Twinkle Thakkar, Author at GOQii

March 21, 2019 By Twinkle Thakkar 8 Comments

Does Happiness Affect Our Health?

Happiness is a great feeling! Whether you choose to equate it with optimism, joy, wellbeing, personal achievement or all of the above, it goes hand-in-hand with healthier habits. People who are in good spirits tend to eat better, exercise more frequently and get better sleep than those who are not. In turn, these healthy habits engage the hormones and neurotransmitters that influence our happiness. When our mood is down, we are more likely to skip workouts, do some heavy-duty emotional overeating and have difficulty sleeping.

Beyond these rather common-sense associations, however, is an intriguing research that suggests there’s something more about happiness that makes us healthy.

Let’s understand the 10 health benefits of being happy!

1. Smile

Science suggests that when we smile, whether we are happy or not, our mood is elevated. When we smile, even if it is a fake one, muscles of our face are stretched and this muscular movement triggers the brain to release the “Happy Hormones” which makes us feel good and boosts our mood. Our smile not only makes others happy but releases our own stress as well.

2. Laughter

Laughter is said to be the best medicine. When we laugh, we exhale more air out of our lungs over longer periods and inhale more oxygen. Our blood gets purified more rapidly and we feel more refreshed and rejuvenated. We also feel more relaxed as pure blood circulates in the brain. Some people practice laughter just to reap its health benefits. No wonder we find laughter clubs in almost all parks and open spaces.

3. Happy Hormones

As per Psychoneuroimmunology, a new branch of science that studies the mind-body connection, the thoughts and emotions that we choose get instantly transformed into chemicals. These chemicals are, effectively, either self-administered injections of ‘slow poisons’ or of ‘healing medicines’ that eventually freeze into and become our physical states, i.e. Disease or Health. So let’s understand the role of the chemicals associated with Happiness.

Happy hormones generally refer to Endorphins, Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin, Phenylethamine and Ghrelin. Technically, some of these are neurotransmitters and not hormones, but we shan’t bother ourselves with those scientific details here. Let’s just understand how they help us to be healthy:

Endorphins block pain. They are the body’s natural painkillers. When rigorous exercise depletes our muscles of glycogen (oxygen stores), endorphins allow us to push on. For instance, we often feel blisters only after and not during the activity
Serotonin boosts our mood and makes us more agreeable and sociable. It prevents irritability and depression
Dopamine helps us feel mentally alert. The lack of it might cause lack of attention, lack of concentration and bad moods. It motivates us to take action to achieve the exercise goals so we can experience the pleasure of the reward
Estrogen helps form serotonin and protects us from irritability and anxiety, keeping our mood steady
Progesterone helps us sleep well and prevents anxiety, irritability and mood swings

4. Immune System

Do you know a grumpy person who always seems to be getting sick? That may be no coincidence. There is a link between happiness and a stronger immune system. Happy people have a high antibody response to any vaccine which is a sign of a robust immune system. There is reduction in the size of telomeres – the protective caps of our immune cells, which causes premature aging of the immune system in stressed out people. On the contrary happiness seems to be literally working on a cellular level to strengthen our immune system.

5. Heart

Happiness predicts lower heart rate and blood pressure. There is a link between happiness and another measure of heart health: heart rate variability, which refers to the time interval between heartbeats and is associated with risk for various diseases. Happy people are less likely to develop coronary heart diseases.

6. Blood

Happy people have lower levels of a blood protein called fibrinogen, following a stressful task. This molecule makes blood “sticky” and is vital in the clotting process, but high concentrations can signal future coronary heart disease problems.

7. Aches and Pains

Unhappiness can be painful—literally. Painful and negative symptoms like muscle strain, dizziness, and heartburn and even arthritis and chronic pain seem to be lesser painful when we are happy. Mainly because we have more endorphins in our blood stream effectively acting as natural pain killers.

8. Stress

Stress is not only upsetting on a psychological level but also triggers biological changes in our hormones and blood pressure. Happiness seems to temper these effects, or at least help us recover more quickly. Happiness also seems to carry benefits when stress is inevitable. The happier we are, the lower our cortisol levels. Cortisol is a stress hormone, of which high levels are linked to conditions such as type II diabetes and hypertension. And lower heart rates are associated with good cardiovascular health.

9. Genes

Yes, Happiness can alter our genes! People with a deep sense of happiness and well-being have lower levels of inflammatory gene expression and stronger antiviral and antibody responses. This falls into the realm of epigenetics – changing the way our genes function by turning them off and on. Epigenetics doesn’t change the genetic code; it changes the readout of a single gene to create over 30,000 different proteins. When a human being encounters happiness and love, the growth genes are activated. When a human being encounters fear, the protection genes are activated. Thus, perfectly normal genes can result in cancer or death. Vice-versa, in the right happy environment, mutant genes won’t be expressed.

10. Lifespan

In the end, the ultimate health indicator might be longevity—and here, especially, happiness comes into play. As we become older, the other condition that often afflicts us is frailty, which is characterized by impaired strength, endurance, and balance and puts us at risk of disability and death. However, happier people are less likely to be frail. In essence, true happiness – the kind rooted in virtue – can help prevent disease. It keeps inflammation – which is linked to numerous illnesses in the body, including heart disease – at bay while still fighting off infection and disease.

That’s perhaps one reason why Mother Theresa lived till the age of 87 despite being around the sick and dying for so many years.

I would like to end the blog with a quote by Voltaire – “I have chosen to be happy because it is good for my health.”

Have you?

March 16, 2016 By Twinkle Thakkar 1 Comment

Psychology of good health: It’s all in your Mind!

Eat right, be active, sleep well seem to be the ultimate health mantra these days. Yet, when we look around we find people having the most nutritious diet and doing the right mix of cardio and strength training exercises along with well-balanced polarities of activity and rest; and yet end up falling ill or having some or the other lifestyle disease thereby reducing their life span eventually.

Most people then end up blaming their genes, lower immunity levels or toxic environment in general as the main cause for all the diseases. One rarely looks within to find the cause. The issue is largely about the way one thinks and feels. Yes, our ‘Beliefs create our Biology’!!!

Does this seem complicated to you? Let me explain this with the analogy of a car.

Good food is like quality fuel. The exercise we do to build stamina and muscles is akin to the strong car tyres or the car body. And sound sleep is like the idle engine or off road time of the car. Just as diet, exercise and sleep are essential for our health and well-being in the same way for a quality car to perform well requires fuel and maintenance. Just as the car requires a good driver to manoeuvre it, our body too requires a good functional brain and nervous system to run it smoothly.

NERVOUS SYSTEM

I am sure everyone is wondering why we are taking you back to your school days telling you about the nervous system but, it is essential to understand how a good nervous system goes a long way in keeping one healthy and happy.

It is very important to understand the way the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in our body works.ANS regulates the pulse, blood pressure and our breathing apart from being responsible for controlling the functions of internal organs and glands which secretes hormones. It is also involved in our ability to experience emotions.

ANS is made up of these 2 different branches…

Sympathetic Nervous System–it prepares the body for any action – increased blood flow to the muscles and other responses known as “fight-or-flight (just like the gas pedal in a car).
Parasympathetic Nervous System – it functions when the body is at rest and helps the body store energy for future use. (just like the brakes in a car)

For smooth functioning both these components of ANS operate in sync, example during exercise the sympathetic increases heart rate whereas after exercise the parasympathetic helps to slow down the heart rate.

However emotions like anger, anxiety or worry can cause the signals going to these two parts of the ANS to get out of sync with each other. (It’s like we have our foot on accelerator and other on brake pedal at the same time which causes jerky rides and burns more fuel) This disharmony can lead to stress, wear and tear of our body and depletes its energy.

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

Continuing with the car analogy; the car definitely will not run longer if the fuel line is leaking or ruptured. Same way if the nutrients are not properly absorbed from the food we eat then even the most nutritious food will not make us healthy. This is exactly what happens when we are stressed. The brain is unable to distinguish between physical threat and mental tension. Body’s reaction to both is either flight or fight. The body prepares itself for flight or fight by supplying extra blood to our limbs and less to the visceral organs. This extra stimulation and inadequate blood flow causes improper digestion of even the most nutritious food.

IMMUNE SYSTEM

Immunity levels also decreases when we face stress for prolonged period of time. During such times the focus is to fight the external enemy or situation and not the virus attacking the body within. At most times it so happens that we keep thinking about a negative event of the past and feel stressed out both emotionally and physically. We unknowingly are making ourselves less immune because of our inability to correctly distinguish between the actual and virtual threat.

Thus, to end with the car analogy – the car can function only when it is run by a good driver who operates the accelerator and brakes in proper sync. The car surely requires good fuel, strong tyres along with enough engine idle time for a smooth drive; but most of all it requires is a good driver.

In the same way humans also need a sound mind which can distinguish between actual stressful situations and the trivial ones. It’s only then, we can keep ourselves calm and sleep well, eat right and move more for perfect health and longevity.

To achieve complete wellbeing we require a sound mind in a sound body.

This fact was very well exemplified by the oldest documented living person – a French woman Jeanne Clament who lived for almost 123 years without suffering any ill effects of her smoking habit of 100 years. As it’s said “Thought is more important than lifestyle”!!!