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Happy and Healthy: the more moments of happiness you experience in life, the healthier you’ll be.
19 April 2005—Scientists at UCL have found that a happy state of mind can lead to a healthier heart and lower levels of stress-inducing chemicals. The research in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says that people who have more moments of happiness over a day produce less harmful chemicals such as cortisol and are likely to be healthier long-term and less likely to suffer from heart disease.
The research shows the health effects of happiness by testing middle-aged individuals- 116 men and 100 women- in a number of different situations including at work, leisure and in laboratory. In men, happiness also had an impact on heart-rate — men who were happiest had a lower heart rate (between 68 and 70 bpm) than those who had a lot rate of happiness (these men clocked in at over 76 bpm).
The associations between happiness and biological responses were independent of psychological distress. Depression and anxiety are related to increased physical health risk; this study raises, perhaps, that the effect of happiness is separate.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) April 18th
Source: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/
