Recent research is turning the relationship of
health and happiness on its head; healthy people are of course happier, but more
startling is the observation that those who are happy and satisfied with their
lives are a lot healthier. Moreover, the benefit comes with a quick turn around
time, with greater happiness boosting health in as little as 3 years.
In a scientific study, 10,000 adults were assessed
how happy and satisfied they had been by their response to 2 simple questions:
“During the past 4 weeks, have you been a happy person?” and “All things
considered, how satisfied are you with your life?” The answers were correlated
with physical health parameters in 2001 and then 3 years later in 2004. “We
found strong evidence that both happiness and satisfaction have an impact on
our indicators of health”, says Dr Siahpush, from the University of Nebraska
Medical Center, Omaha, USA. They were associated with excellent or very good
physical health, absence of long-term limiting illnesses, and higher levels of
physical health 3 years later!
That material wealth and happiness do not go hand
in hand is now well known. Bhutan’s King Jigme Singye Wangchuck first coined
the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH), an attempt to define quality of
life in more holistic and psychological terms than the Gross National Product
(GNP), in 1972. He convincingly argued that spiritual development was as
important as economic growth and proposed sustainable development, promotion of
cultural values, conservation of natural environment and establishment of good
governance as the 4 pillars of GNH.
A German scientist Dr. Grossarth-Maticek showed
that a person’s prospects for good health and long life were remarkably
dependent upon his mental habits learned in childhood. These attitudes caused
emotional reactions which strongly affect the immune system, circulatory system
and even risk of accidents. The strength of this correlation between attitudes
and health, he felt, had been grossly underestimated by the medical profession.
He devised a simple 5 minute test by which you
may assess your happiness and satisfaction levels. Try it at http://www.attitudefactor.com/. The next
step could be to set a goal to change some of your negative attitudes to
positive ones. A study conducted by the
German team showed that those who did that had a thirty times higher chance of
being alive and healthy 21 years later than those who persisted with their
self-destructive attitudes.
If food security and education could be served on
a platter as rights, I wonder why “happiness” should be left behind? Or should
we take it upon ourselves to retain, perhaps regain under present times, a dose
of happiness that governments and circumstances may try hard to deny us, for
our own health and longevity?
As published in HT City ( Hindustan Times) dated 22 September, 2013.
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