A happy heart is a healthy heart

By Terry A. Rondberg

Numerous studies have proven that a positive state of mind can increase longevity, improve immune function, and lower the risk of many health issues — diabetes, hypertension, obesity and stroke to name just a few. Conversely, anger, sadness and worry have been linked with everything from loss of hair to heart attacks.

Researchers from Columbia University Medical Centre in New York joined in the growing chorus of professionals singing the praises of happiness when they published their report in the European Heart Journal.

They examined the association between “positive affect” and cardiovascular events in 1,739 adults (862 men and 877 women). They defined positive affect as “the experience of pleasurable emotions such as joy, happiness, excitement, enthusiasm, and contentment,” and noted that “these feelings can be transient, but they are usually stable and trait-like, particularly in adulthood.”

The results weren’t surprising, but they were spectacular! Those people with a generally negative outlook were twice as likely as their happy counterparts to suffer heart disease.

The really good news is that we can all learn to be happy. Our emotions are a result of our thoughts. To enjoy positive emotions, we simply have to focus our minds on positive thoughts. And if there’s only one thing in the world we truly can control, it’s our thoughts.

Here are four steps toward being happy:

1) Eliminate the negative. What causes you to have sad, angry or worried thoughts during the day? Is it the newspaper you read each morning, with its depressing reports of war, violence and tragedy? Then stop reading it (like any addiction, you’ll go through withdrawals for a week or so, but then you’ll be free of it). Violent television shows? Unpleasant coworkers? Angry websites?  Avoid all of them whenever possible, and if you find yourself thinking any unhappy thoughts, deliberately switch the focus of your mind to something pleasant.

2) Accentuate the positive. Fill your environment with uplifting visual happiness “cues,” images or items that cause you to think positive thoughts and feel happier. Photos of your loved ones, or of beautiful sunsets and plants, inspirational quotations, positive affirmations.

3) Keep a gratitude journal. Every day, jot down a few of the many things you have to be grateful for that day (a new client or patient, a call from an old friend, a delicious lunch, an opportunity to do a good deed, the fact that you’re still alive). Keep your mind on the GOOD things that happen.

4) Fake it ’til you feel it. If you do all these things but still feel down, smile anyway. ACT happy and soon you’ll feel happy. There’s no way you can smile and laugh and still feel negative.

It takes effort and practice, but if you work at it, you can actually learn to be a happier (and healthier) person. Sure beats taking Prozac!