. David Snowdon (1997) found out that sisters who displayed more positive emotions lived a decade longer than those who displayed less positive emotions.

6) Boost for motivation, engagement, creativity, energy, health, and resiliency. In a book The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor (2010) writes that “happiness fuels success, not the other way around.”

Mark Williamson (2014) offers the following 10 easy steps to happier living:

1. Do things for others.

2. Connect with people.

3. Take care of your body.

4. Notice the world around you.

5. Keep learning.

6. Have goals to look forward to.

7. Find ways to bounce back.

8. Take a positive approach.

9. Be comfortable of who you are.

10. Be part of something bigger. 

Three additional tips to a happier you: Forget about the Joneses; Share your skills; Do your happiness homework. 

Lastly, bear these two quotes in mind:  “The foolish man seeks happiness at a distance, the wise grows it under his feet.” James Oppenheim.  

 

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” Aristotle. 

______________________________

Author’s email: [email protected]

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