Why happiness is good?

1. Live longer.
2. Life is more fun. The quality of your life is largerly impacted by the quality of your emotions.
3. Happier people are more creative and go the extra mile.
4. Happier people are more present. Actually present.
5. Happy people earn more. 30% more.
6. How you feel impacts how you heal.
7. People’s emotional state impacts how they heal. Blister wounds took 30% longer to heal following an argument with a partner.  Wounds on the roof of a mouth took 40% longer to heal in dental students over exam stress vs summer vacation.

Motion creates emotion.

Physical activity is one of the most powerful antidepressants we have available for us. Move dynamically because motion creates emotion.

•  The position of components of your body is sensed by the brain through receptors (proprioceptors), which are specialized nerve endings. Our brain can hence sense whether our position is upright or we are falling.
• The positioning receptors also communicate information to the limbic system. This means that motion is connected with generating emotions.
• Act as you want to feel is a well-known strategy to alter emotional states. Take anxiety. This can be reduced by:

1. Slow your breathing down by taking deep breaths.
2. Sip some water to calm the appropriate receptors.
3. Sink your muscle tension down by relaxing your body through simple exercises.

Smiling takes fewer muscles to create the expression. Even it is a form of relaxation.

•  Do not just sit there in a slumped position (as at a computer) hour on end. Sitting in a slumped position makes people less positive. Suggested solution:

1. Sit up straight and lean forward while at a desk.
2. Get up on your feet each hour for a few minutes.

Move more

Movement stimulates positive emotions and hence happiness. It also combats depression that can rival the taking of medications. Note:

1. More intense activities are particularly effective in lifting one’s mood. Making your muscles work against a weight or force (resistance exercise) is particularly effective.
2. Exercise results in the release of beta-endorphins (blunt pain and make a person euphoric).

Mustering motivation.

How can we stimulate ourselves to do what we know is good for us? What is good for us is at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise. Once movement is commenced for even five minutes, it is easier to continue. Just do it!

Putting movement into practice.

a)     Prioritize your exercise sessions. Break the experience into two or three segments. This can be at various times during the day. Wear a pedometer or electronic bracelet for encouragement. Sit up while at your desk! Move every hour.

b)     Try resistance exercises. This, too, will help lift your mood.