Happiness and Health

It has been proven that happiness, or similar mental states like hopefulness, optimism and contentment, appear to reduce the risk of several diseases, colds and infections.

Laughter can promote increase in heart rate and respiration rates and can reduce levels of stress hormones.

So it’s clear that our mental health greatly effects our physical health. So maybe we should take a little time to focus on that, just like we do exercise and eating right…right?

Here are some tips on how to enhance that aspect of our lives”

1. complete required tasks: This makes me think of how much I love crossing things off a to-do list. You can build self-efficacy (the confidence you have in completing things successfully) by learning new things and completing them.

2. form realistic expectations: If you expect perfect grades, a steady stream of Saturday-night dates, and the perfect job, you may be setting yourself up for failure. So look at what your goals are and set reasonable, yet challenging ones.

3. make time for you – Take time to do something you enjoy each day, whether it be for 10 minutes or for an hour

4. maintain physical health through exercise – Regular exercise fosters a sense of well-being. You treat your body well and you will learn to love it more and more

5. get adequate sleep – Our bodies need and deserve rest to conserve energy for the daily things. Also, when you sleep your body restores many of the neurotransmitters it uses during waking hours…kind of important!

These are just a few things to focus on to help your mental health. #4 just proves how working on each aspect of health in a reasonable way: mental, social, physical, spiritual, emotional, we in turn help other aspects.

What are you doing to do to help yourself today?