There are
plenty of studies showing the advantages of good moods, especially for creative
tasks. When people are put into a good mood they are better at inventing
different and unusual alternatives or at finding more obscure and remote
associations between words and ideas, for example. And the more positive people
are, the more likely they are to be successful as well as healthier and happier.
In fact, the more
unrealistically positive and unrealistically optimistic we are, the happier and
healthier (both mentally and physically) we become. It has been found that
almost all mentally healthy people tend to see themselves as better people than
they really are.
Even
when those who think too positively, those with positive illusions, eventually
come face to face with harsh reality, they do better. They are better able to
adjust to setbacks and to keep shifting their viewpoint to place the best
possible light on even a worsening reality such as AIDS or cancer. Remember
that the vast majority of us already ‘suffer from’ positive illusions of
ourselves. The resilient merely manage to maintain these illusions in the face
of negative life-events.
And in
2007 the latest research also confirmed that a happy heart just might be a healthier
one. A study of nearly 3,000 healthy British adults, led by Dr Andrew Steptoe of
University College London, found that those who reported upbeat moods had lower
levels of cortisol — a "stress" hormone that, when chronically elevated, may
contribute to high blood pressure, abdominal obesity and dampened immune
function, among other problems.
In the
study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, women who reported
more positive emotions had lower blood levels of two proteins that indicate
widespread inflammation in the body. Chronic inflammation is believed to
contribute to a range of ills over time, including heart disease and cancer.
Researchers have noted that happy people tend to be in better health than those
who are persistently stressed, hostile or pessimistic. "We have, therefore, been
searching for more direct biological links between positive states and health,"
he said. The current findings add to evidence that happiness and other positive
emotions are "associated with biological responses that are health-protective."
The
study included 2,873 healthy men and women between the ages of 50 and 74. Over
the course of one day, participants collected samples of saliva so that the
researchers could measure their cortisol levels. After taking each sample,
participants recorded their current mood — the extent to which they felt "happy,
excited or content.” They found that men and women who reported happier-moods
had lower average cortisol levels over the course of the day, even when factors
such as age, weight, smoking and income were taken into account. "These findings
suggest another biological process linking happiness with reduced biological
vulnerability," he said.
In fact, happiness a global effect on all areas of your
life including success and even health.
Click here for more on this.
_______________________________________________________________________
For the Top Ten Happiness Truths send an email to
bs@futurevisions.org
with
"MWS Happinesss Top Ten" in the subject and nothing in the body
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