Dr. G believes that the mind and body are tightly interwoven, and this connection affects you in more ways than you might be aware. Here she shares her suggestions on how you can work at achieving happiness and expressing positive emotions.
How Not to Die from Negativity and Other Health-Eroding Emotions
Be aware of a persistently gloomy mood, hopelessness, irritability, fears and anxieties that don't let up, or unrelenting stress, so you can get help when you need it.
Find Your Pony
The way you look at the world will help your outlook. When your life looks more like a room full of manure than the mansion you've been dreaming about, don't just sit down and feel sorry for yourself. Get up and start digging. There's got to be a pony in there somewhere.
Cultivate Gratefulness
Grateful people tend to be more optimistic, a characteristic that boosts the immune system and increases longevity. So every now and then, consider the things or people you're grateful for.
Stress Less
Find a healthy outlet for stress. If it's not exercising, carve out some distraction-free quiet time to meditate or relax.
Reconnect with Nature
Enjoying the outdoors, getting your fingers dirty, and seeing the rewards of something beautiful you've tended can help you live a healthier, less-crazed life.
A Smile a Day Keeps the M.E. Away
Psychologists say that our minds and bodies react to changes in our facial expressions. In experiments, smiling and looking happy not only made people feel happy but also caused their bodies to react as if they were happy. So smile! It might just put you in a better mood.
Laugh Yourself Healthy
Laughing is therapeutic. It produces a relaxation response. Your blood pressure, heart rate, and muscle tension all drop below normal. It's a painkiller, too, because it stimulates the brain to produce more feel-good endorphins.
Turn Obstacles into Opportunities
Embracing all of your life experiences — even the really painful ones — with the knowledge that something good inevitably will come out of them is what engenders happiness, contentment, and peace. If you keep a positive, rational attitude of "It's worth a try!" or "I accept the challenge!" and plow forward with a positive course of action, I believe good things will happen to you.
Explore More
Researchers tell us that when we expose ourselves to new challenges, we build our knowledge and experience, which increases confidence, happiness, and well-being. It takes a certain amount of effort, but have some new adventures a few times a year. I don't mean you have to swim the English Channel. Try a new hobby, eat something unfamiliar, or learn a new instrument.
Get Restorative Rest
To get a good night's sleep: Try going to bed at set time each night and get up at the same time each morning. Stay away from caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol, all of which can keep you awake. If you can't get to sleep, don't just lie there. Do something else, like reading or listening to music, until you feel drowsy. If your sleeping problem continues, don't be embarrassed to see your doctor.
Do Good to Feel Good
If I could write a prescription to encourage a lifetime of health and happiness, it might be this: "Help other people." When what you do in your daily life for others speaks to your heart, you'll feel happier.
Share Your Story
Recall and talk about positive things in your life. Don't be afraid to share good news. All of this brings about happiness.
Heal Loneliness
If you feel lonely all the time and need someone with whom you can share your innermost thoughts, please do something about it. Feeling lonely doesn't mean that you're a failure or that there's something wrong with you, but it's a sign you may have important needs that are not being met. We're social animals, and we all need the companionship of others to function at our best.
Marry Happy
Researchers say that happily married men and women report higher levels of life satisfaction than do subjects who are divorced or who never married. If you have not yet found or have lost your soul mate, research shows that these endorphins are also released with close relationships with other human beings, and even with our pets. When you get — and stay — connected, your life becomes less stressful.
Excerpted from How Not to Die by Jan Garavaglia, M.D.
Copyright © 2008 by Atlas Media Corp. and Jan Garavaglia, M.D.
Permission granted by Crown Publishers, New York, NY
